True seekers of knowledge do not decide what is found, only what to do with it.

— Excerpt from Meditations, by the Red Emperor

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Though Molam hadn't seen much of Shurra's fight with Agytha, the freshly ruined state of the Mansion spoke volumes of the confrontation between two auramasters. Now that an entire section of wall had fallen down and part of the roof had caved in, the frigid chill spread freely inside the Mansion and the flames flickered in the wind. The water that flooded the first floor had trickled away, but the carpet was waterlogged and showing signs of frosting over.

Molam found Shurra waiting for him at the bottom of the steps, with Agytha bound nearby in rope. Shurra's bleeding thigh had been staunched with a tightly bound strip of cloth and she was somehow standing. Even more impressively, she seemed to pay no mind to her clothes soaking in the freezing air.

"Lyka is dead. The situation has changed," Molam huffed to Shurra as he helped set Primrose down at the foot of the stairs, pulling down his cloak from the side to cover Primrose. "Oasis is working with the Empire."

Shurra's face darkened. "Never trust a Sand Dweller. They said the Lord of Sands also betrayed the Frozen Saint."

Molam shook his head. He had wondered why the two had not acted on their inherited grudge between the Northerners and Oasians, but it turned out they had only been amicable on the surface. "There must be a reason. Oasis was one of the first breakaway territories during the Fracturing. It wouldn't make sense for the Lord of Sands to forget. Put aside your historical differences and —"

"Hush." Shurra put a finger to her lips and put her hand on her sword. The two of them listened intently, eyes locked on the crumbled wall where the Mansion's entranceway had been. Shouting echoed from below, and Molam saw the flickering glow of torchlights.

Molam unslung his bow and pulled out an arrow. With four left in the quiver, he could only hope that if it was city guards coming, none of them were on Lyka's caliber.

The small crowd came into view, brandishing torches and makeshift weapons.

"Primrose! Shurra!" Molam kept the arrow notched and ready, but Shurra visibly relaxed upon seeing the members of the Dao. They gingerly stepped into the building, looking about in awe at the destruction that had been wrought about it. At first, Molam wondered why many of them seemed to be clothed lightly for the chill, then realized they had probably shared their clothes with the jailed members they had freed.

A collective hush fell across the crowd as they saw Shurra's bleeding wounds and Primrose's clothes matted with blood. Then the questions poured in. "What happened? Is Primrose going to die? What do we do now? Are we a Free City yet?"

"Molam!" Kalle pushed through the crowd, a torch held high. "Primrose. Is she…?"

"She's alive," Molam mustered at Kalle over the noise of the group as Kalle rushed to Primrose's side. Several of the people made threatening advancements to Agytha's prone body, but Shurra stepped over the prisoner and folded her arms.

"Kalle." Primrose greeted weakly.

"What happened?" The alchemist knelt down next to Primrose, pulling off a glove and gingerly placing two fingers on her wrist.

Molam kept his voice low as he slung the bow over his shoulder again, coming up close to Kalle as the alchemist checked on Primrose's status. "I think she's poisoned by drowsiflora, but we're unsure." Molam knelt down next to Kalle and whispered. "From Lyka's spear."

Kalle raised an eyebrow. Grateful relief washed over Molam when the alchemist had the presence of mind to not react with alarm. After a short pause, Kalle closed his eyes and then said, "You fought Lyka?"

"Hush. It's complicated. And keep it to yourself for now." Molam grimaced, shaking his head at the alchemist's inquiring stare in a silent promise of later. "Can you check Primrose and Shurra first?"

"Your pulse is weak," Kalle told Primrose, placing the back of his hand against her forehead. "And you've lost a lot of blood, though all of them seem to be shallow cuts. Drowsiflora only affects the aura and mind so you aren't in any danger, but it'll be a few days before you don't feel sluggish." He looked at Molam. "I'll need to see the weapon."

Molam nodded. "The city?" Primrose coughed.

"The plan worked well enough. Many of the guards couldn't fight. The guards that could fight were strong, but Molam's plan worked out as members were released and the guards succumbed to sheer numbers. They were unprepared, as expected." Kalle produced a bottle from within his clothes, handing it to Shurra. "Put this on Primrose's wounds. All of them. We can't allow them to fester. And get some on your leg too. Pretending it doesn't hurt won't keep you alive if it rots."

Kalle tore off his cloak and held it around the two while Shurra tended to the injured Primrose. Molam took the chance to organize the rest of the Dao. "We need to salvage what we can, especially any information about what Agytha was holding. Don't worry, we searched the rooms for enemies before the engagement and the mansion should be empty now. The ceiling is partly destroyed and IceMourne will soon bring Winter's Sorrow, but that means we need to be fast. We can't let the snow ruin anything we can still salvage."

As if summoned by his words, a gust of wind blew through the opening left in the wall and spiraled up through the ceiling. All of them instinctively hunched to minimize the cold.

Molam waited for the gust to pass, blinking his eyes as several torches on the second floor extinguished before he straightened again to continue. "If the divine snow blankets the inside of the Mansion, we might be forced to wait for Spring's Blessings to arrive. We'll need to take this chance to collect everything we can and learn about what state JiangXi is in."

Kalle nodded. "RainBringer always starts Spring's Blessings with a divine storm."

"Exactly. Now is the time. Everyone, spread out and collect as much as you can. The Mansion needs to be rebuilt, so we'll empty it now."

Kalle shouted into the crowd for the group to spread out and search the City Lord's Mansion for anything useful. Molam was content with letting Kalle do the directing, for the fatigue was starting to set in. But he didn't complain. He hadn't been the one to fight directly the way Shurra and Primrose had.

"The city guards have all been corralled into the jails?" he inquired, sitting down on the steps himself as soon as most of the Dao had dispersed to search the rooms.

"Yes, I helped direct that but thanks to your outlines, everyone here followed the plan. More or less." Kalle returned to inspect Shurra's wound. "The storehouses are being raided as we speak. Agytha defies all expectations. She's been storing all the wood — for what, only the Gods may know, but still, what with the price that's being put on it right now, you'd think the city would have done something about it."

The alchemist glanced at the bound Agytha, then turned his gaze back to Shurra. "Well, congratulations are certainly in order considering you won your battle against Agytha!" He pointed to Shurra's leg. "I've an ointment that you can apply to prevent this from scarring."

"No," Shurra took a stiff step backwards. "It will be a wonderful tattoo."

"Understandable. Now, that's three of you accounted for. Where's Lyka?" Kalle peered up the stairs hopefully, as though Lyka was just sitting at the top. "I know you fought, but that was probably over something else right? I understand people can let their emotions get to them when holding weapons."

"Kalle." Molam began, then hesitated. "Lyka… was working with Agytha. Oasis has allied with the Empire in secret." He couldn't think of a good reason to hide it from Kalle. "When Shurra fought with Agytha, Lyka attacked Primrose and me. We fought her off and we…" he corrected himself, "I killed her."

The words felt hollow, echoing in his mind as though someone else spoke for him even as his mouth moved. Kalle seemed to not know how to react, and instead looked at Primrose and Shurra, who both nodded.

"I… see." Kalle made to run his hand through his beard, seemed to think about it, then put on his gloves instead, looking down. "Anything else I should know?"

Molam showed Kalle the jade talisman. "Lyka was using this to avoid Primrose's detection, but these are rare. I know Oasis produces them, but given how expensive they are I doubt the Lord of Sands would just hand them out. In fact…" He knelt down and searched Agytha's body quickly before pulling off another jade talisman attached to Agytha's belt. He unpinned it and handed the second one to Kalle. "Two. They were prepared for Primrose."

"We'll evaluate all of this later." Everyone's breathing was starting to mist in the gathering moonlight shining through the hole in the ceiling. The wind at the top of the cliffs had long dispersed whatever lingering warmth the building still had. "Primrose and Shurra are injured and they shouldn't stay here."

Molam considered, then nodded. "Primrose and Shurra can be moved to your workshop to recuperate. The rest will search the Mansion throughout the night for anything of value, including information about what Oasis and the Empire were colluding on."

Several of the members came forward bearing two makeshift stretchers.

Shurra refused a stretcher. "I've been cut, not maimed," she pushed away the people. "I can walk downhill just fine."

Primrose's face seemed strained as she struggled with two women trying to help pick her up. "No, let me — I said, let me. Just put it down."

The stretcher was laid down at her side and Primrose's blue eyes glared reproachfully before shrugging off Molam's cloak and handing it to a nearby woman. She then shifted herself from the steps and rolled onto the stretcher. The woman then carefully laid the cloak over Primrose, tucking the edges under her body to ensure she would stay warm during the trek downwards.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Use the other stretcher for Agytha." Molam walked forward to help roll Agytha onto the stretcher meant for Shurra. "We're going to keep her alive for information."

He leaned down to help carry Agytha onto the stretcher, then retreated with a start. Agytha's golden-colored eyes were open and looking at him — she had woken up.

"So. You're Molam. The factor we didn't expect." Agytha's voice was hoarse, a possible aftereffect of Shurra's choking her unconscious. Her body shivered all over, and the water drenching her clothes was starting to freeze over. Perhaps she had expended all of her aura and was unable to control the water's temperature in her current state. "The Oracle's chosen is younger than I expected."

Molam knelt down next to her, trying to determine what to say. To interrogate her now? He knew little about her aside from what he had been told. The wind roamed into the building freely now, picking up speed and bringing with it a numbing cold.

"City Lord Agytha," he began formally, unsure of the correct way to proceed. "We, the Dao, have freed JiangXi and you are to be taken prisoner." Yes, that seemed appropriate. A vocal reminder to those in the vicinity. "If you don't resist, you will be given treatment according to your station with —"

"Did you take the city?" Agytha coughed.

He paused. "Yes."

She closed her eyes. "I have nothing to say to you."

Molam clenched his fist, telling himself that he shouldn't get into this any further. All he wanted to do was go home. None of this mattered.

A man approached. "Primrose. Shurra. Kalle." Another gust of ice-cold wind blew into the building, causing all of them to cover themselves and shiver before the man gave a cautious greeting to Molam. "Molam. We're still looking around, but it looks like the City Lord burned most of the documents in her office."

Molam threw Agytha a look, but her eyes were firmly closed. He looked at Kalle. "That explains why she stayed."

"We've rescued a few that survived." The man offered up several sheets of paper.

Molam held out a hand, curious about what Agytha was hiding but knowing that this scroll probably contained nothing of importance if she’d burned the more pressing ones. The man gave him the scroll and Molam scanned his eyes over the document, recognizing it as several sheets of inventory. Everything was as he expected. Pallets of wood. Currency from taxing trade. Something about the garrison's wages. Food storage to survive the rest of Winter's Sorrow.

Wait. Molam frowned; the amount of food seemed far too low to possibly survive Winter's Sorrow. He flipped to the next page. Most of the food and wood had been delivered to Mursa Shang. As he looked through the documents the members of the Dao brought him, he eventually found what he wanted. Elderwood from the World Tree —yet the storage had been crossed out, and the area it had been moved to remained blank.

He looked at Agytha, whose eyes were still closed as though she was meditating. "Where is the wood from the World Tree?"

Agytha's eyes opened. "Why do you want to know that?"

Molam kept his voice monotone. "Even though the city is under our command, the citizens will want to continue with the Festival of the Hero."

"The elderwood is being transported to Oasis."

Molam felt a rush of heat from the feather wrapped around his wrist. For a moment, he forgot the cold as he feared he couldn't return home. "For what? How would you have planned to hold the Festival of the Hero without it?"

Agytha's lips curled. "Oasis needs it more than JiangXi does for a mere festival."

And I need it for the Fiery One's rebirth, he thought. The spirit, for some reason, was not speaking.

"What does Oasis need it for?" Wait, there was another even more important question to ask first. "Who is transporting it?" Molam followed up. Winter's Sorrow was starting. The elderwood couldn't already be transported, or even in the midst of travel. No trader would be willing to be caught outside the safety of a city's influence so long as the GloomSire and Unseen were prowling the trading roads.

Agytha gave him a dull look. So she wasn't going to tell him.

"Molam," Kalle began, "We can take our time to question Agytha later. Once Primrose recovers from the drowsiflora, she can find out everything from Agytha."

But Kalle didn't understand. Molam fought the urge to shake Agytha and interrogate her to prevent any chance of the elderwood leaving beyond his reach. Waiting for Primrose to recover would only delay this critical bit of information — Winter's Sorrow would stop him from chasing the transporter if they had already left. He looked at the inventory ledger again as his thoughts whirled with the gust of wind that blew in. Molam ignored the cold, his head pounding as he tried to organize his thoughts to identify the feeling of unease that he had overlooked something.

The storage of food was more than he expected given what he had heard about Agytha selling most of it to the Mursa. Of course. Agytha couldn't let the city know that she had other plans for their allotment of wood. The elderwood had been moved to the mursashu.

"The mursashu agreed to deliver the elderwood to Oasis, didn't they?"

Agytha didn't answer.

The gathered group members flinched as another chilly gust of wind blew through the building, some covering themselves and hopping about in a vain attempt to keep their bodies from freezing.

"Enough, Molam." Primrose coughed. "I can ask Agytha the rest."

Shurra laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. Molam looked at the hand, then at Shurra and her gaze told him he had delayed them long enough. His people were still injured. It was acceptable to stop now, considering his reasonable belief that the city's allotment of elderwood was simply with the mursashu.

"My apologies." He looked at Kalle. "I could stay here and help look for anything useful. After all, IceMourne could arrive anytime today, and having an extra person search would be helpful."

"All right." Kalle motioned for three members to help him with Primrose and Agytha. "I'll take them back to safety and tend to them. Need someone to bring a cart? For anything you find that needs to be brought out."

"Send someone back with some cloaks and lanterns. The wind keeps picking up and these torches won't last long." Molam patted Kalle on the arm gratefully. "Bring Shurra. We don't want anything unexpected to happen to you while Primrose is unable to channel her aura."

"Wait." Primrose coughed and pushed herself up on the stretcher, a weak hand gesturing for them to move aside. She gestured at Molam in front of the rest of the Dao. "Molam will take charge."

Kalle and Shurra's faces betrayed none of their surprise, and Kalle even ventured to give Molam a grim grin. Molam turned around to look at the gathered members of the Dao, their faces gleaming in the torchlight from a combination of sweat and melted snow. The group in front of him numbered less than half the group they had set out with, but he imagined several stayed behind to help those freed or were too injured to come help secure the Mansion. Dried blood caked several faces, but all of them looked at him with determination in their eyes. But the significance of Primrose's gesture meant he had to seize this moment.

For a moment the memory of being surrounded by torch-bearing people surged in his thoughts, and his body shuddered. Molam gathered himself, reminding himself that this group meant him no harm, and he would need their help to get home. He slung his bow over his shoulder and started with a low voice the way he always saw Mursa Khan start, one that made others lean in to hear his words.

"Some," he began, "Thought it impossible. They probably didn't trust the plan. They didn't trust a strategist that recently joined. They didn't trust the way we changed our plan. They didn't trust the Dao to succeed but —" he held up a finger, "I think what mattered here most was that they didn't trust themselves. If they did, they would be here to see it through."

"And they aren't here now. They don't know what you've done. But they will. Oh, they will. They will learn tomorrow," he nodded to them, "When they see how each and every one of you've succeeded at what they thought could not be done! They could have participated but they didn't trust enough to show up."

He raised his voice, holding out his hands with palms open. "And to you, my friends, the ones that did — the ones that trusted me, that trusted the plan, that trusted the Dao, and most importantly, trusted yourselves to see this through — to you I say: well done!"

He paused to take a deep breath, then raised a fist and roared. "Now look at what we've accomplished!" The raised fist pointed around them. "Together, we've beaten the city guards and captured the Mansion!" He pointed to Agytha. "Together, we've captured the City Lord that kept the citizens cold and stomachs empty!" He held his hands out, pouring his burning emotions into each and every word. "Together, we've done the impossible!"

The reminder seemed to invigorate the exhausted members. Several cheered, and then many others joined with whoops, shouts, and clapping. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kalle and Shurra nod. Molam waited for the next gust of wind to blow through the building, flickering the torches as it passed and calming down the gathered members.

"You might ask: now what?" Molam locked gazes with as many as he could, then spoke in an even tone, "Now, we salvage what we can. Now, we rebuild. Now, those who might not have lived past Winter's Sorrow can burn wood to stay warm and we will distribute what Agytha has taken. We will not loot the city. We have seen what Agytha's actions did, and we know we can do better! For a better tomorrow, we will —"

A large burst of wind blew down from the open roof and extinguished all of the torches in the building including the flames that burned in the alcoves in the walls. Molam instinctively covered his eyes as he looked down, trying to adjust to the sudden lack of light. To his side, it seemed as though everyone else was doing the same.

"And here I was wondering if Agytha lit the signal fire in a bid for help with entertaining guests, considering how she let go most of the servants." A voice, carried upon the wind and unmistakably female, emanated from the roof. Molam looked up, seeing the dark silhouette of a figure standing at the edge of the opening in the roof and looking down. "Though I must say, this is quite the rowdy crowd of guests. Is the Mansion's pitiful state a result of entertaining you all just for an evening?"

Molam seized the nearest extinguished torch from a Dao member and swiped it across his arm guard, raising a lit torch.

"Identify yourself!" A member of the Dao stood forward. "If you are one of the city guard captains, know that City Lord Agytha has been captured. If you surrender peacefully—"

Boy.

Molam threw an arm across the man's chest, stopping him from speaking with a wide-eyed glare. He didn't even need to hear the stress in the spirit's voice in his head; his nerves tingled with urgency and the chill that ran down his spine had nothing to do with the cold. To his side, he heard the slithering of metal as Shurra drew her sword. Several members of the Dao cursed as they tried to relight their torches.

The shadow stepped down from the roof's open crater. Where one would expect her to fall down, she instead floated in her descent with another gust of wind until her feet stepped onto the top of the stairs. The flame of the torch he held did not go out despite the wind, and the light illuminated the woman's relatively young face. Her silver hair was bound in a braid that fell across one shoulder, at the end of which was secured a brooch with an emerald gem. Her eyes were the same color as the gem, a glowing green, spaced gently above a straight nose. Molam noticed the thick fur that lined her clothes and boots was matted with blood and dirt, a sure sign of a recent fight.

She did not look tall and the distance between them made her look even smaller, but the overwhelming presence as she looked down upon them all seized at the very air he breathed.

"Identify myself, hm?" Her voice was at a lower volume now, an idle drawl that indicated she was in no hurry to speak. The way her voice carried to their ears from the darkness above the stairs beyond the torchlight's reach struck Molam with a cold dread. "Very well then. By the Prince's generosity, I have been granted the humble name of Rei." She reached to her belt and loosened a folding fan, expanding it with a flick of her wrist to hide the lower half of her face, her green eyes peering out from above. "But perhaps all of you would better recognize me by my Title: the Tempest."