Rosewell wasn’t sleeping well, ever since the academy was attacked three weeks prior, the blood gems started showing up on enemy equipment and they were challenging and taking territory openly, the nobles were leaving their fortresses.

A good gem the size of a man’s head was worth tens of thousands of gold, and even a middling mage with one could be a force of nature should it be loaded with the right spells and used properly.

Harlan and Yggdra had both worried about the implications of the golem armor that Harlan made, and those instant archmagi that now took to the battlefields were those fears come to life.

What was once a cost matching a town, reduced to a few hundred lives, a war that would escalate the more blood was spilled.

This wasn’t like many civil wars of the past where a handful of nobles would rebel just to make their dissatisfaction with policy known or to tell the new regent that they need to be careful about pushing too strongly against them.

This was a war that the other side thought they could win, and the death toll was only growing.

Harlan knelt before his queen.

“I have given thought to your reservations about these planes, and I have decided that the immediate cost of lives outweighs the possible cost in the future.”

“I understand.”

“On a worse note, I’ve also had my Unseen compile every encounter that we believe David Haywood and Parnell Pearl have been involved with.”

A folder full of reports and drawings floated from her hand down to him.

“So he really has been acting as a third force. But they shouldn’t be nearly strong enough for such a thing.”

“Check page 24.”

A painting done with magic wasn’t perfect, there could be details missed, because ultimately it was tracing from the mind of the mage. But this couldn’t be denied, he instantly recognized who the woman with David and Parnell was.

“They wouldn’t.”

“Just as they wouldn’t join the enemy, then kill them for their information? How certain are you that they are anything like what you believed?”

“I can’t imagine them working with Nemain, that is a bridge too far. Have they lost their minds?”

“You said to me that this war has been irrevocably changed by your presence, and that you exist because of the magic she attacked you with. This may have been her plan from the start. If you asked your god, what would she say?”

Harlan’s eyes went black, but rather than instantly coming to him, he noticed another presence in this place.

Pale blue skin and horns.

Both of the Harlan’s stood there in an awkward silence for some time.

“Where is she?”

“I haven’t a clue, I came in here and I’ve just been waiting.”

“Odd. I didn’t think we could be here without her.”

The blue Harlan shrugged.

“I’m leaving, but I hope you get your answers.”

“Do you want to see-”

“That life is not mine, she is not my daughter.”

There was an undeniable edge to his voice, even though he accepted it, that didn’t mean he liked that Harlan had stolen his life.

Before there could be any more words between them, the blue Harlan left.

He stood there in the void for a time longer, yet still she did not appear to him, so he left.

“How long was I out?”

“10 minutes. What did she say?”

“She said nothing, she wasn’t there. I met my other self in that place and he also said that he was waiting, but he gave up shortly after I arrived.”

“That other Harlan, could he be an ally?”

“He didn’t seem overly keen on being around me, but I will ask if I see him again..”

“I’m certain he would do so, he has too many bonds here.”

Xol suddenly appeared, before arriving he cleared his throat and got ready to speak in riddles.

“That void which answers is not in now, thus those words might be spoken to I.”

“Are David and Parnell acting under Nemain’s orders?”

Xol stood silently.

“Xol?”

“This… I cannot answer…”

“How can I contact the other Harlan?”

“Your words to this shall reach that.”

“Yggdra wants to know if he could be an ally.”

Xol’s eyes went white as he connected to King Fomoria’s amulet, and the conversation lasted less than a minute; the lich seemed in an unpleasant mood suddenly.

“Your ears shall be spared his tone and words, his is his, yours is yours.”

Xol then turned his eyes to Harlan.

“Should her war end poorly, he offers you and yours refuge.”

“I won’t let it come to that.”

Xol vanished just as he appeared.

Rosewell took the rejection in stride, she would rather have two Harlan’s than one, but her plans never intended for the double anyway.

“I would like you to work with Lilly and Dagda to create a bomber plane, I leave the details of how to you.”

She waved her hand and he went to the lab deep under the palace.

When he entered the room, there was a clear feeling of anger from both the princess and the orb.

“I understand Dagda, but why are you angry at me?”

“You’ve been here for three weeks, and I’ve not seen you once.”

“And?‘

“You didn’t come to see me.”

“And why would I? You might not have realized, but I dislike you because you are an entitled brat.”

“GUARDS.”

They made no moves against him.

“I’ve accomplished a very important goal in my life, I am just worth too much alive and happy.

Now, how far have you gotten in actually reproducing the planes from my designs.”

“Are these half finished? Because we’ve had to make significant changes to make the wings flap.”

“They don’t flap, other than these small parts here that control the roll.”

The two of them were somewhat baffled by Harlan’s explanations of things, and once they heard it, they felt even more foolish as they realized how obvious it should’ve been.

Their issue was one that many inventors who sought to conquer the skies had before them, they looked at nature and what was known.

People saw boats and the power of the wind and they tried sails, and they looked at flying animals, and they tried flapping wings.

The airships of the past functioned, more or less, but they were so inefficent that the cost to move even relatively short distances was high before one even calculated the cost to move with people accounted for, thus they were all abandoned, and those who came after were mocked.

With the exterior designs finished, scale models were built to just test general airflow over it and find inefficiencies.

One of the things Xol had given him as a design was a wind tunnel for testing things like this.

“I don’t think we need to change much, so now we just need to make some choices about the inside of the plane. Your design would have us build two separate bomber models, one for troops with seating, and another for racks of bombs. But I believe if we put in rails, then we could have a single model which could be changed as needed or mix and match seats and racks.”

Harlan looked at her drawings and was impressed that he hadn’t already thought of that.

“The rails will need to be stonesteel if you want to load this many bombs per rack, since most of the plane’s insides will be skysteel to keep weight down.”

“That can be done. And I’d like to change out the bolts for ones of firesteel, as they will be partly exposed and if they melted from an enemy attack or lightning the entire plane would be unable to fly properly.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Look at the designs, I have runic traces here that take advantage of the skysteel’s affinity for air magic and will send the bolts of lightning back into the clouds. Alternatively we could always just put small half domes to cover them, but then we’d be adding more weight.”

“By using hover, how much does weight actually matter?”

“The cost of a hover is directly related to the weight of the object or person along with the size of it.

For the smaller planes it shouldn’t be an issue, but for cargo or bombers the cost will skyrocket if we aren’t thinking about exactly where we need to cut the weight as much as we can.”

“Fine, but I say we still go with the half domes, just only on the bottom side.

The chances of dealing with a fire attack rather than lightning from above is going to be much lower unless a wyvern attacks.”

“Good that you mentioned that. In your modified design you have four gunners on the top and bottom, but I think we could have just four gunners in total if we use rails like you suggested on the inside to let them move up and down the side of the plane.”

“How do you intend to move ammo to these people then?”

“They are belt fed and there is magic that can prevent tangles and snags.”

“But with what you’ve drawn here, you are adding a weakness and a complexity to the design. Just as with our trains, these need to function well enough that no matter how stupid the pilots are, they can’t break it.”

“How about we meet in the middle, three gunners, triangle formation on top and bottom, and a gun that the pilots can fire themselves but will aim for itself.”

“What if it gets confused on the target?”

“We are flying these planes one at a time, the only other thing that big in the sky is likely to be a wyvern or a jellyfish. If they do need to fly more than one at a time, then we can just tell them not to use the front turret.”

“Fine.”

Lilly was an engineer, but Dagda was a mage through and through.

When they decided on a final design, his questions were of a magical nature.

“I think that perhaps we should actually add more gems, here, here, and here. I think that your runic pathways are fine, but if the magic was overused in those locations they are the farthest from other gems and could be stressed beyond their ability.”

“The only thing that should be fired from there are bolts of lightning, see how this path connects to these specific bolts? They have spells which make them act as lightning rods.”

“Ah, so that explains that. And this here?”

They constantly changed the design, if something Lilly suggested was added, then suddenly the pathways which connected the gems needed to be changed, and if they moved a gem or added magic by Dagda’s suggestions, then suddenly one part or another might need to be changed.

The three were having a great time, arguing back and forth about if it should rely more on natural laws or on magic and many other things about the design; things had gotten heated more than once.

“So if we got wyvern pheromones, we could actually repel them, and if that is the case, we could lower the number of gunners and thus the weight.”

Harlan had been trying as much as possible to fight against radical design changes, this was a bomber, not a flying fortress.

“I still don’t agree that we couldn’t avoid using any ammo at all, and make the turrets entirely magical, which would allow your rail design for the gunners moving up and down the plane.”

Dagda of course wanted more magic.

“We have too much already in this, unless you intend to put several giant mana gems inside of it, the cost would grow too large if you had to actually use the guns to put down larger wyverns. We will simply get more offense per gold if we stick with physical ammo that has been enchanted as you suggested before.”

A royal guard entered the room.

“Princess Lilly, I have been asked to ensure you go to bed to keep a fresh mind.”

“But it is only…”

She got out a pocket watch.

“Oh, it is past 1AM. Did we really just spend 12 hours on this?”

“I guess we did. Dagda, Lilly, I think we need to go with two designs, one more mechanical, one more magical, and then we test them. There is only so much theoretical work we can do and the scale models aren’t going to be perfect. And please, do keep costs in mind.”

Dagda clicked his metal limbs together in thought.

“Yes, we should do this. Tomorrow, Lilly and I shall make our designs, you shall review them, then we build.”

“We could just stay here a little longer and-”

“Lady Lilly, this was a request by your sister. She also said that I was not to take no for an answer, as you would likely spend hours working past your bedtime.”

She sighed and started to leave, thus Harlan did as well, leaving Dagda there in the lab where he hung from the ceiling and the light in his orb dimmed.

As they were going to the same area, Harlan’s family having been put in the same hallways as the rest of the royals, they walked together for much of the way, but not long after having left the lab, the fervor of creation had left her, and she began to sway in her step.

Her last bodyguard had gotten a little bit too close; his… removal from the services of the kingdom had left an impression on the others, so he didn’t want to offer her a hand.

Harlan cared not for such things.

“Do you want me to carry you? When do you normally go to sleep?”

“Yes. 8. I want to… I like to wake early so I can smell the forges turning on.”

He knelt down and she climbed on his back.

Hands came the armor on his back to keep her from falling, her arms wrapped around his neck, and he had made loops with his arms that she put her legs in.

She was sleeping before he got to her room, and the maids had a scandalized look on their faces when they saw the pair.

She was taken by her maids to be undressed from her day clothes into a nightgown and put in bed.

Adina was still awake, and Vivi wouldn't stop crying; she didn’t hear him enter.

“Why don’t you stop crying? I love you, please, let me sleep.”

Her voice trembled, she felt weak.

“Let me try.”

She jumped slightly, but he could see that her reaction time was slow and her reaction was lessened compared to what she should be able to do.

Almost immediately after she was in Harlan’s arms, Viviane calmed down, and in just a few minutes, she was sleeping.

“How?”

“You are anxious, she can feel that. She needs to feel like everything is completely safe.

So, what’s wrong?”

“You were gone all day and I didn’t know what you were doing and Aida asked and I couldn’t tell her and then Ava came in and Vivi liked her more than me and Autumn had such perfect control over-”

“Stop. I was designing a final plane design, a bomber. My mother was probably just making conversation, it doesn’t matter that you couldn’t know. Vivi is too young to understand liking someone, she probably just mistook you for one another. And your niece and nephew are toddlers, they can listen, Vivi can’t.

Is there something else?”

“I’m scared of being a mother. What if I drop her? What if I swing around too fast and she gets whiplash? I’m not normal, she’s just so… fragile.”

“So long as she is still breathing, there isn’t anything that you can do that we can’t fix, we are both pretty damn good healers.”

Adina began to cry, and suddenly Harlan had an idea about what was happening.

He put her in bed and then laid down next to her.

“Maybe this is just because your hormones are still a wreck, and what I’ve done to your body only made it more intense.”

“I miss our home, our bed, the room we spent so much time decorating for her.”

“I’ll talk to Hirum tomorrow, we can see how things are, and maybe we should go back. I don’t feel safe leaving my family here or letting them go back home, so maybe I’ll make another house, since we don’t have enough guest rooms.”

“Really? Do you think Rosewell will be upset?”

“I’m still just a call away, if I have to walk down a hall or gate back here, it doesn’t matter much. If anything, the gate room is closer to the throne room than our bedroom.”

“Do you think it is really going to be safe back home?”

“We are still surrounded by archmagi on every side, and I have a pet that I can put in the yard to scare intruders away.”

“A pet?”

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

When Adina fell asleep just a few minutes after they laid down, Harlan left the room with Viviane.

“Sir Fomoria, is there something we can do?”

“Please, make sure my wife is not disturbed while she sleeps.”

The guard outside his door saluted him and bowed.

Harlan made his way to the gate room, where a guard gave him a look, but didn’t stop him.

He stepped out in the cool late spring air, and then again, bringing him home.

It was as bad as Hirum told him, worse even.

When they attacked, they managed to sneak through several dozen archmagi plots, and they burned his home to the foundation.

Everything about this was unacceptable.

Every step he took through the ashes of the home he spent so long making made him furious.

The only part that made him feel any better about were the skeletons in the area, his defenses weren’t to be scoffed at, layers of real and false spells, each weaved into a series of tangles that would be impossible for just any mage to get through. And by what was left the in the ashes, his tools, a few projects that were half-finished, and his raw materials, he was thinking that they never actually did break through, and they likely burned his home out of frustration.

Vivi started to fuss as he looked at the burned husk of what was supposed to be one of her toys.

“I’m sorry, papa is just annoyed.”

He kissed her forehead and she seemed to calm.

“Now we can make something bigger, can’t we? Don’t you want more space to run around?”

He moved down to the little rest area he made, they had at least left that alone, either not knowing about it or just deciding that it wasn’t worth attacking.

“I don’t how how I’m going to tell mama that its gone.”

Harlan knew what he was going to do, and he couldn’t shield his emotions from her if they grew too strong.

So he set Vivi in a hammock he quickly made from leaves stitched with magic and swayed her from side to side as he cried.

That he built with his own two hands, that was his, that he spent hours and hours fretting over what his child’s room would look like, that place was now just charcoal and ashes.

He didn’t want to be angry, he didn’t want this all consuming rage that he could feel bubbling up, but it was there.

----------------------------------------

Around three weeks prior.

David brought his sword to the woman’s throat, but Parnell was frozen by her scent.

“My, I don’t believe one could cut me with such a thing.”

David looked down and saw that his sword was a crow.

The confused creatures looked at one another and it panicked, flying out of his hand.

“Oh, perhaps this is what you intended.”

She pulled a pin from her hair that he recognized as being his sword, but smaller.

“You are that Fae, the one Harlan fought.”

She threw her head back and laughed, a gentle facade that failed to hide all of her devious intent.

By instinct, David flinched when he met her eyes again.

“A fight that was not, a trial more like.”

“What do you want.”

She wagged her finger.

“Tisk tisk tisk, my desire is only to help, it is yours which brings me to here and now.”

She handed his sword back to him and the instant he took his eyes off of it the weapon returned to its full size.

“A sign of good faith? A gift for a gift.”

“Who gave who a gift?”

He wasn’t exactly a scholar of Fae, but he had some vague idea of what he shouldn’t do, and being given a gift without a clear cost was always a bad thing.

“Why you’ve given to me. So now I shall repay the favor. You wish to flee, so perhaps a gate, just like Harlan’s?”

“What did I give you that is worth that?”

“War, millions more shall grow in strength, all because of you.”

“That isn’t… I didn’t start this war.”

“Oh? Does this one not wish for a gift without cost?”

He was certain he was being played, but the risk was worth it to him.