Sitting in Romastir, Omilaena was beginning to suspect that everyone else was having all the fun.

Oh, there had been an assassination attempt or two and a few little squabbles. Just crystalliers, no attempts to use poison or anything interesting, so she had made them disappear without a trace. Give the others something to wonder about. Everything else was mundane; Krainuun seemed to be enjoying his planning and numbers but there was nothing for her to sink her teeth into.

From the news that came in from around Krysal, it seemed that most were unclear on whether or not this was simply a slightly larger uprising or something that should move them from the status quo. All secrecy around New Laeneria had been annihilated. Everyone knew it was in open rebellion and the only question was whether or not the Maneater herself was involved. People came to a remarkable number of conclusions considering they didn't even have the information yet.

It seemed as though most people still believed Romastir was a vulnerable city state, not part of any conspiracy. That was just about the only place where secrecy still held. Their unfortunate worker who had set everything off hadn't been alone, and there were other reports of uprisings, either being immediately crushed or getting out of hand.

So far, the gold to crystal ratio simply ticked up, as if this was just business as usual.

Omilaena received the first news she actually cared about when Kai showed up at the city. Apparently one of the workers had sacrificed herself to save the army, then he had jumped in to save her. The army itself was kept in one of the mines outside Romastir, since Krainuun rightly insisted that they didn't have operational control within the city. Their confidence had definitely taken a knock, even though many were glad to be alive.

Having Kai back should have entertained her, but he was too serious at the moment. Organizing the army or training them at times, then engaging in his own training at others, even though all reports suggested he'd had no trouble. She liked his enthusiasm, even if she couldn't do anything with it.

The silence from Yulthens grew more and more ominous before Zae Zin Nim arrived and reported that all four of their sub-armies had been successfully extracted. They now had far more workers than they could support, even with the supplies that Krainuun had been stockpiling. Either being discovered or spiraling into chaos was inevitable, which meant they needed a new plan.

Oh joy, meetings. The fun had finally come to her.

.

..

.

When he'd been a child, Kai had imagined being part of a war council. It would have been before a monster incursion, of course, not against other humans. In the past he had been a child, then an exile during the most unusual incursion of his life.

Now he was actually sitting at a council. There was a map, but no little pieces to represent forces. Allies around the table, but instead of hunters they included an administrator, a cultivator, and a poisoner. Instead of a single enemy rushing from the north, violence broke out in a dozen different ways in a dozen different places.

And the casualties would be human on both sides.

All those thoughts kept him silent as Krainuun spoke. The former servant's approach seemed eminently reasonable: he didn't waste time on platitudes, didn't pretend their situation was anything other than it was, and didn't act like he could lead. Krainuun didn't try to make military decisions but also wasn't servile: he acted like their equal, leaning into his strengths and deferring to theirs.

"If they had another year for cultivation, they would be more dangerous," Zae Zin Nim said. "But they don't have a year. It's bad now, and will get worse if Yulthens decides to make public that their workers are gone. Based on what Orillia said, they're only keeping it secret because it would weaken them with the other cities."

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"We can't even last that long," Omilaena said. "The army from New Laeneria is restless, after running away from a fight. They'll fuck something up first."

"They will eat through our supplies even sooner." Krainuun placed his hands on the table and met their gazes, one at a time. "It seems to me that they need a victory that will sustain them, both metaphorically and materially. If you have no immediate military goals, I would like to propose an attack."

"Go ahead, why not?" Omilaena waved a hand lazily.

"We should attack the city of Slaerta."

His finger stabbed down at a point in the map, which would have been much more dramatic if that meant anything to Kai. Slaerta was just another name to him. Relatively central to Krysal, with plenty of interconnecting roads, but not as large as some other cities. If he understood the icons correctly, it had a crystal mine but no acid pit.

Kai roused himself to focus on the war ahead. "Why Slaerta?" he asked. "I've never heard of it."

"That's not surprising, because Slaerta is not among Krysal's foremost cities. Its ego about its crystalliers far outstrips its actual importance." Krainuun tapped his finger on the city as he spoke. "But it provides something critical: a safe target. You see, when Slaerta suffered an economic depression some years back, it altered its social order. City workers, who normally viewed themselves as above the serfs in the mines, were pressed into virtual slavery."

He said that as if it should make the point obvious, but Zae Zin Nim only blinked at him in perfect neutrality and Omilaena didn't look like she was paying attention. Kai thought he understood, but gestured for Krainuun to continue just in case.

"If we attack Slaerta, almost the entire population would greet us as liberators. The workers in other cities wouldn't turn against us, because they sympathize with the people we're freeing. Because the city isn't economically critical, we wouldn't incite immediate retaliation from other powers. Winning a victory would improve morale and unite our separated armies. That is why I believe this to be the logical next step."

"The other cities really wouldn't attack?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "Even if they are familiar with failed uprisings and presume this will go the same way, surely they must see the threat."

"Yes, but consider it from a mercantile perspective." Krainuun eased back into his seat and flattened his hands on the table. "Sitting out of the fighting can be excellent for the bottom line. War is expensive and it tends to destroy valuable resources. With the gold to crystal ratio increasing, and some crystalliers dead, they won't want to risk their assets unless they're convinced that it's necessary."

"What about that food problem?" Omilaena had been sitting back, staring toward the ceiling like she was daydreaming, but now she spoke sharply. "We're concentrating a lot of people in one place, doesn't that still run into supply issues?"

"An army can sustain itself so long as it presses into new territory, and if Slaerta is seized, our dwindling resources will not be obvious for quite some time. Anywhere we go, there will be supply issues, but in Slaerta we would buy ourselves as much time as we can reasonably expect."

Zae Zin Nim abruptly stood up. "This seems reasonable. We've talked enough, let's act."

No one else objected, so her conclusion apparently decided it for the rest of them. Zae Zin Nim headed out on business of her own while Omilaena sat back, still gazing through the ceiling. Kai was about to leave when he saw Krainuun roll up the map and move away. Instead of returning to his training, which would be more of what he had been doing since he arrived, he followed the former servant.

"Deescalation will only work temporarily," he said. "Maybe taking Slaerta will give the others pause, but it will also give everyone who decides to act a target. You don't think we can delay forever and find a new status quo, do you?"

"It has been done before, but... no." Krainuun regarded him coolly. "And is that what you want, Kai? A return to peace as soon as possible?"

"Not exactly." Kai rolled his shoulders as he thought about it. "What I want is a better, fairer Krysal. Just bidding for peace now would mean going back to the old system. But if the revolution builds up enough strength, there will come a point when the merchants want to sue for peace. When that happens, what will you want?"

The dark eyes glittered at him emotionlessly. "You're asking if I seek retribution? Some definitely will, and we will see great bloodshed before this is over. But I do not seek a revolution that takes vengeance on every target and then starves in the ashes."

"Did you think that's what we wanted?"

"It was a possibility. I have known many crystalliers in my time. They want to defeat an opponent, declare victory, and move on, with no concern for what they leave behind."

"I don't know what I'll leave behind, but I'm concerned about it." Kai had meant it as a joke, but the words felt leaden.

It was inevitable now. They had set off a revolution in Krysal that would change the nation, for better or for worse. He was certain that it would take him against Suortril and the Diamond Crystalliers, which was a battle he had been preparing for over months. But it would also set him against vast systems, and he had no idea how that battle would end.