Nagos, as he turned out, was a very different person away from the spotlight.

Often Narcissa would find him awake at night, looking over maps and routes with sad eyes. Other times he would write orders or develop plans for this and that. But he was his old self when he was near any of his men.

It was... concerning. Narcissa wondered if Nagos had a true self at all or if he was like a mirror. One that only showed you what you wanted to see. And that brought up questions.

Did Nagos care about his nation or his friends? Or was it an act? Narcissa had always known that Sahshir was not... empathetic. He did not care about people so much as act as one would if they cared. Was Nagos the same?

Alike, yet different.

Narcissa had little to say in these meetings. Usually, she asked questions and kept her gaze open. Yin was a very competent officer, but Nagos seemed better than he pretended. Or perhaps he was learning from Yin, and she saw the end result.

"If I've guessed correctly," said Nagos one day in his office, "Aridius will want to marry Octavus' mother. What was her name? The arrogant, proud, beautiful lady. That'll let him stake himself as Emperor.

"And if not him, someone else will want to do it. So marrying her will give them a sort of legitimacy." He finished writing a sheet of paper and sealed it before walking out of the cabin to hand it to a messenger bird. "That's why, if she hasn't already left, I'll surely have her detained.

"It'll give me bargaining power." Was Nagos planning to try becoming Emperor? That seemed like something other than something he could accomplish.

"Won't she have left as soon as she heard of her son's death?" asked Narcissa. Despite herself, she felt at least a bit of sympathy toward the woman. Yes, she was arrogant and insufferable, but she'd lost her only son. And now people view her as a chess piece on a board, not a human.

Then again, judging her as a human might be doing her no favors.

"I ordered that she be kept completely out of the loop once Aridius left. So I doubt it," said Nagos after a moment. "Chaminus has been telling her what she wants to hear for months. Her personal servants were easy to corrupt; they all hate her."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Narcissa. She was curious to know if she liked this side of Nagos right now.

Nagos shifted in his seat, falling into silence momentarily as his eyes narrowed. The moment stretched into eternity until Narcissa thought he'd fallen into a trance. Then, finally, he looked up. "Well, first off, we need to end the war. And we have to do it quickly. The longer this drags out, the more likely Kaba or somebody else will find a way to counter us.

"So, we'll take drastic action."

"What action?" asked Narcissa.

"Not sure yet," admitted Nagos. "But it probably involves blowing things up. That's how these things usually end. So, Admiral Yin, if the war continues, how long do you think we'll last."

"King Nagos," said Yin with utter conviction. "I can promise you that if we continue as we are, the remnants of a great empire will be destroyed."

"Elegantly put, as always," said Nagos with a laugh. He sipped his tea as though to soothe nerves. "Do you mean Dinis, Sorn, or Chaminus?"

"Yes," said Yin flatly. And the look on his face was grim.

"Fair enough, the Calishans win, I get it," said Nagos, sipping his tea again. "No wonder Sahshir was so deadset on starting this fight. He's pretty smart. Sorn will win, eventually, but at a massive cost. They'll start pillaging Dinis in retribution, and Chaminus will probably be destroyed.

"All our people will be enslaved or killed; Kaba will rip up our sacred statues and send them back to Sorn.

"They'll be put in some hall or something where he shows guests. Maybe get patted on the back for being so cultured.

"Then Calisha won by doing nothing," He paused and smiled. "Fortunately, I have countermeasures in place. That's why I sent letters to Ruscow."

"Ruscow?" asked Narcissa. "Why would you send letters to the capital of Calisha? They're not even involved in the war. Sahshir is acting on his own."

"I'm asking them to mediate an end to the conflict," said Nagos. "If Baltoth intercedes to end this, we might get out alive. And if we can sell the Empress Mother to whoever stands up as the next Emperor...

"We may actually get out, alright."

"We must consider what to do if the war continues," said Yin, leaning back in his seat. "One must always seek the best outcome and prepare for the absolute worst."

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"Then..." Nagos paused. "What do you recommend, Yin?"

"Given the stakes of what will happen if we lose, escalation may be in order," said Yin. "We might kill so many Sornians that the soldiers stab their officers and riot. Sometimes that happens if the upper classes are out of touch enough."

"No, no, if we do that, we'll be hated," said Nagos. "The next war will come, and they'll wipe us out then. They'll recover a lot faster than Dinis will.

"That's why I've been trying to save so many sailors when I sink the ships. It means they'll talk about my mercy and such and spread the word about my victories. So I'm trying to appeal to the best in people."

"Perhaps," said Yin, "but our enemies are by nature the worst people in Sorn. Kaba and his ilk do not care about morality, profit, or domination. Beauty and good are inconveniences to them or, at best, tools by which they may manipulate the masses.

"People they regard as sheep to be led to the slaughter."

"How do you know that?" asked Narcissa. "Have you met him?"

"The measure of a man is in what he does," said Yin. "We have met him wherever his machinations extend. I need not listen to his sneering to know he holds life in contempt. His actions tell us that much."

"Yes, I know," said Nagos. "But if we weaken Kaba enough, the more reasonable noble classes may come to power. Then, they might be willing to come to an agreement."

"They will be under pressure from the common people," said Yin. "The merchants of Sorn justify their brutality by appealing to the love of country. Therefore, every victory we win will be regarded as an insult to the honor of Sorn, regardless of context.

"Even if it is more profitable for them to cut their losses, they will be obligated to keep fighting you. Or the masses they hold in contempt will riot."

"Then we'll break the masses!" snapped Nagos. "We'll relieve Sahshir and free Macshore.

"If they don't make a deal with us before then..." He looked down at the table. "We'll take the fleet to the capital of Sorn, Suvera. It's situated between the sea and their silver mines.

"They'll have to engage us then. We'll sink every fleet they throw at us once we're there..."

Then he leaned against the deck and stared out over it. "We'll shell the Golden City into dust. Then we'll go along the shore and blast every fishing village and coastal town."

Yin hesitated. "King Nagos, such an action would kill thousands. Tens of thousands, and without fishing villages, even more would starve. It could..."

"Destroy Sorn completely. I know. If we lose, our entire culture, our people, all of it will be destroyed for the sake of money," said Nagos. "I don't want to escalate to the level of Sorn. But if it becomes them or us...

"I am willing to utterly and completely annihilate their nation if it means saving my own." Then suddenly, Nagos shuddered and fell back from his seat onto the ground, shaking as if struck. Narcissa rose up and ran to his side, kneeling. "Nagos!"

Nagos went still before rising. "Just fine; I'm being what people need me to be," said Nagos. Then he moved over to the window and looked down toward the sea. "I swear I saw a light down there."

"Light?" asked Narcissa.

"Yes," said Nagos. "Have I ever told you how I met the Fish King?"

"No," said Narcissa, "you haven't."

"Serna and I were trying our hand at fishing," said Nagos. "And my nets caught something. I tried to pull it out, but I was dragged down instead. I was pulled down into the depths, and yet I could breathe.

"I could see nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing.

"Then I saw a faint green light, and I saw what I thought was the face of a cliff made from shining stone. It was perfectly smooth, and yet it hurt the eyes to gaze at it.

"Then it blinked.

"Looking around, I saw Him.

"The Fish King."

"You mean his avatar," said Narcissa.

"No I mean Him," said Nagos. "The Fish King is not like other gods. He poured all he was into a physical body. It rests at the very depths of the sea, sleeping. The head is like that of a squid upon a body like a man's. He has wings like those of a dragon, but no dragon has ever had such a span.

"When you gaze at him, you can never really know if what you're looking at is that color or if it's just a trick of the light. When he shifts within his slumber, tsunamis tear the shore. His gaze extends into all things, into the mind of every creature that has ever feared the unknown. We know him, and yet we desperately try not to.

"We exist in a perpetual denial of his rising. Denial of our own nature.

"He was ancient when the first world had not been formed. So all our lives and existence are insignificant. All that our races have been is but the merest flicker of the imagination in his mind. We are gone and forgotten in an instant. Less significant than a vial of water splashed into the ocean.

"And one day, he will awaken."

Narcissa blinked in surprise. As Nagos spoke, she saw no sign of him in his face. It was as if he had been snatched away. "...Is there a plan to kill him when that happens?"

"...I suppose we could trick him and Smyngoth into getting into a fight," said Nagos. "I hear he's due to awaken and end the world. Maybe they'll kill each other."

They didn't speak much after that.

Soon Nagos' fleet neared Macshore and came within sight of the island. It looked a lot worse than before; the houses and buildings had begun ragged or burned. Those which hadn't were being fortified and had troops near them. As they sailed forward and sought to lure them away, the Sornian fleet did not budge. Narcissa watched time after time as Nagos sought to bait them.

He feigned a retreat, and they refused it. So he advanced, and they withdrew before him as others came around. Nagos had to draw back then to avoid being encircled. But the Sornians did not pursue him once he escaped.

The day was spent like this, miserable beneath the beating sun.

Narcissa looked at the town where she'd set out from, noticing the banner. She'd received news of what had happened here from Garacel. They had to turn this conflict around somehow. But nothing came of things but a stalemate.

Day after day, the ships danced. More Sornian vessels arrived from elsewhere. Only to end up simply reinforcing existing lines. As the week continued, Nagos and Admiral Yin outplayed every effort to encircle them.

Supplies were no issue, of course. Nagos had stopped to resupply before coming here.

"We're going to be here for a while, aren't we?" asked Narcissa.

"Yes," said Yin, "but we're also tying up a large part of the Sornian Fleet, leaving our allies free rein to raid. And the longer this lasts, the more likely Baltoth will intercede. So if we can drag things out, this will only go badly for our enemy."

"Well," said Nagos, "that shouldn't be too hard.

"Anyone wants to play chess?"

"Sure, why not," said Narcissa.

This was going to be a long wait, wasn't it?