Kozma Rajmund was the founder of Estana. He was, just like Florent Mazet from the Siwen , a dragon slayer. He defeated a dragon at Deltalago, the current capital of the country.
Deltalago was considered the blessed land because there were greens in spite of the lack of an oasis in the middle of a desert. It was also surrounded by rocky canyons, shielding the area from hot and dry wind. Kozma’s followers started the first city of Estana naturally at the spot where the dragon was slayed. Fast forward about 2,000 years, the city had a population of about 100,000 people, and the Rajmund family continued to rule the nation.
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Szalai Rajmund was 59 years old when he was informed of the existence of the airship. He saw many, many, improvements in quality of life with it. The most clear benefit was that they’d be able to avoid the giant spiders in the desert. Because they were such fearsome monsters, the royal family rarely left the capital. Eventually, they developed a lightweight single-person carriage that could be levitated by a group of four wind mages which proved to be the only reliable way to leave Deltalago without the fear of being hunted down by the giant spiders. The airship could change that easily. Thus, naturally he sent spies out immediately and ordered the construction of an airship. His highly talented scholars were able to deduce most of the functionality of the airship from reports the spies made which were observations from afar. But they simply could not figure out how it floated.
“We are going to need the schematic,” said a scholar who was one of the most respected ones in the royal court. He sat on the floor in front of the king with his legs crossed. They did not kneel; They sat. It was their custom. The king sat on the ground as well; He had no throne to sit in. But he did have a large red cushion underneath with golden linings.
“I didn’t expect it to be easy,” Szalai responded while caressing his white beard. “It does not matter how much it is going to cost. We are going to purchase it.”
Thus, Estana made an official attempt; They sent a diplomat to Keviel to begin a negotiation to purchase the airship schematic. However, the diplomat was not received at all. They were refused at the gate. The Egra royal court never even bothered to listen to what their purpose was. Ever since their victory against the Siwen, the Kingdom of Egra had completely severed any diplomatic connections with Estana because they no longer needed iron imports anymore. They sent a few more diplomats with their third one finally received into the Egra royal court. In the end, however, their request was refused.
“I will not accept that,” Szalai declared. “We need that airship. I demand it.”
“If they don’t want to play fair, then we will have to play dirty,” one of his advisors said.
The king grunted and let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine, so be it. Do whatever. Just bring me the schematic. I don’t care how much it costs.”
His advisors drafted a plan swiftly. After finding out that the invention came from a young noble named Kamil Fenchel, they decided to bring him into the fold instead of going after the schematic. However, there was a problem, a big problem.
“He has no connections to anyone,” said one of the advisors in a conference room with other advisors. The king was not present at the moment. Estana was a monarchy. However, the king did not hold the absolute power like the king of Egra did. There was a council of elders who shared some of the decision powers with the king. The king would have powers to veto his council’s decisions if he was reasonable enough. A delicate balance was required.
Anyway, in order to coax a foreign noble to defect, they needed someone close to him to make an approach. That was the first step. The problem was that Kamil had no valid connection to anyone. They could never use Edmund or Baptiste, and that shouldn’t have mattered. A proper noble would have a web of people close to him. Interestingly, he had no one to use as a middle man. Eventually, out of desperation, they chose to use Gregor, a low ranking scholar who was from the Kingdom of Egra. In spite of his magical prowess, he was never trusted enough to have been given a higher rank.
“Gregor, this is your chance to shine. You will be given two promotions at once if you make this work. Money is not an issue. Bring Kamil Fenchel to our fold.”
He beamed a devilish grin. He was waiting for a chance to shine, and it had finally arrived after a decade or so. He had pretty much given up trying to earn their trust until this point. After falling out with Karsten Egra, he left his kingdom all together for his own safety. The reason he chose Estana was crossing the desert to reach Deltalago was a risky endeavor which would act as a natural barrier, should Karsten send assassins after him. Additionally, Estana didn’t display any disdain toward those from the kingdom of Egra unlike the Siwen although it was clear that they didn’t let him climb the ladder in politics, which was understandable.
Either way, he had a job to do and got on with it quickly. Just like the advisors had once done, he searched for those close to Kamil to find a middle man and came to the same conclusion that there was no one to use as a middle man. Unlike them, however, he had his own connections due to having been an advisor prior. To avoid any suspicions, he couldn’t use the sea route to reach Tantan in order to meet Aaron Weber. Thus, he visited Laufeld to grab an airship ride there instead.
“So…, this is the town I’ve heard much about,” he remarked as he arrived in old Laufeld via a merchant carriage. “Looks pretty dead to me.”
At this point, old Laufeld had very little going on. Farmers relocated already, reducing activities in and around the town significantly.
“That’s the … airship? Dang, what a sight.”
If someone told him that something like a ship that would fly would be invented 15 years ago, he would have laughed his ass off and advised to get his head checked.
“A ship that flies… Never thought about that,” he remarked with a chuckle. “So, that thing is gonna take me to Tantan?”
Looking around, he picked a random guy and asked for directions. From there, he soon found out that he was actually in old Laufeld. Apparently, they were relocating the entire settlement which flabbergasted him.
“Who the fuck relocates a whole town?” He uttered in bemusement. He had never heard of anyone moving a whole settlement before. “Well, you gotta do whatever you gotta do.”
He knew he’d visit New Laufeld at one point, but now wasn’t the time. He had to visit Aaron first.
“Woah, woah!” He tried to steady himself as the airship he was aboard took off. It was a strange feeling flying. Once he got used to the sensation, he looked over the edge to find himself indeed flying.
“Holy God of life, we are indeed flying,” he uttered.
“Yeah, we are!” One of the passengers barked in response. They looked excited to have a new experience.
“Where are you guys from?”
“We are from Gonne.”
“Gonne? That’s a long way, ain’t it?”
“Not that long nowadays? We took an airship to reach Laufeld. Took like only a few days.”
Such a journey would have been very difficult, especially for commoners.
As he conversed with those around him, it became clear that Gonne was going through a very tough time. Initially, it wasn’t so bad. People had nowhere to go and had to work with what they had. However, as soon as airships appeared in the sky and started taking people away from the city, the floodgate opened. Before the event, leaving the city behind wasn’t even a possibility; They didn’t even think about it. Since an airship could take only around 20 people at once, which was nowhere enough, people started taking matters into their own hands and paid merchant carriages to get out. Within a short span of time, thousands departed for a better environment, and absence of those at the bottom of the social ladder started to take a toll on the overall economy of the city, plunging the city further into a recession. At that point, people had to leave the city behind. As more and more bottom feeders left the city, the middle class was the next to collapse and then the upper class. Gregor nodded along as he heard their plights. He personally couldn’t care less. What he deduced from their stories was what he was afraid of: Karsten’s lack of empathy toward commoners. Quite frankly, Gregor was similar to Karsten. He, too, saw commoners as tools but he didn’t outright discard them.
“God, this place never changes.” He complained as soon as he exited the airship. Tantan came to his view, not a single bit changed since the last time he visited this place. It was as if the whole place was frozen in time. Stone structures with green roofs were the signature of the village. He casually walked toward the Weber manor which was just a bungalow house that was a bit fancier than others. For a lord’s house, there was no guard at the door. If he didn’t know better, he would have considered it as just one of the regular houses. Standing before the door, he knocked several times, and there was no answer.
“Well, excuse me.”
Opening the door carefully, he entered the manor to find himself in a living room right away. He casually made this way into the room and sat down. A maid eventually found him making himself home.
“May I ask who you are?” She asked, her eyes wide with a mix of confusion and fear.
“The name’s Gregor. I am waiting for your lord. Can you bring in something to eat meanwhile, like oysters?”
Needless to say, his request was blatantly ignored, and he was made to wait until Aaron was done with his daily research which was hours later.
“Sir Gregor!”
Aaron welcomed him warmly. They went way back. Before Gregor went to work for Karsten, he was a fellow scholar under Constant Egra. There were no hard feelings when he left for Karsten because the Kingdom of Egria was facing a sharp downhill. The vassals were aware of the impending downfall because Constant Egra was lacking in all aspects as a ruler. Therefore, when Karsten made a strong start during the reunification war, Constant’s vassals urged him to surrender instead of fighting back.
Anyway, after an exchange of greetings, Gregor asked for oysters once more and he got what he wanted in the end.
“You are here, why?” Aaron wasted little time to get to the topic in hand.
“The airship, my man. I wouldn’t have been able to get here without it.”
That was a lie of course. He could have easily chosen the sea route. They exchanged what seemed like a casual and friendly chitchat. The day ended with Gregor being carried out after he had way too much liquor. He hadn’t had a decent meal and drinks ever since he arrived in Estana. It was a rare chance to go all out without having to worry about coins, and he took the opportunity to its fullest. Eventually though, he had to reveal his true purpose but not until he overstayed his welcome.
“The king of Estana wants the airship schematic,” He declared. Then he went on to make an offer of 100 gold coins for cooperation or a better fief. Now, Gregor wasn’t explicatively allowed to make such a large offer. But, given the fact that he was told to make it work “whatever the cost”, he was making things up as he went along. Besides, he didn’t expect Aaron to choose a better fief which was something he wasn’t sure that he was allowed to offer in the first place. While any settlement was likely better than Tantan, a foreign noble being granted a fief outright was simply unheard of. Either way, 100 gold coins was an eye-watering reward, which he wasn’t actually sure Estana was willing to offer and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t shell out a hundred gold coins for a middle man. Either way, his job was to make it work somehow, and he was throwing whatever until something worked. In the end, Aaron did not bite the bait, which was what Gregor expected.
“Yeah, the guy’s too smart to fall for a trick like this,” he remarked as he glanced over at the Weber manor from the airship platform. He was in a line to get on and depart for Laufeld. He took a good and long look at the town before getting on. It was likely his last time visiting this place ever. The man was not young after all. He was in his twilight years. While he didn’t love the place, it was a unique place where serenity rang true. He soon turned around and went aboard the airship in front of him.
“What is this town?” was what he said upon arriving in New Laufeld. The layout was just weird, and it looked like they were digging into a mountain.
“Are they trying to make a settlement underground?” He mused. He had never seen anyone attempt such a thing before. But then, this was a guy who invented something like an airship which wasn’t something a conventional person would ever be able to come up with.
“Now, how should I approach this…”
He had very little information about Kamil himself, the target. Very little was known about him. From what he was able to gather, he was a legalized bastard son of Edmund Fenchel. He was the designated heir to the Fenchel until Edmund got himself another son from his first wife. Interestingly, it looked like he basically exiled himself to Laufeld, a small backwater town, thus paving the way for Edmund’s young son to take his seat.
“A very, very, smart move there…,” He whispered to himself. “He is either a genius or has a very smart advisor.”
If he stayed on, there was going to be an internal conflict between him and the new son. A son from a first wife was always going to be favored over a legalized bastard. By swiftly removing himself from the equation, Gregor felt that he saved himself in the progress and a lot of headaches. Such a move wasn’t something a child could pull off without advice from someone older and more experienced.
“Alright, time to get the show on the road.” He flexed his shoulders and adjusted his robe before heading toward the Fenchel manor that looked like a small fortress right in front of a mountain cliff.
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Of course, Gregor never made out alive.
“Gregor has failed,” a ninja reported the result to the council of elders in Deltalago. “He was killed by some sort of extremely destructive magic.”
“Extremely destructive magic? Do you have a detailed report?”
The ninja pulled out a tiny scrolled paper and handed it over. He looked over it, and his eyes went wide.
“What is this? Is this magic?” He looked as if he doubted the accuracy of the report. Narrowing his eyes, he glared at the ninja. “Is this true? This cannot be magic. I’ve never seen any magic like this.”
“Pardon my manners, but what else could it be?” the ninja retorted. “Gregor himself was a powerful mage. He was taken out in one hit.”
The advisors exchanged glances at each other; There were about five of them. Their ages varied greatly. Two looked like they would hit the bucket at any moment while the other three were much younger. The one the ninja was talking to was a middle-aged man with horseshoe baldness.
“His destructive magic reminded me of the legend, sir,” the ninja said.
“The legend?”
“Our holy king, Kozma. He was the most powerful mage of his time. We’ve always thought that the records of his magic were exaggerated. Compared the records with mine. I have a feeling that our holy king’s magical prowess wasn’t exaggerated.”
The elders looked at each other with all of them looking convinced over a period of time.
“How many years has it been since the age of darkness?”
“I believe it has been slightly over two thousand years.”
Unlike the Siwen who lost ancient records over time due to negligence, Estana had managed to keep most of their records intact. According to Kozma himself who left some records on his own, the age of darkness was an ordeal imposed by the God of death. Its purpose was simple in concept. Paraphrasing Kozma himself, the age of darkness existed to “filter out those who are unfit.”. Basically, it was forced natural selection. It would arrive periodically. Exactly how often, nobody knew. Given the fact that it had been two thousand years since the last age of darkness, it was safe to assume that a new age of darkness could arrive at any time. What they knew for certain was that, in order to survive the age of darkness, they had to be prepared by bringing talented people under their banner and keeping corruption low. The latter was so much harder because prolonged peace brought in corruption naturally.
“Peace is built on blood,” cited one of the elders ominously. It was one of Kozma’s phases that was passed down for generations.
“Conflicts are necessary evil,” agreed another elder. “I feel now is a good time for a conflict and perhaps bring this boy into our fold.”
“We’ve had peace for over forty years now. I agree.”
The elders nodded at each other with the one with horseshoe baldness speaking, “So, our decision to bring him in instead of the schematic is the correct one.”
Young, ingeniousness, and powerful ability as a mage: All of these meant that Kamil was someone worth scouting even at the cost of war.
The ninja replied, “The only issue is that he is married. It would be much better if he was not.”
“Does he have children?”
“Not yet. He is only thirteen although his wife is seventeen.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.”
“Agreed,” Other elders agreed.
The elder with horseshoe baldness said, “First of all, we need to find out his personality. Without knowing what kind of person he is, we will never be able to convince him to join us.”
Another elder added, “Meanwhile, mobilize our troops. We will provoke the kingdom of Egra.”
The ninja nodded at once, stood up, and left. It was never their intention to acquire any land from Egra. That was not their goal; They had two goals. One was conflict itself in order to keep its people on their toes. The other was to bring Kamil Fenchel to their fold. With the king’s approval shortly later, they mobilized their troops, and three war fronts were created.
Kerekes Izabella and her five wind mages were in standby near Laufeld. The Izabella family ruled Vestendil, and she was the second daughter from the family. She had willingly given up any marriage prospects and volunteered to lead a mage corps. Since her family had more than enough children, her request was accepted. What it meant was that her family would not go out of their way to find her a husband but would accept marriage proposals if they were received. Essentially, she would be bothered far less than a regular lady-in-waiting. Anyway, they were waiting for Kamil to show up. Intelligence gathered so far indicated that he was likely going to scout the area by himself, given the lack of wind mages in Laufeld.
“If we can capture him, then we shall!” She was having a speech in front of her five comrades. They were all dressed in similar attire, dark gray clothes with equally dark scarf that covered up to their nose. Their clothes were rather tight-fit to reduce the drag while flying, which also emphasized nice volumes on her chest as a side effect.
“We are allowed to harm him but must not kill him!”
Of course, their confidence took a sharp downturn as soon as they ran into him in the sky.
“Chantless magic?!” She uttered. All of the six wind mages, including her, were at least affinity seven, meaning all of them were capable of chantless magic. However, Kamil’s chantless magic was different. There was always a delay in how one cast magic because they still had to chant in their head. It was far faster than verbally saying the incantation, but it still took a moment. In contrast, he was firing magic left and right. It was as if whatever he was imagining was directly materializing in reality.
“He’s on another level!” A fellow wind mage barked while trying to evade incoming wind darts.
“Ugh!” Another was struck with numerous wind darts on his back and was falling.
“What the hell…!” Furrowing her eyebrows, she watched Kamil dispatch half of them with ease within a minute of engagement in the sky. It was clear that they were no match at all. In fact, if she didn’t do anything, they were going to be wiped out in another minute or so.
“Please stop!” She shouted in a language he could understand while getting herself between him and her fellow wind mages who were dropping like flies.
“Are you joking? You guys are the one who started this,” He retorted. “I assume you expected an easy prey out of me.”
True, they expected to capture him one way or another. That was why an army of 5,000 was dispatched to his location in order to lure him out.
“I admit that we did!” She shouted. “I didn’t think you’d be able to command magic as if it’s your flesh and blood!”
“Well, too bad. You reap what you sow.”
Tens of wind darts appeared out of thin air around him, pointing directly at her. She became pale at the sight. She wasn’t confident that she would be able to dodge them.
“W, we surrender!” With hands in the air, she declared.
“Not interested.”
Seeing everything was going wrong, she just barked whatever went through her head.
“P, please wait! Please talk to our king!”
He let out a frustrated sigh.
“You guys really piss me off,” He complained with a growl. “Just get out of my face.” As if losing interest in his prey, he was turning around to leave.
“Please! Talk to our king! We don’t want this conflict to escalate!”
They were prepared to go to war, but it was sort of true that they did not want the whole conflict to escalate so much that it’d turn into a bloody war. However, at this point, she was pretty much lying and making things up as she went along. If capturing was not possible, then they’d need to convince him. In order to do so, they needed to learn his personality and learn what ticked him. Either way, he seemed to have considered her words and pointed upwards.
“Just you and me, let’s have some talk. Go higher.”
Instructing other fellow wind mages to stay down, she flew upwards and Kamil followed. Once they were at a point that the soldiers looked like literal dots, Kamil stopped her.
“I am sure you know who I am, but who are you?” he demanded.
“Kerekes Izabella, the leader of mage corps div two.”
“Alright, Lady Izabella, what is going on with your country? Are they itching for war?”
She retorted, “I should say the same to you, Lord Fenchel. It’s your country that looks like it’s itching for more conflicts.”
She needed to learn more about him. Thus, it was her interest to drag this conversation as long as possible. She also needed to provoke him to learn more about him as well.
“Lady, I asked you a question. Please don’t answer it with another question. Are you not a noble?”
“M, my apologies. It’s been quite chaotic for a while now…”
She spilled some truth behind the current situation, like how their scholars were unable to figure out the core concept of the airship and that they decided to bring him over. What she told him was true. There was no lie except for a fact that she simply didn’t include what he didn’t need to know.
“Of course, we did inform the king that what he was trying to do was ridiculous,” She claimed. “No self-respecting noble would switch sides like that.”
“You’d be correct,” He replied. “I have no interest in switching sides. I literally have no reason to.”
“Well, most of us are aware. It’s just our king who is really pushing for this.”
She sagged her shoulders visibly as if she was tired of the whole affair. She was purely acting at this point to earn his sympathy and make him cooperate.
“Just so you are aware, I am more than willing to sell the schematics. You just need to go through the official channel. Send a diplomat to Keviel, and we can start from there.”
“We’ve already tried. Your king refused any form of communication.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. The Kingdom of Egra never seemed to be interested in any form of dialog. Their initial diplomat was refused at a gate even. Even when their diplomat was finally received after numerous attempts, he was dismissed just as easily. His kingdom was not interested in any kind of talk. If they talked when asked and the schematic was sold promptly, this whole affair may have not advanced this far. Thus, it wasn’t exactly a lie. Kamil seemed to have believed her and was clearly considering options.
“Very well, Lady Izabella. Then I will sell the schematic to you directly.”
Her eyes lit up, which was an act.
“Are you speaking true?”
“Tomorrow, at noon, this location. Just you and me. I will give you the schematic. Four gold pieces.”
“Money is not an issue.”
That was how his first encounter with Estana was concluded.
Once back, Kerekes Izabella made her report to the council. She sat down with her legs crossed like men did. Estana customs did not differentiate gender if a woman was working for her nation. In other words, if she was seeing the council as a lady, she would have sat down differently.
“Izabella, report.”
The counselor with horseshoe baldness demanded. He was flanked by two more counselors. All of them sat down with their legs crossed. They had blue cushions with silver linings underneath.
“Counselor Pataki Imre, I, Kerekes Izabella, shall make my report.”
She went on to describe her first encounter with him.
“We were bested the moment we ran into each other. We were absolutely no match. It was no contest. He is a powerful mage and a different kind of mage.”
“A different kind? Explain,” Pataki demanded.
“The way he cast magic was instant. I am absolutely sure that he was not using any kind of incantation.”
Pataki stroked his chin slowly with a thoughtful expression.
“And what else?” He urged her to continue on.
“He appears to be kindhearted. He wants to avoid escalation and has offered the schematic for four gold coins which was the price he offered to his other fellow nobles. He gave us a fair price.”
They were aware of how much the schematic was sold for to other noble houses, four gold coins. By offering the same price to Estana, he gave off an honest impression that he indeed wished to avoid escalation.
Pataki nodded along, his expression unchanged.
“Anything else?”
“Tomorrow, we are to meet for the sale.”
“Then I shall go.”
It was the king who appeared from the back. Apparently, he was eavesdropping.
“I wish to meet this young man in person.”
As if the counselors were aware of his presence, they didn’t react at all.
“We will not stop you, sire,” Pataki said. “But we do ask you to reconsider. We do not know this person fully yet. He could harm you.”
Szalai laughed off his warning. “The line of succession has been clear for over a decade. Should I die, my son will take over. Our country is in good hands.”
“No doubt. Your son is more than capable. You raised a good son, which makes you a good father,” Pataki replied with confidence.
Szalai had two sons and three daughters from two women. He chose his second son to succeed his seat because his second son was superior in every aspect. His first son conceded that he was inferior and he, being acknowledged for accepting his inferiority, was granted luxury for life. His three daughters, two of them were already married off. His third daughter was eighteen years old and was unmarried.
“My impression so far on the lad is that he is good enough. Am I correct in assuming that?” Szalai asked to which the counselors nodded.
“It appears so, sire,” Pataki replied.
“He is a bit young, but my third daughter is unmarried. Can we make it work?”
“He has a first wife, sire,” Kerekes replied.
“Oh, who is it?”
“Flora Flissing, seventeen years old,” Pataki replied.
“The Flissing, huh…” Szalai was walking around in thoughts. “Do you think he will abandon her?”
“No, sire. He appears to be a man of his words. If my intuition is correct, he will not abandon his wife,” Kerekes said. “Assassinating her will only backfire.”
Szalai laughed out loudly. He seemed really happy.
“And he is what, only thirteen? Are we sure he is only thirteen years old? He is not acting like a kid!”
Kerekes smiled, and so did Pataki and other counselors.
“Then I shall offer my princess as a second wife,” He declared. “I want him no matter what.”
“Are you certain, my liege?” Pataki asked for confirmation.
“Am I sure? I’ve never been sure!” the king made a strong reply. He walked around with vigor. “How many decades has it been? To fight for something or someone that’s worth fighting for?”
Pataki smiled brightly. “We don’t get many chances.”
“Indeed! And now we have one!”
Kerekes added with a frown, “Sire, I hate to inform you, but I don’t really feel he will defect.”
“I will meet him first. We shall discuss further only after.”
“As you wish,” Pataki and Kerekes said in unison.
The next day, Kerekes showed up with a flying carriage with her king in it. There were no additional guards, for the king was ready to die for the cause. Like he said before, his death wouldn’t mean much for his country. His son would take over. The council would ensure a smooth transition.
“Lady Izabella, what is the meaning of this?” He demanded an explanation.
She came up with a mix of lies and truth and asked him to greet the king in their language while passing him five gold coins, an extra gold coin for the trouble. She had no intention to trick him and taught him earnestly a simple phrase to greet her liege.
“Sire, he is ready to greet you,” she declared.
“Very well, I am more than eager to see him.”
As soon as she slid open the door, Kamil declared toward her king while bowing with a palm on his chest which was undoubtedly the custom in his kingdom to show respect.
“Greetings, my name is Kamil Fenchel, your holy highness.”
His pronunciation could be better but, for someone who didn’t know their language at all, it was passable. He handed over the schematic which honestly Szalai couldn’t care less about but accepted regardless. He carefully studied his face and whatever he could during the short period.
“His eyes - He is a gem,” he told Kerekes.
She said no word in response and merely smiled along.
Kamil did ask something which he didn’t understand.
“What did he say?”
“Will you withdraw, he asks,” she translated on the fly.
“Not entirely in my hands,” he responded, which she translated back to Kamil.
“Tell him to learn our language. It will come handy, I swear.”
Kerekes nodded along and relayed his message. Their meeting was over soon after.
“Kerekes,” the king called out while leaving the scene.
“Yes?”
“He will not defect.”
“No, he will not. What will you do now?”
“He will not defect willingly. That is for sure. But there are other ways. This old dog did not age for fun. I’ve learned tricks.”
It was not over yet.