“We’ve got to start facing facts: we’re not getting home anytime soon.”

I paced around my room, thinking out aloud. Gideon sat on my bed poring over an alchemical book borrowed from the Duke. He looked somewhat more uncaring than he usually did, as if the last few days had taken more out of him than he’d let on.

And you are basing this on…?

“Reality, of course.”

We’d had the conversation a thousand times before. [Gold] and Lmenlis and esoteric branches of alchemy… it really was all so much trouble to actually do. So much so that it was no wonder that the art was considered a sham in this world. After all, what use was a magic that could make anything out of a material that didn’t exist?

Gideon sighed.

Is there really a point in saying it? Does it really matter when we get home at this point? If time has flowed equally our lives are in all probability just as screwed up as Saphry and Silst’s.

“Perhaps.” I admitted. “But I’m starting to think that we need a real plan, you know? One that has a start, a process, and an end. We’ve kind of just plodded around hoping that an answer would suddenly hit us.”

Maybe you have. I have been researching.

I scoffed.

“And where has that gotten us? If we don’t hurry up we might be looking at being here forever!”

And while I liked some of the people here, that obviously wasn’t a long term career goal of mine. No, my ideal world contained functioning toilets, actually.

Gideon finally looked up from his book to affix me with a withering look.

And what do you propose then?

I grinned.

“You remember what I said this morning, right? About the visions I had when the demon struck me?”

After we’d left the Mavericks and Auro, sat through the lecture the priest gave me, and gone back to my room, I’d taken the time to explain the whole of what had happened once I’d gone over the top. Gideon had paid a lot of attention to my description of the Lmenli of course. That was to be expected with our current predicament. But what I hadn’t expected was his interest in the other part with the return of Saphry’s memories. It had served to prove our prior thoughts as to the powers of the glass crown I had, though I was loath to try it again.

I’d be dull to have forgotten. But what use does knowing that one exists give us? All it tells us is that Lmenli’s exist, which we already knew. It certainly doesn’t bring us any closer to finding the things.

“Well, that’s where you're wrong, I think.”

I walked over to the rucksack I’d asked the Duke’s men to bring down from the academy and pulled out a small (and expensive) map I’d acquired from one of the shops up the mountain. I spread it out over the bed, tossing Gideon’s Treatise on Cadwal Oils over to the pillows. Then, I pointed to a specific spot on the map just to the north of Minua.

“You see this mountain, right? Hamor’s Forge?” I pointed to a large mountain at the end of a range.

Azhnor? Gideon asked, naming the dwarven city supposedly built upon it. You think the dwarves have it? Why?

“My vision showed me flowing lava and molten rock.” I explained. “While you were barking with Breale and Auro earlier I asked Fredrick about volcanoes. He told me about the eruptions at Hamor’s Forge. The only volcano he knew of, in fact! So where better place for it to be than there?”

I grinned, proud.

It was a solid lead, I thought. If we were able to sneak away and find a Lmenli, we’d be able to get home in almost no time flat. I might even make it back in time for Christmas!

Gideon, however, looked less than amused.

Sa… you know that molten rock doesn’t only exist in volcanoes, right?

I stared at him for a moment as I tried to not show any emotion.

…am I an idiot? Don’t answer that.

And Hamor’s Forge is two months of travel, off the plateau, and over blighted wasteland. He continued. And that’s if we flew straight to it. Realistically we’d have to take the descent at Erithine and travel up the Tresti outlands. We’d have to avoid falings, monsters, spirits, the mounted marauders of Tresti… almost countless dangers cast their shadows down there, and that’s before we even hit the wastelands proper!

“I mean…”

Nothing grows in the wastes east of the Northspine. The water is sulphurous and fell, the trees waxy and unfit for firewood. Even the grass is coarse and dry, and very few animals roam those plains. The dirt is burnt black, and though it is warmer than the plateau the temperatures at night are not too far from our average. The wind bites like knives and pushes down against the earth, punishing those who think to fly. The spirit is even affected, as the black and depressive land and boiling clouds conspire to beat down the mind itself. In the winter, it is said that only the poisonous clouds hurled out of the Forge provide any semblance of light, though I have never seen that firsthand. It is a dark place, only comparable to the Fellvales and the Gryphon’s palace.

I cringed under his barrage, completely caught off guard.

I suppose it wasn’t too surprising that Gideon had knowledge of the area, seeing as it was right next to the dragon’s homelands. He, or Silst rather, had probably flown over it personally quite a bit. I just hadn’t expected that the ‘Waste’s of Cealus’ would live up to their name so well.

“Eh, is that right? I suppose it would be a bit much to just walk there then…”

It would be, yes.

“How do the dwarves even live in such a place?” I asked. “I know they’re hardy, but that seems a little ridiculous.”

Didn’t dwarves live on the tops of mountains here? How did that work with an active volcano? They weren’t secretly fireproof, were they?

We don’t even know if they still do. Gideon said simply. I haven’t heard of any messengers passing between it and any other settlement.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I fell onto the bed, mildly peeved.

Sometimes it really did seem like the world was arrayed against us. Like seriously? Why the hell did that land have to be so dangerous? It was almost as if the landscape was shifting and changing to make everything as inconvenient as possible. In fact, a whole lot of the world in general was built in as inconvenient a way as possible. It kind of reminded me of a particular book series Saphry had read through, one about one exceptionally unlucky travelling knight.

“I suppose that rules out my plan then.” I admitted. “It kind of relied on leveraging some wagons out of Andril and hoofing it over there.”

That would indeed be foolish, princess.

“Suppose I might as well decline the prince then.” I said. “Except for the magic lessons, it’d be kind of worthless now.”

Saphry had been busy reading a series on a travelling thaumaturge and his apprentice before I’d taken over her body, but she hadn’t been able to actually finish it. Maybe this would be a good excuse to read the rest of it before everything got hectic again.

Gideon froze for a second before plodding across the bed to look at me. There was a sharp look in his eyes, and he almost seemed to be smiling like he had back on Earth.

Actually, you might be onto something there!

“Wait, I am?”

Gideon looked over the map again, moving his paw from the top to the bottom left.

Yes. You were talking about getting some supplies for your help, right? Well, why not take that a step further? Why not demand that he supply an entire expedition instead?

“An expedition…”

That sounded like a lot of work, didn’t it?

“Would he go that far?” I asked. “You just got done describing how bleak and horrible it was, right? Surely that’d take mountains of cash to fund, right? Somehow I don’t think I’m worth that much.”

Not to the Forge, that’d be useless. Thinking there was a Lmenli there was just a wild guess. But I know that there’s one at Morevechi, in the hands of the dwarven high king. And with a royal expedition and a snow mage at the helm? It’s almost certain that they’d be happy to let you handle some gold!

“Morevechi? Isn’t that even farther?”

Yes. But the terrain is much friendlier. The only trouble is the travel time, the cold, and bandits. Nothing a new king can’t handle.

“Hmm…”

Silst had been there, after all, so if anyone was to know that there was a Lmenli there it would be him. Still, my gut told me that there was something special about the volcano Lmenli I saw, and I was almost certain that it wasn’t the one sitting in a dwarven treasure hoard. And Morevechi certainly would take months of dull travel to get through, which was certainly too long to bring enough books to cover.

Gideon nudged me impatiently.

Come on, what’s with the hesitation now? The Ryder I knew would be jumping up and down for the chance to see a dwarven hold!

“Yeah, yeah. Woo, dwarves. If you think it’s the best way.” I waved him off as I eyed all the mountains in between Verol and the dwarven citadel. “It'd be a better idea than mine, I guess.”

Gideon inspected me carefully, as though he had just noticed something different about me. I felt my skin crawl as seconds turned to half a minute.

“What?” I finally asked.

You seem different somehow. Were you like this at lunch?

I looked down in confusion, but nothing immediately jumped out at me. Did someone mess up when healing my face?

“Like what?”

You seem duller than usual.

“And you seem like more of an asshole than usual.” I shot back..

I have to wonder if the new batch of memories changed anything. Gideon mused. Do you feel more ‘Saphry’ than usual?

What did that even mean? I didn’t think I was acting differently, at least.

“‘More Saphry’” I repeated. “Can’t say I do, really.”

Hmm. Maybe I’m just seeing things.

“Probably.” I sat up as another thought came to mind. “Ah, but that reminds me. Gideon, you have any memories of Saphry’s time in Ando-”

Three short knocks rapped on the door before I could finish my question, and the voice of a familiar priest rang through the wood.

“Lady Astrian! Your slot for dinner has come up! Would you like to be shown the way?”

I looked at Gideon again and shrugged. There’d be enough time for family questions later.

“Should we go with that then? Request an expedition to Morevechi in exchange for helping him?”

It’d be a good backup plan in case I can’t figure out anything else, so I say do it. The worst he can do is say no.

I nodded and turned towards the door.

“I’ll be right out!”

…

“That’s it?” Andril laughed. “Hah! You’d nearly scared me half to death! Of course I’ll accept those terms!”

I blinked, fully unexpecting so easy an approval. The other three in the room -Lady Amelia, the Duke, and the Duke’s heir- all looked equally amused, with the first two smiling and the latter obviously suppressing a chuckle.

The four of them sat around that strange table in the throne room, though the magical holographic display had been switched off to reveal a rather plan surface. Gideon sat on my shoulder as I stood in front of them, a state that precious few people tended to question.

“I suddenly feel like I should’ve asked for more.” I joked after I’d recovered.

“I had expected the worst when I heard that you had demands.” Amelia said. “I was preparing to give three counties.”

“Such terms are hardly worth bargaining over.” The Duke agreed. “In fact, it’s almost a boon! It is nothing in comparison to the effect you could have on this war.”

Had Gideon and I overestimated the difficulty? It wasn’t everyday that Verol sent emissaries to a dwarven hold, and especially not one of the farther ones like Morevechi. One would think that such a trip would be expensive.

“The distance isn’t an issue?” I asked. “Or the expense?”

“Mistre sends a delegation every decade.” Amelia said. “It isn’t cheap or fast, but neither is the road incredibly dangerous. We would be honoured to have you join the next.”

“Huh. I suppose that’s fine then.” I said, slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to haggle.

“Though I must ask.” Andril said. “What business would you have with the dwarves? Is it idle curiosity?”

I glanced at Gideon, wondering just how much I should tell them. Was it worth telling them about the ‘skysteel’ as they called it? Telling them might even lead to a new clue, or might even reveal that they have some I could have. But were there negatives? Would revealing my interest in such a material be suspicious?

Can’t see how it would hurt.

“Have you heard of ‘skysteel’?” I asked. “The metal supposedly created by the Lmenli’s?”

I caught a few glances between them, but none of them looked truly meaningful, and unfortunately none of them seemed to think very much of it.

Oh well, you couldn’t get lucky every time. A fetch quest, it is!

“Out of legend, perhaps.” Duke Belvan said. “And you seek this material? To what end?”

“Curiosity, mostly.” I said quickly. “Though it is said to have some interesting alchemical effects.”

I didn’t even need to ask how much I should tell them about that, of course. Alchemy was seen as little more than a party trick in Verol, so it was probably easy enough for them to throw off as a noble maiden’s fancy.

“Curious that you would just so happen to seek a holy metal…” Andril rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“It matters not.” Amelia said. “The more important thing is that you have decided to help. I only hope that you will find me a suitable trainer in matters much more important than alchemy.”

“Of course.” I curtsied. “Ah, what day would you have me begin, anyway?”

It would probably be better if it was in a few days, so to give me a little bit of time to do some research. Maybe even in a week or tw-

“Right now, of course.” Amelia stood up and started walking towards the door. “If you’d follow me please.”