“As Dusk said, ever since you left us just after Helia’s defeat, we’ve been working to bring peace, however tenuous, to the lands that once belonged to the Empire. Knew you the peoples and lands of Ase Thhia?”

“No,” Reeve shook her head. “I’ve spent a lot of time in a similar world, one where there are a lot more people from my world, but I’d never been in Ase Thhia until shortly before we hooked up with you in Werfendale.”

Leaf looked thoughtful for a moment. “If your time with us may be limited, then a recounting of the Empire’s history must wait. Let me tell you not the history but where the history has brought us. The Empire was forged from seven lands that had been seven sovereign realms—Wyste, Sillicaos, Neecrus, Ajkoty, Vyrdenh, Shiqoku, and Thhia. Into those seven pieces the Empire shattered when Helia assassinated the members of the Royal House. Gems fallen from a bejeweled crown they were not, but wicked shards, and for years powerful factions within each fought over the spoils to be had. After those internal struggles, the winners turned their attention to their neighbors, and for the last six years, war has spread like plague across the realms.”

Reeve knit her brow. “Things seemed so normal when my dad and I rode into town. I mean, before he destroyed the market.”

“We chose to leave our seat of power here in Deilmarkt in part because it is so far from shores upon which armadas can land and from borders across which armies can march in a day. Not all of Thhia is so tranquil. We hold tenuous alliances with Ajkoty and Vyrdenh. We are in open war with Wyste and Sillicaos, which our people call The Wilds. We know not of the forces at play within Neecrus, and the scouts we’ve sent to investigate have not returned. Shiqoku has thus far remained unaligned, though we hope they will soon see that if they do not join us against The Wilds they will likely perish.”

“OK,” Reeve said slowly. “That sounds really intense, even for in here. I can understand why Dusk is so twitchy. Now, how about Dawn, Thomanji’yheri, and Nyx?”

Leaf looked pained and absentmindedly rubbed the scarred back of one hand with the palm of her other. “Dawn took leave of us almost a year ago to travel to the far north, near the border with Wyste, on what Dusk thinks a fool’s errand.”

“What’s she after?”

“Dawn believes their mother yet lives.”

“Helia?!” Reeve instinctively looked for her naginata, then remembered she’d left it outside the tiny room to avoid endangering everyone, herself included.

“No. Dawn has come to believe that Helia of the war camp was an imposter. Dusk thinks Dawn well-intentioned but misguided.”

“What do you think?”

Leaf was slow to respond. “I think the chances of Dawn finding what she’s looking for are narrow, while if she stayed here she clearly would have been able to help our cause. And,” Leaf looked carefully at Reeve as she spoke, “Nyx went with Dawn as her companion and protector.”

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Reeve felt as though she’d been punched in the stomach. After a few seconds, she looked away from Leaf. “Oh. Well…I wasn’t here, and I guess I hadn’t been here for a long time. I’m glad Nyx had someone to protect.”

“Thomanji’yheri,” Leaf said in a gentle voice, “oversees the forces marching to meet those of the Sillicaosi, who have made a new incursion into Thhia.”

“Got it. Thanks. You all have had your hands full.” Reeve saw the expression on Leaf’s face. “What? There’s more?”

“Two things of which you should be aware, should they prove significant.”

“OK. What?”

“We have reason to believe that those with intelligence akin to ours have risen to power in the other realms.”

Reeve tilted her head and looked at Leaf for a few seconds. “Wait! You mean, Level 4 AIs?”

“Yes.”

Reeve recoiled slightly at the thought. “You think there are move Level 4 AIs out there, and all of the rulers of the other realms happen to be them?”

“Not happen to be,” Leaf said. “You know the advantages our greater intelligence brings. I think it not surprising that those with gifts would have fared best in the turmoil of the recent years. But, we are not sure of this. Without having your father and his charisma available to test its effect on these individuals, we work with supposition.”

“Yikes,” Reeve said. “Level 4 AIs could be good or bad.” Reeve’s stomach sank. “Ohhhh, wait. Do you think there could be other melióδin casters, like the twins, who can manipulate the game code?”

Leaf smiled ruefully. “You presage the second thing I wanted to tell you. Dusk has felt someone probing the boundaries of our world.”

“What? Trying to open a portal to the MMO server like Helia attempted?”

“Dusk is not sure. If she herself attempts a portal to another world, she finds an impenetrable barrier, beyond which she can sense nothing. Any assault she mounts upon the barrier is futile, and she feels echoes of her attempts in the world around her.” Leaf partially raised a pointer finger and looked up, as though listening. “Sometimes, she feels those echoes even when she is not casting. It has been going on for some time, and she fears there is another melióδin—maybe more than one—testing the edges of our reality.”

“Ohhh, crikey.” Reeve let out a breath and rolled her eyes. “Seriously, ‘crikey’? I didn’t miss the profanity filter while I was logged out. But, really, rogue melióδin could be bad. Worse than Helia. She was a monster and the worst mom ever—well, maybe a mom—but she didn’t herself have the skills she needed to break onto the network. If there’s a melióδin running around who’s as big a sicko as Helia was, then they could do way more damage.” Reeve leaned back, closed her eyes, and let out a slow, dispirited breath. She tried to organize in her mind all the information Leaf had just dumped on her, most of it not great.

Leaf watched Reeve’s eyes move rapidly beneath her pewter eyelids for the better part of a minute, then a small frown formed on Reeve’s craggy face.

“If there’s another melióδin testing network ports—trying to open portals like the twins could—that might’ve been what prevented the story mode from pausing while I was logged out.” Reeve opened her eyes and blew out her cheeks with another long breath. “I want to figure out whether there are other Level 4 AIs and why the story mode didn’t pause when I was logged out, but I don’t have much time.” She checked the game time and real time readouts again. “Who knows how long it’ll take for my dad to pull me out once he’s back in the lobby, but now that he’s been there a few times I’d guess only a minute or two of real time, so…,” as she did the mental math, Reeve wished that there was an in-game calculator in the UI, or even that her father’s Accountant character was available, “…something somewhere between eleven and twenty-three hours of game time? That’s not enough time. Even on horseback, I’d only be partway to the first of the six other realms.”

Leaf’s genuine smile heartened and confused Reeve.

“Dusk’s ability to open doors to other worlds has been stymied,” Leaf said, “but during your long absence she did learn other uses of her powers that remain yet.”