The interior of the bashin was warm and comfortable, the sound of rain hissing on the roof far away, muffled by the insulation between the thick wooden walls. The braziers were capped so that they emitted heat but little light, the light provided by magical lights up by the ceiling. The interior of the moving house was built for both comfort and to show off the wealth and power of the Phaelani who owned it and the Consortium both.

Plevan's husbands were huddled in the back, behind the thick velvet curtain, still frightened by the sudden explosion of power that had lit up the night accompanied by a thunderous boom that had rattled windows and nicknacks.

Plevan herself was sipping wine, upon her left breast a bandage covering salve where a magical piece of jewelry had suddenly overheated and burned her skin. Her fingers were bare, the rings that normally adorned them put away, bandages on her fingers covering the salve that had been applied to treat the light burns from her rings heating up suddenly.

The Consortium Matron looked at the three Matrons gathered up, sitting in comfortable chairs, sipping wine as she was. The silver platter of treats was largely untouched, only Matron Oldami nibbling on any of the cubes of cheese, using a long slender stick to poke one of the cheese cubes, lift it up, then dip it in sauce before nibbling at it.

Plevan noticed that Oldami was the only one completely naked. Matron Stelancia was wearing a sheer silk shift, leaving enough skin bare and exposed so that she wasn't being rude, but wearing enough to draw comfort from the protection. The last of the trio was a rare visitor to Matron Plevan's baishin, one of the Servants of Steel and Blood.

The small Phaelani was wearing an iron mask, burning lights instead of eyes shining through the eye-holes, dressed in tattered black silk and leather strips, barbed and razored strands of metal woven through her dark crimson and black hair that whispered at it moved around the small woman.

"Well, that was exciting," Plevan finally broke the silence.

"We felt the disturbance within the House of Steel and Blood," the masked woman said, her voice strangely choral and ethereal.

"What of your charge?" Plevan asked, feeling goosebumps rise at the base of her spine at the idea of a war-fire rampaging through the caravan.

The Matron shrugged, her hair shifting and whispering as two tendrils snaked down her arm. "He dreams dreams of war, steel, and blood. He would not have noticed if the two prophecy bound had clashed on either side of him," she whispered.

"Thank the dead Gods," Plevan said.

Matron Stelancia shuddered. "What happened was bad enough, " she started to say. Mage fire started flickering beneath her skin, sparks dancing along her arcane channels.

Oldami shrugged. "Two Xue'nghozi arguing? Very little happened, all things considered," she said.

Stella shuddered again, her mind going over terrible memories of burning cities and armies clashing in rage. Of being so small in world of enraged giants. She made a high pitched noise of distress as she wrapped her arms around herself. The Matron of Blood and Steel made a motion to get the Caravan Matron's attention as Matron Oldami reached over to rub the mage's thigh. Oldami could feel the magic beneath the other woman's skin and she made a motion to Matron Plevan where Stella couldn't see her fingers twitch.

Matron Plevan snapped her fingers and called her fourth and fifth husband's name. The pretty Phealanas timidly moved out of the curtain, and following Matron Plevan's motion, moved to cuddle up with Matron Stelancia in the round roomy chair. They began kissing on her, caressing her, and whispering sweet words to her. The sparkling fire began to slow and wane as the two male Phaelan caressed the distressed Matron.

The other three sat in silence, giving Matron Stelancia time to compose herself. Plevan poured glasses of sparkling ice-grape wine herself, handing the delicate thin crystal flutes to each person.

"My apologies," Stella said once she had composed herself.

"No need to apologize, young one. During the war the House of Steel and Blood, I myself, and the Gods, laid a terrible burden upon you in your youth," Matron Plevan said.

Stella just nodded.

"Are you composed so that we may return to the matter at hand?" Plevan asked.

Stella nodded. "Again, my apologies," she sipped at the wine and smiled her best.

"Your baishin, Oldami," Plevan said. "The Consortium will, of course, pay for repairs and replacements of what can be replaced."

Oldami shrugged. "Perhaps we should allow Mistress Stelancia to examine the tile and woods of my baishin as the girl's power left marks. Runic scripts that whisper of power and secrets even to one such as I who is uninitiated to such things."

Stella nodded, thinking about what she had seen. Where the girl's power had flashed into being the tiles and woods were engraved with patterns common to any high powered mage engaging their mage-fire. The patterns where Skylar and Little Jack had clashed were something different, many of the twisting patterns and runes unknown to Stella. Where Jack had been standing was even stranger.

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"A new baishin would probably make more sense. Give those of us who are knowledgeable of the arcane time to go over the runes and examine them closer," Stella mused. "We don't know much about the Xue'nghozi which makes this an opportunity for knowledge and the possibility of profit."

Matron Plevan nodded. "After we examine the debris we can undoubtedly sell it to other Consortium or Arcane Guilds so that they may see if they can glean secrets from such runes."

Mistress Stelancia nodded. "Most of the larger guilds would pay good money to examine the runes formed where two infant Titans clashed. With so much knowledge having been lost, there's even private sages and philosophers who would love to examine those runes."

"I will stay with my trade-sister, Matron Dulgarzia," Matron Oldami said. "She's curious of Little Jak and does not fear him or his fires."

Matron Dulgarzia was another Phaelani who dealt often with humans in close quarters, speaking several of the more esoteric languages of the fifth and third worlds. It didn't surprise Matron Plevan that she wouldn't be afraid of the Titan or his abilities when she could deal with such terrifying concepts as visiting humans in their own offices or shops rather than in a Phaelan wagon or an open air market or visiting human crafting shops where human smiths and craftsmen worked in close quarters. The idea of doing such made Matron Plevan's skin crawl and she was grateful that others in the caravan were willing to do such things so she didn't have to.

"Curious, eh?" Matron Plevan teased lightly. Matron Oldami just smiled and ate another cheese cube, mischief sparkling in her eyes. "Anyway," she said. "By tomorrow our herald-runners will arrive at Manor duRalvden, by noon the caravan will be settling in for refit and resupply. I plan on presenting the three Xue'nghozi as soon as I am sure the caravan has settled in."

All three nodded.

"Will your charge be ready, Mistress of Steel and Blood?" Plevan asked.

The witch nodded, her hair squirming around her body, sliding through the rags of leather and silk she wore. "He will be unclad and lewd to the eyes of my sisters and I, but presentable."

Matron Plevan knew that she was referring to the fact that Hridare would not be garbed in armor before presenting him to Patron duRalvden. She nodded thoughtfully, considering all the aspects of presenting him in such a way.

Silks. Silks and velvet. That should suffice for modesty and to show that he has been well treated, Matron Plevan mused. She motioned for Matron Stellancia to take her turn.

"Skyler is contained, for now. I have bound her, her own fire and blood, using arcane bindings I brought with me when I returned home," Stella said softly. "The bindings I used are strong enough to bind Titan-fired mages."

"Are you sure?" Oldami asked.

Stella nodded. "They were forged in the Lands of the Seven Sisters to bind war-fired Arch Mages who had titan-fire running through their veins, and I have bound her to a ring I took from an Armor Lord that was used by Armor Witches for their unknowable tasks," Stella told her.

The Mistress of Steel and Blood shivered in pleasure and cold memories of being bound to iron herself. "It will bind her," the witch said. "It was used to bind one such as I or my sisters to an Armor Lord."

Matron Plevan tapped her wine flute with one enameled fingernail, thinking quickly. "I will ask Patron duRalvden to return the bindings when they release her."

"Thank you, Matron," Stella said. She shivered at the touch of Plevan's young husbands, sighed, and relaxed.

Plevan smiled, reminding herself to take those two young husbands on a private shopping trip, to buy them finery and jewels as well as a dinner at a luxurious restaurant. They were doing their job well in calming Stella's jangled nerves, soothing her agitation, and smoothing the rippling magefire that still echoed with the clash of power between a titan fire fueled mage and a full on Titan. The lotion they were rubbing into the skin they kept exposing was expensive but well known to soothe aches and pains as well as the 'tight' feeling a mage's skin got after exposure to magical energy, especially unrestrained energy.

"What about 'Little Jak'?" Matron Plevan asked, spearing a cube of cheese with a wooden skewer and dipping it in simmering spiced thickened goose-blood.

Matron Oldami swallowed the cheese cube she was chewing on, licked her lips, then took the time to sip at her flute of sparkling ice-grape wine and dab at her lips with a napkin. She smiled.

"Now, be aware that while I have seen a few titan-blooded in passing, or perhaps engaged in trade deals with them, a Titan as flush with the fires as Little Jak is rare and not something I have ever dealt with before," Matron Oldami said. She sipped again at her wine-flute and smiled widely. "First of all, I feel the need to put forth a theorem before we continue the discussion on our three interim guests."

Matron Plevan kept from sighing. Mistress Oldami was educated in some of the best universities the Six Worlds and it often showed through at times when her expensive and expansive education could be put to use. Phalean were known for being a bit meandering and long winded at times but Matron Oldami could put the best carpet seller to the test with her ability to talk and talk and talk. Instead of saying anything negative she put another cube of thick sharp tasting cheese into her mouth after dipping it in spiced mint jelly and motioned for Oldami to continue speaking.

Oldami sipped again and sighed. "We have been assuming that the three pale skinned humans are Xue'nghozi, despite the fact we have no evidence as such," she lifted her fingers. "One: None of us know what a Xue'nghozi actually looks like, we only have descriptions relayed through two or three people. Two: Nobody can understand what they say even though they can seemingly understand every language both written and spoken. We have been attributing it to the Xue'nghozi gods but if the Xue'nghozi gods knew where our little lost trio was they'd have sent someone to collect them by now.

"Three: Little Jak has picked up some words. Not many, but some. Which means that there is no god preventing him from learning new words to describe new things that he's never come into contact with before. Four: I asked Matron Danileena to send over a coin-girl experienced with humans to, ahem, examine him. According to the coin-girl Little Jak's musculature is close but not exactly the same as her human clients nor are the muscles developed exactly the same.

Oldami sipped at her wine again. "I do not believe they are Xue'nghozi, I believe they are something different, something strange," She paused, took a deep breath, then continued. "Although I have grown fond of Little Jak, I believe that he, and his companions, are dangerous to the Consortium and we must pass them on to House Ralvden as soon as possible. Every day Little Jak learns more about our people, about the world around him, and how to interact with it. He is bright, inquisitive, and careful, mindful of his strength and size. I believe that makes him more dangerous with each passing day."

Oldami leaned back, signifying she was done.

There was silence for a long moment.

Matron Plevan cleared her throat.

"Tomorrow we shall present them to Patron Ralvden."