I’d been skeptical that we were even going to find what Elia was supposed to be after, given the paucity of the description she had from the Sun. But it seemed to be enough, and as we traveled closer, I even got the now-familiar tingle of intuition that meant Rijoko was helping out, too.

Not that we had many places to look, I had to admit. Our destination was the farthest south I’d ever traveled, beyond the Yellow Graves proper. Two days after Elia first told me about it, we were approaching our first and only outpost in the region, within shouting distance of the Zarian Dominion itself. Well, for strong cultivators, at least.

The jungle of the Yellow Graves had had to leave this area behind, but it hadn’t given up without a fight. Instead of the dense, old trees and variety of lifeforms using qi, this was a sparser, almost nonmagical wood. The terrain seemed odd, too, with hills and ridges going mostly in a north to south direction. The landmass had narrowed enough you were never far from the ocean, although we were now in more of a protrusion off the direct path to the Storm Continent, sheltered from both the Yellow Graves and, especially, the southern continent, but close to the sea. The small fleet of Imperial and Terbekteri ships anchored off the rocky coast attested to that.

“Weird that we’re this close to the Zarian homeland,” Elia said, gazing south, although there wasn’t much to see. “I never would have thought that I’d see the Storm Continent before I actually got to their colonies on the Earth Continent.”

“We’re not quite there yet,” I replied, “but I understand what you mean. Especially given we were both in Zarian-occupied territory on the Earth Continent. I’m just as happy it turned out this way, though.”

“Oh, so am I.” Elia smiled. “I didn’t leave much behind on the Earth Continent, either.” Her face darkened as she said it, though, and I caught a flicker in her eyes. She was probably thinking of her family.

I almost said something, but clenched my teeth and only nodded. I knew Kariva hadn’t been able to locate Elia’s family, not surprising since they were stuck among many displaced people deep in Zarian-occupied land. Even if Elia wanted to go back to them, there wasn’t much she could do. And our departure had been hurried enough I wasn’t even sure if she’d said goodbye to them. Although, on closer reflection, she had been gone for a while before we kicked off our plan, so she probably had done that, or at least left them a message or something.

Our vehicle slowed down as we passed the outer perimeter of the base. The wagon looked a bit like an open-topped van, with broad wheels that let it drive in difficult terrain. A second one with the other part of my guard detail followed, kicking up dust behind us. The soldiers standing guard over the base saluted as we passed, while the barricades before the gate in the wall had been quickly pulled out of the way. I felt a slight tingle as we passed the formations of a ward perimeter.

The security measures were more impressive than the base itself, which amounted to little more than a collection of huts and a few dirt squares for drilling soldiers or parking vehicles or airships. Our arrival caused a bit of a stir, and I had to bite back a grin as I listened to officers and noncoms haranguing soldiers to get back to their training.

A surprising number of them were Lighters. I would have expected those to stay further north, but on second thought, it was probably easier to drill them here than in the Yellow Graves, while they’d still be potentially useful. We’d finally cleared everything north of the short-lived wall, so most of our soldiers had been trickling south. We’d even traveled with some of them, until we’d picked up these vehicles at our last stop. They must have been shipped in by ship or airship, I doubted they’d have survived crossing the Yellow Graves.

“You take me to the nicest places, Inaris,” Elia muttered.

“That’s Lei’s job, not mine,” I countered. I grinned as she sighed theatrically. If I hadn’t known she was so straight you could use her as a ruler, I might have found it less funny.

“Did someone say my name?” Lei asked, popping his head up from the second vehicle.

“You need to take your girlfriend somewhere nice once this is done,” I said. “For now, let’s see what’s going on, though.”

I jumped down and waited for the two of them to join me. Once he’d heard what Elia intended, Lei had insisted on coming along. Not that I minded. He was good in a fight, and while he could be a little careless, it wasn’t nearly at the point where you’d consider him a liability.

It didn’t seem like we’d have any trouble finding the reason we had traveled here. We’d barely come to a stop in the center of the base before nervous-looking colonel approached us. My attention drifted to him almost before I realized it, and I knew it had to be related. Sometimes, it felt disconcerting to have something resembling a video game quest system stuck in my head. But at least it could be really useful.

“Your Highness, my lord, my lady,” the officer said, kneeling and bowing his head. “I am glad you came. We have something that could use your personal attention.”

“Rise.” I stepped closer. “Why’s that?”

The officer stood up, and his gaze drifted to Elia. “It’s a man who demanded to speak to Lady Elia of Arialko. He’s quite insistent about it.”

We started walking, and I smoothed out a frown. “Back up a little. Who’s that man, and where did he come from?”

The officer hesitated. “Perhaps it’s best to show you, Your Highness. We picked him up in the forest not far from here, but he was clearly approaching the base on purpose. After a bit of turmoil, we brought him into the base. We’re keeping him in a secure building for now. He’s refused to answer most of our questions.”

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I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything else, as we were arriving at the building in question now. It looked sturdier than the rest, and I could sense the formations built into and inside it. There was also a tightly coiled aura that nevertheless drew my attention almost automatically, in a strangely familiar way.

Elia pushed ahead of us, rushing into the building. I hurried up to follow her. We brushed past two soldiers guarding the entrance room and then past a couple more in the ground floor, before Elia pushed open a door with so much energy it banged against the wall, and I followed her into the room.

As soon as I saw the person inside, I realized several things at once. The first was why Aston hadn’t crowded around us more closely. The second was an inkling of why the officer, a seasoned professional, had been so off balance. The third was that I might just find out more of what had been going on down south. But none of that captured my focus.

“Elis!” Elia rushed forward, starting to extend her arms as if to hug him, then faltered.

I slowly stepped closer, examining the guy. He was a young man, probably no older than my mental age, if even that. He had brown hair and a skin tone that looked like it could have come from almost anywhere in Eurasia. But there was a definite resemblance to my friend. Anyone would have known they were brother and sister just from looking at them.

“Elia,” he replied softly. He smiled, although I could see a bit of strain behind the expression. Hesitantly, he stepped forward and put his arms around her. As if that had broken a barrier, Elia returned the hug and clung to him fiercely.

I waited quietly as the siblings reunited, shooting Lei a sharp look when it looked like he’d speak up. But after half a minute, they separated, though I noticed they kept holding onto each other’s sleeves. Elis turned to look at us curiously.

“A direct child of a powerful spirit,” he said. His gaze sharpened on me. “Ah. You’re the Imperial Princess. I see the rumors are true.”

“Elis of Arialko, I presume,” I replied. “You’re right, I am a daughter of the Moon.”

“And I’m Leri Akilei, but everyone calls me Lei.” Lei regarded Elia’s brother at least as curiously as he did us. He stepped towards his girlfriend. “Your sister told me about you, but not much.”

“Did she?” His eyes narrowed, and he glanced from Lei to Elia.

She stepped back a little, not quite touching Lei, but the way they stood together was pretty clear, and I didn’t have to be a genius to recognize the defensiveness Lei showed, or the protectiveness towards Elia.

“I knew you’d grown up, little sister,” Elis said, his tone a little more playful now, though his expression hadn’t softened much. “I knew you might find a man. I didn’t think it would be an Imperial princeling, though.” The way he said it carried an undertone of what might be ‘you should know better’, unless I was reading too much into it.

“So what if it was?” Elia retorted. She glared at her older brother. “This sort of thing is my decision, not yours. Especially not if you come back years after you left us just to lecture me about it.”

Elis winced a little. He bowed his head for a moment. “I know. I’m sorry.” He glanced at Lei again, and there was still steel in his gaze. “Still, if I find you disrespecting her or treating her like a common toy for your amusement, you’ll regret it.”

“I’d never do that. You don’t know me. Don’t act like you do.” Lei extended his arm and Elia took his hand, taking step back to snuggle closer to him.

I cleared my throat, bringing all of their eyes back to me. I regarded the young spirit-descendant for a moment. He was in the fifth stage, stronger than Elia. Clearly, he was more familiar with his abilities than she’d been when I met her, too. He’d also picked up Imperial Common somewhere, though he wasn’t quite as good at it as his sister, his accent more noticeable.

“How did you know she was with us in the first place?” I asked.

“It’s not a secret.” He shrugged. “The Zarian learned about it some time ago, seeing her with you and probably getting information from sources within the Empire. I picked up a few things here and there.”

I raised an eyebrow. This sounded pretty interesting, even if he was weaseling his answers. “We’ll have to talk about this in more detail,” I said. “But for now, the way you showed up here, I imagine you were in a hurry. Trouble with those changes down in the Zarian Dominion I’ve heard about?”

“You could say that.” He smiled wryly. “Yes, I was running away, hoping the Empire would offer me safety, especially given Elia was here.” He smiled at his sister for a moment. “You might say they’re not happy to let me go.”

I nodded, taking a step closer myself.

“Did you find out anything about Father’s death?” Elia asked. “What did you do down there? How much danger have you been in?”

He laughed. “One thing at a time, Elia.” But he quickly turned serious. “I’m glad you came so quickly. I didn’t find out much regarding Dad, though there’s definitely a few things we should talk about. As for these changes, as you called them, Princess Inaris,” he nodded at me, “they’re probably more sweeping than you realize, and they caught me unprepared. I got caught up more deeply, more quickly than I realized, I suppose. I don’t think I’m out of danger, but just getting away took all of my skill and a little help from Grandmother …”

He trailed off. A wail had started to sound and was quickly growing louder, filling the room so much I was almost surprised nothing vibrated. I flinched and brushed my finger against my storage ring. That was an alarm. I could sense one of the perimeter wards pulsing, and the others were activating, too.

Elis cursed in his native language. “It looks like Niordo doesn’t want to let me get away and sent his men after me.”

I glanced around, then turned to leave. The others were hot on my heels as we hurried out of the room, down the corridor and out of the building. Elis did well at projecting calm, but his aura felt too rigid to fool me.

Soldiers were hurrying around everywhere. Lighters crowded around what I realized was an armory and munitions depot, while their officers sorted them quickly. Only some of them had their weapons on hand. The regular soldiers were better prepared, probably because they all carried storage rings. I took a moment to look around, then hurried to the closest gate, which led roughly south. Aston overtook me without a word while other guards closed in around us. A few of them positioned themselves to cut Elis off from me and my companions.

I could sense our attackers. There weren’t that many, but almost all of them were strong. Crap. This is just an outpost. It’s not supposed to stand up to a concentrated invasion or elite strike.

I took a deep breath as we reached the wall. There was something odd about the attackers. A few of them seemed a little strange to me. Or, at least, different than usual. Not necessarily all that strange.

“There are quite a few spirit-children among these people,” Elia muttered, a deep frown on her face.

I nodded, not taking my eyes from the trees. There wasn’t much we could see, yet. Soldiers took defensive positions, and the ballistas and other defensive installations were readied.

Then a roar shook the earth, and a new presence approached quickly. I winced. A large spirit beast, twice as big as an elephant, trampled through the path in the forest, tearing down young trees, before it thundered towards us. It slammed to a halt as it reached invisible walls, shaking the earth, but the qi running through them trembled and I could sense a few other runes burning out.

Clearly, we weren’t in for a friendly chat.