After tying the prepared tie and donning his favorite cologne, Sunshen was prepared for the night to come. He had made his mind about it already and he was thoroughly convinced of his goals. His father made it abundantly clear, that Sunshen was not to make appearance on this ball, and frankly, there was nothing that would make Sunshen more intrigued.

He put on the high cylinder of his grandfather - probably the last heirloom he had left - and grabbed the elegant walking cane. Making sure that he had the look of a gentleman, he straightened the sleeve on his left arm, and nodded at his rather dapper appearance.

The servants looked at him as he walked out of his room straight to the entrance. They must have been informed and commanded to alert his father would he leave his mansion, but this was not Sunshen's first rodeo after all. Simple knowing he was out of the mansion would give his father no lead to actually find him.

He walked out of the thick iron doors and was greeted by the shining Niatras along the Goldreacher's square.

The huge lamps, towering over the mansion's and estates must have been at least five dozen meters tall, their frames built of gold and silver alloy. They lit up their surroundings, basking the upper city in the safe glow of their goddesses light. Though the dark thick fog above them still kept the sky hidden.

A great looming clock tower loomed above the main road, right were the town hall laid. It's hands a source of comfort. For if nothing else, the time had not stopped moving.

Sunshen has read old books, that told about their days, about the blue sky and the stars and sun and clouds. He had always wondered if he will ever live to see it. There were places rumored to be free of the sickly fog, but that was all that these myths amounted to. All safe places were proven to be not so safe, most made up by wicked throat-cutters, baiting their prey to the promise of real light. It was enough to keep Sunshen in one city for his whole life.

But, hope was bound to die last and Sunshen still believed that the time before the purple fog descended on their land may arrive again. Once.

Unfortunately, the Henrer mansion was far away and if Sunshen took only the safe routes, it would add a good half-hour before he actually arrived. He suspected that his time there would be limited, so he really did not want to arrive late. That meant that he would have to go through the lower districts.

The change was always surprisingly quick.

The clean and well-maintained bricks of Main road were replaced by the cracked and mislaid stone blocks of the Corners. The houses got smaller and shabbier, though their foundations were still carefully placed and tough. They might have been getting old, but they would stay strong for at least a few generations to come. The Niatra's were weaker and smaller, changing the high dome of the Main road to a wall of fog around ten meters above the houses. It was awfully rare for Niatra's to fail here enough to cost lives. They were periodically checked and their range covered each other in case of emergencies. The same could not be said about the Outskirts.

Sunshen did not like it, but he instinctively felt vulnerable walking these streets. These people weren't the poorest of the poor, but some might have seen a crippled lordling as easy pickings for some blackmailed gold. The Niatra's lights here were sicken and chipped, most obscured by junk and scrap metal. The houses were ridden with small little fires. Desperate lights, capable of only halting the fog, instead of actively repelling it.

Two officer's were just carrying a body from a ruined house. A small boy. His skin turned to a light purple hue, his veins darkened. The eyes were without pupils, grey and lifeless, his whole body dried up from inhaling the fog. It seemed that this one was not hit by the fallen roof of the house at all. Instead only suffocating and deteriorating from the touch of the cursed fog.

"Should have paid for our services, even offered them the discount." One of the man looking at the house said. The small Niatra he so proudly brandished in his hand, revealed him to be one of the repellers, a type of a servicer, simply people making money out of the desperation of the poor. His business must have bloomed these couple years. The fog push was stronger and stronger, though Sunshen mainly though so for the man's overflowing belly.

"People are too greedy. Valuing money more than their own lives." the other responded, taking a swing from the wine he grabbed before. "Though we did get the money." he added with a laugh, mockingly playing with the lightly burnt pouch. From the way it moved, it could not have had more then ten pieces. About half of what they would want from this family.

Sunshen would have thought that such a routine thing would not affect him anymore. It was a daily occurrence for a Niatra to fail, or for fog to get into a family home otherwise. One could even say that it happened more and more commonly. But the fact that an innocent family was laid bare before him, some crushed from the weight of the decayed wooden beams, some killed directly by the cursed thing looming over all of them, still hurt him. The unaffected attitude of the two repellers made things even worse. Now not only making money off the desperation, but mocking the family for being in it. He resolved to make a strong statement about their practices to the Early mail next week.

Most repellers were of higher birth than the poor folk, it was almost impossible to get a Niatra otherwise. They held no sympathy for the family. None at all. But that was not something that Sunshen could do anything about, nor should he. While seeing the evil in the situation before him, he knew very well that things three times worse were happening on the other side of the city.

With a sigh, Sunshen replaced his scowl with his soft smile again and continued on the journey.

It was no more than ten minutes before he arrived at the expansive mansion. The wings of the building were long and vast.

About twenty three-family houses. Sunshen mused to himself. He hated the gluttony with which they took up space. More of the less fortunate could live in peace, had this mansion been just a singular big house.

Still, as was the case with every building on the Main road, the architecture was something to behold. Sunshen bathed in the beautiful columns and arches. He deemed it pleasurable enough to stuff his pipe and enjoy the view with a hint of old tobby. He did also hope it would help with his nerves.

After deciding that no matter how much he smoked, his hands would not stop shaking, Sunshen rearranged the glasses on his face and greeted the security guards. After clearing the annoying questions, about his identity, reason for visit and others along those lines, he was finally let in.

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The space inside was unsurprisingly huge, the silver chandeliers filling the whole room from wall to wall. So much raw metal.

Sunshen quickly surveyed the crowd of people before him. He had noticed a few familiar faces, some worthy enough to go greet later, but he did not find what he was looking for.

It was a good and bad thing both.

If he could not see his father, that meant that his father should not be able see him, but it also meant that he had no idea where he was, so he could not actively avoid him.

Still, no reason to be scared. Sunshen was excited to mingle.

This time, Jack Herner has truly outdone himself. Every important face of the city and some beyond showed themselves here. Conducting business or widening their web of contacts.

But one face excited Sunshen more than most.

He had slowly made his way to her. Her back was turned, so the situation was perfect. Right before she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck, he whispered.

"Tatiana!"

She quickly turned around, her arms hoisted in the air, prepared to fight in the surprise. When she realized who she was seeing, her face turned angry and she exhaled with annoyance.

"Sunshen Gureth! When will you stop with the childish demeanor!" her cheeks grew red.

"How could I ever, Tati. I know you adore this side of me."

"As if." she laughed a little, though she tried to stifle it. She came closer brushing her lip around Sunshen's ear. "I have people to talk to, but I will find you later. When I will be about to leave..." she said before gently biting his earlobe. Then she turned around and left. The implication of her words reddened Sunshen almost as much as the way they were expressed.

Sunshen quickly gathered himself. After wiping the sweat and cooling himself with a cold champagne glass, he was prepared to go to the crowd again.

He turned around and...a stern face was looking down at him.

Even without looking up at the face, Sunshen knew exactly what kind of expression his father wore.

The kind of stern and angry deepened brows, that told him the emotion was strong, along with the scowl, that told him the emotion was bad. Even if his father was growing older as of late and even if he was around the same height as Sunshen, he still towered over him in Sunshen's mind.

"You smell of cheap tobacco. Taking my orders for suggestions again?" he asked his face unmoving.

"A neat way of putting it, father." he answered. After a while of uncomfortable silence he felt the need to add. "What now?"

"Now? You are already here, I would rather avoid a scene by getting you escorted out. But you are to stay away from me and using your family name. Is that understood?"

"Oh sure. Why wouldn't I? You are just my father, it's not like I am a part of-"

"Understood?" His father said again.

"Yes. I do understand. I did not plan to fraternize with you at all. If that is of comfort to you."

"Of some, yes." his father replied as he turned around and walked away.

The party proved little interesting in the other aspects. Officer Abigail had not arrived, seemingly kept by another of his cases. The architect Brinton Steward had to make an emergency stop on the way. All in all, except Tatiana, the evening was utterly unproductive. Before the height of the evening came.

When Jack Herner himself came onto the stage, the crowd had forgotten their restraint and cheered loudly. He was a well-known man after all. Ranked tenth in popularity. Be it his dashing looks, or the extravagant purple and red coat he wore, or his joyous demeanor as he stood up onto the stage, the people loved him.

After getting people to quiet down, Henrer picked the microphone prepared for him and started talking. Immediately taking Sunshen's full focus.

"First of all, I welcome you all to my banquet and would like to thank you for your attendance. It is nice to know that I have all these friends, in these trying days. But those of you that know me know, that I am not one for unprepared speeches about friendship and coexistence. No. I am here to show you the new pinnacle of engineering! The next breaking point! The biggest invention since the steam engine! Allow me to introduce you to the fog-knight!"

Herner pulled down the red covers on what Sunshen had suspected was a statue, only to reveal that it was armor. But it was not just any armor. Instead of the iron and steel of the armors of old, this one was made of what had to be some gold alloy. It was riddled with vents and gears and had a head comparable to that of a diver suit. It was certainly unexpected and Sunshen was not really sure what to make of it.

"As you can see, this suit of armor was carefully crafted with the limitations of the human body in mind. This suit allows you to move quicker, hoist great weights, keep storage of water and food inside it's compartments. Not only does this suit have two falcon steam propelling barrels in it's gauntlets, along with a sizable ammo department, not only does it have small Niatra's hidden along it's body, prepared to be uncovered, but it has one function, never before seen."

The crowd was utterly quiet, everyone waiting for the incredible news that was about to come. Sunshen was already taken aback by the wonder of innovation before him and personally had no guess as to what this hulking armor can do. Maybe he was the most silent of them all.

"Thanks to the new, smaller engine, we had enough space to make a separation filter that we had added to the suit."

Does that mean...no it cannot be...but can it? Will this allow..?

"It has full fog immunity, without any sacred light support."

"But how can there be enough pressure in the pipe to handle the chaos of the fog?" Sunshen said quickly. He knew very little of the engineering aspect of things, but he knew some.

"Good question mister. I see you are involved in our craft. We have added pressure stabilizing units here and here, which negate the pressure put there..." Jack Herner smiled at Sunshen as he explained the workings of the suit. Truthfully, Sunshen did not understand even half of it, but he listened intently even then.

The rest of the showing proceeded much the same, with Sunshen asking various questions throughout Herner's presentation. Sunshen would never ask so many, never would disturb the natural flow as much, but Herner seemed to appreciate each and every one of them, motivating Sunshen to ask further.

After thanking the others and saying that for those interested, the suits would go to production in half-a-year. Jack Herner stepped down from the stage and started walking...right at Sunshen.

"Hello, my friend. Great questions there." He said with a gentle smile.

"I-uhm...I-ah..." Sunshen replied. His nervousness taking the better from him.

"Oh, how embarrassing. I forgot to introduce myself." He reached out with his right hand. "Jack Herner, owner of Steam Valve."

"Sunshen Gureth, son of Magnus Gureth." Sunshen quickly grabbed his hand back.

"Interested in a a more in-depth explanation Sunshen? Somewhere more calm?"