Emery and Avuri were both in the kitchen working on dinner for the day when one of the Array alarms went off. They both exploded into action, dropping the food they were working on and immediately leaping from the wide, open window - which had been designed for this very purpose - to be prepared to guard their home.
In the weeks since they first received word about the situation with The Deposits, they had been working with Talya to set up a wide selection of Arrays that would, in theory, protect their basin and their family in it. They had set up so many redundancies and extra layers at this point that they felt comfortable with its ability to defend them, or at least alert them, when danger showed up at their doorstep.
Given all of that, it was very concerning to everyone that heard it that it was an inner circle alarm that was sounding.
“What happened to the other twenty alarms?” Avuri asked as she and Emery moved to the playground for a decent vantage point to see whatever was headed their way. She may have exaggerated with ‘twenty’, but it wasn’t by all that much.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Emery responded, her head on a constant swivel. She saw her kids quickly moving inside their houses, and she could feel the Qi-based locks slide into place. The houses would be difficult to break into for anyone in the Sky Realm, and near impossible for those below it. It was the easiest line of defense they had come up with, but wasn’t perfect. For now, it had to do.
Avuri had let her Domain flow freely, covering basically the entirety of the basin, as well as some of the area around it. Emery had let hers flow out and meld with Avuri’s so she could get a feel for a whole space as well.
Neither of them felt anything.
They stopped in the center of the playground, back to back, trying to physically look for whatever had tripped their alarm.
“Do you - “
“No. Nothing.” Avuri confirmed. “That’s concerning.”
“Whatever it is, it must be close. The alarm it tripped was the one that starts at the edge of the fields, so it must be within the settlement by now.” Emery said, her eyes darting around.
Vale crashed heavily onto the ground next to them, seemingly from nowhere. Neither woman was startled, as Vale had a tendency to just appear like that when something was amiss.
“Nothing?” He asked, his body beginning to show the signs of his morph as he cycled his Qi. A smattering of scales were visible at the neckline of his shirt, but he otherwise kept the transformation hidden beneath his clothing. His normal paunch was already gone, though.
“Sorry.” A flat, unenthusiastic voice came from between two of the houses to the side. Heads snapped toward the newcomer, but the charge of Qi in the air had already begun to fade. Not entirely, but much of the tension faded away.
Vale narrowed his eyes at the person who was walking toward their little group relaxed. “Black.”
“Scales.” The person responded, continuing to walk forward.
“Even.”
“Keel.”
At that point, the tension really did flee from everyone.
“Ieji.” Emery said, letting out a breath. “That explains the lack of a presence.” She said sourly.
Avuri harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest. “You couldn’t just send a messenger to let us know you were here? Or flare your Qi? Or at least have the decency to trigger one of the outer Arrays?”
Ieji did have the decency to look a little sheepish at that. “I honestly thought I could bypass the Arrays and just knock on the door. I didn’t expect so many layers of defense, and I missed one.” They shrugged. “On the other hand, now you know that even I can’t break through all of them unnoticed, so you did a good job.” They paused for a moment, then asked, “Talya?”
Emery nodded. “Talya. It’s good to hear that they’re reliable, though.”
“I assume if you’re here, that means you have news to share.” Vale said, cutting straight to the point.
Ieji nodded. “Yes. I’d rather not explain this all more than once, so gather everyone up and we can get into it.”
“I’ll call the Elders. We can meet them at their place tonight, no doubt. They’ll make time.” Vale said, and he was off, practically leaving a dust cloud behind.
Emery gave Ieji a quick look up and down. They were scarily slim as always, with the same medium length pitch black hair they always had growing up. They wore fairly tight dark blue underclothes that covered most of their body, with a more comfortable looking robe over it. The clothing was dirty from travel, but Ieji looked fairly healthy overall. Or at least as healthy as Ieji ever looked, as they always had something of a gaunt look about them.
“Let’s get you inside and washed up while we wait for Vale. No reason for you to meet the Elders dirty from your trip.” Emery said. “You can say hello to Talya and Gray while you’re here.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Alright.” Ieji said, still not showing all that much in the way of enthusiasm. “I think Gray hates me though.”
Avuri snorted, and Emery and Ieji both turned to her. “Sorry,” she said, “Ieji, you have to know that you come off a little…weird the first time people meet you.”
Ieji hung their head. “I know.” They said, voice still flat despite the apparent emotion in the mannerism.
“And seriously, let us know you’re here next time instead of trying to infiltrate us, yeah?” Avuri said, annoyed. “You put us all on edge with that stunt.”
“Oh. That reminds me.” Emery said, and brought her hands up to her mouth. Avuri and Ieji both recognized the motion and covered their ears before Emery could whistle, the sound carrying through the entire basin, loud and clear. She whistled a short burst of notes that they had previously decided on as an all clear signal.
The home protection Arrays began to turn off and heads poked out of doors. Emery smiled at the nearest few groups that were testing the waters.
“It’s safe. It was just Ieji.” Emery said, pointing to her sibling. “Everyone can get back to their chores.”
Groans rippled through the kids at that, and Emery and Avuri chuckled, continuing to lead Ieji toward the main house.
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Half an hour later, Emery, Avuri, Talya, Gray, and Ieji were seated at the kitchen table while waiting for Vale to return. Emery had brought out some simple snacks and drinks for everyone while they waited, hoping to ease some of the tension that Ieji’s arrival caused. Or, more accurately, the tension that Ieji caused by bringing news of whatever was coming.
“You really did well with those Arrays, Talya.” Ieji said, their finger tracing the top of their glass. “I was able to get by the first few, but the four layered Arrays on the inner side were apparently complex enough for me to not be able to slip through.”
Talya looked immensely proud at the praise, and even more so when Ieji said ‘four layered’. With a big mischievous grin, Talya asked, “Four layered? Ieji, you must be losing your touch. That Array is six layers.”
Ieji blinked in surprise, but otherwise didn’t show it on their face. That lack of emotion was normal for Ieji, and reading the smaller mannerisms they had was essential for reading their mood. Because, as Emery and Talya had to keep reminding their spouses, Ieji had emotions. They just weren’t really capable of displaying them naturally. Unless they were acting, but that was an entirely different skill.
“Six? That really was impressive then. They might be the best Sky Realm Arrays I’ve ever encountered. At least when it comes to alarm Arrays, anyway.”
“Thank you.” Talya said. “I worked really hard on those designs, and this was the first time I’ve actually put them to use. If they even filtered you out, I’m confident that they’ll work when I show the designs to clients.”
“Are you sure showing those designs around is safe, Talya?” Emery asked, concerned. “I know they’re just alarm Arrays, but - “
“I’m only planning on selling the five layer ones.” She said seriously. “At least for now anyway. The five layers I think are more than enough for anyone looking to protect their homes. Besides, if I charged for the ones I used here, no one would be able to afford them.” She shrugged.
“Just what we want to hear.” Gray said, rolling his eyes. “”Oh, these Arrays are so good, but you couldn’t afford them anyway.”” He said, taking on a teasing lilt to his voice.
Talya nudged him with her shoulder. “Laugh all you want, but if I handed you the list of materials that went into making the Arrays here in the basin it would make your head spin.” She giggled, then kissed Gray’s cheek.
He gave her a questioning look then. “Just how expensive are we talking?”
Emery and Avuri both looked to the side innocently, while Talya covered her mouth as if hiding laughter. “I don’t remember the exact amounts, but let’s just say they,” she pointed at Emery and Avuri, “could have bought a small town for the amount.”
Gray’s eyes snapped back to his sisters-in-law and he narrowed his eyes. Even Ieji was eyeing them curiously. “...Seriously?”
Emery nodded, but still didn’t meet their eyes. “Array materials are expensive, even for just the basics. If you want to layer several Array designs to make them more difficult to bypass, the materials all have to be very specific so they don’t react with one another…” She muttered, trying to explain.
Avuri took over the more pressing part of their reason, though. “And we’re not about to pick the lesser option to protect our kids.” She met Gray’s and Ieji’s eyes then, and added, “And you. Don’t forget you’re benefiting too.”
“That’s true.” Talya said. “I may not have put in as much effort if we weren’t staying here for now, too.”
“Hey!” Emery said, taking offense to that. “I’m paying you, so you better be doing the job right. You didn’t even give me a sister price or anything.”
“I did.”
“...You did?”
“I did.” Talya reaffirmed.
Emery blanched, as did Avuri. “Those prices were discounted?”
“Sure were. Fifteen percent or so.”
Emery and Avuri both melted into their chairs. “Holy shit.” Avuri muttered.
“Yeah.” Talya said, then showed her teeth in a sly smirk. “Be grateful, you little shits.”
Between the look on her face, and the words coming from Talya’s mouth, Emery and Avuri broke into laughter. It took them a full minute to calm down, all the while trying to explain that the whole thing was so out of character for Talya that they just couldn’t take it. And when one of them stopped laughing, the other started them back up again.
It was a few minutes after that that Vale returned, sweeping into the room through the open window.
“We’re meeting with the Elders in two hours. Be ready.” He said, as soon as he landed comfortably.
Determined nods went around the table in a wave, as Vale moved to the one remaining seat and plopped into it. He looked around the table and could easily see that they had been having a good time. His eyes moved between Ieji and Gray, then he smiled.
“Glad to see you all getting along.”