“How do we prove that someone you can’t see isn’t in the room?” Dellen asked.

“Turn your back and have her hold up some fingers,” Gilgamesh suggested.

Dellen relayed the suggestion to Eliza, who clapped her hands quickly, “Yes, excellent; if you will both consent to that, then I can, provisionally, accept that he’s there, which will, I might add, lend greater credence to the rest of your somewhat difficult to believe tale.”

Both Dellen and Lady Lockridge turned their backs and reported how many fingers Eliza held up at different times.

Upon turning to face her again, Dellen saw the somewhat stunned expression on Eliza’s face. “I don’t see any mirrors that you could be using or any convenient way for you to be tricking me; on the surface… I’m forced to accept that you might be telling the truth.”

“Thank you,” Dellen said with a quick nod, “Lady Lockridge,”

“Please, call me Victoria; that mode of address is going to grow increasingly cumbersome.”

“Victoria, do you have any suggestions on how you can help me stop the attack?”

Victoria sat in a chair, “You said the attacks will take place six days hence?”

“Yes, though I discovered sabotage under the city in as little as two evenings from now.”

Victoria nodded, “How did you discover the sabotage?”

“I flew down attached to a steam-attuned flight frame, and we scouted under the city.”

“I see, and what happened next?”

“We found sabotage, and when I touched a column full of Chronometric Aether, I think I inadvertently pushed myself forward in time.”

“You think?”

“Well, when I looked back for them, they’d vanished. Eventually, I met the captain who had been welding the Aetheric Infusers onto the columns, we had a bit of a disagreement, and the ship ended up diving into the chasm with all hands aboard.”

Victoria’s eyebrows rose up with interest. “How deep into the chasm did you delve?”

“The captain thought we’d descended over a mile.”

Lady Lockridge glanced at the floor. “Fascinating, do go on.”

“We met some predators, and I think one of them ate me,” Dellen said with an involuntary shudder.

“Please explain that,” Eliza said.

“One moment, I was trying to escape from a steam squid, and the next, I was on the balcony of my estate with Gilgamesh, uninjured and unforged.”

“Unforged, you say?” Lady Victoria asked, “How many times have you forged yourself through this ordeal?”

“I’ve lost track.”

“You must be unusually talented at it,” she said, “More so than anyone else, most of us don’t have the opportunity to forge ourselves again and again.”

“Perhaps,” Dellen said with a shrug, “It’s not an easy thing to prove one way or another.”

Eliza’s gaze darted over his visible skin, “You did all of this today?”

Dellen smiled at her, “You should have seen me the first dozen times,” he rubbed his fingers on his neck, “I had scars running from my throat down my chest.”

“And your eyes exploded.”

“Thank you, Gilgamesh.” He smiled, a little embarrassed, “Gilgamesh wants it known that I may have pushed myself a little too hard and pushed myself into another time loop.”

“If by pushed yourself a little too hard you mean repeatedly died, then yes, that’s what I was saying.”

Lady Lockridge covered her mouth and laughed.

“It is so good to be heard,” Gilgamesh said.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Is… Gilgamesh… saying something else?” Eliza said.

“Nothing worth repeating,” Dellen said with a glare, “In any case, we are getting sidetracked.” He turned to Lady Lockridge, “I’d like your help stopping the attacks.”

She looked at him with some confusion, “Why?”

Of all the answers he could have predicted, this one startled Dellen the most. “What do you mean, why?”

“You are somehow in possession of a technology that lets you travel through time to revisit the same day over and over again; why do you need my help?” Lady Victoria said in a patient tone.

“I’m not in possession of any technology,” Dellen said, “I move back to the same location and instance in time whenever one of two conditions are met, eight days have passed, or I die.” He grimaced, “As a general rule, I seem to be much better at dying.”

Eliza looked at him askance, “If that’s true, are you sure you’re safe fixing this problem?”

Dellen frowned at her, “Yes?” He said, his voice tinged with uncertainty, “I think I’m here to prevent the attack.”

“Why?” Eliza said.

He sighed, “Why else would I have been sent back here if not to prevent a disaster?” He didn’t want to discuss or even allude to the Refinery.

Lady Lockridge waved a hand in the air, “Let us assume that he’s correct. If there’s to be an attack, I, for one, do not need to dissuade him from saving me.”

Dellen shook his head, “You survive the attack, and your estate is undamaged, as are your business holdings. It’s how we first met; Eliza and I came to interview you.”

Eliza turned to him, “We’d met before?” Her eyes lit with understanding, “That’s how you knew where my office was!”

Dellen nodded, “Yes, I’ve come to see you before.”

“Why?”

“When I sent in warnings to the Copperopolis Chronicle, you were the only one who took the warnings seriously. You identified me as one of the nobles who stood to gain from the attacks.”

Lady Lockridge arched an eyebrow at him, “And how would you stand to gain from this disaster?”

“House Northcote sells alloys and raw materials; our product would be in high demand after that level of destruction.”

Lady Victoria nodded, “How, theoretically, would we go about stopping this?”

“I believe that Thaddeus Valtair is the man orchestrating the attacks.”

Lady Victoria’s eyes widened in shock, as did Eliza’s. “He’s the oldest member of the Aetheric Cultivators and probably the most accomplished Aether cultivator in Copperopolis.”

“Yes,” Dellen said, “I spoke to him today. He wants to leave the city. Somehow, he feels that this attack will help him and hurt the Mercantile Guild.”

“Ahh,” Lady Lockridge said, “If he hurts the guild, and weakens their stranglehold on the city, then he gets to leave and take some of his cultivators with him. I can understand that much.” She frowned with confusion, “But how does attacking the city help him?”

“We still don’t know.” Dellen said, “But in the absence of that knowledge, can you help us stop the delivery of the Aetheric Infusers?”

“How are they being ‘delivered’?”

“I found them being placed under the city by Captain Seraphina Thatch of the Nightingale and her two crew, Lira and Nessa.”

Interest flared in Lady Lockridge’s eyes, “I’ve heard of the Nightingale.”

“Do you know where we might find it? If we stop the Nightingale, we might stop the attack, Thaddeus can’t have found too many captains willing to go under the city, maybe that’s all I need to do to avert this disaster.”

“Life is seldom that simple or convenient,” Lady Victoria said, “But, as it happens, I know who to speak to if I wanted to hire that particular ship.”

Dellen wasn’t sure what to make of that, Seraphina Thatch hadn’t struck him as someone to hire for any activities that were strictly legal in nature; perhaps all nobles had to be prepared to step into the world of grey from time to time.

He leaned forward, “Can you arrange for us to meet with them tomorrow?”

Lady Victoria frowned in thought, “Maybe by tomorrow evening. I’ll see what I can arrange. Is there anything else that you can think of?”

“Do you have any suggestions for how to incapacitate Thaddeus?”

“You could kidnap him,” Eliza said.

Dellen and Lady Victoria stared at her.

“What?” She said defensively, arms crossed in front of her chest, “It’s not like he can manage an attack on the city if you have him locked in a cell.”

Her point was disturbingly valid, even if Dellen didn’t have a cell to put Thaddeus in or confidence that he would be easy to hold. Thaddeus had centuries of experience with Electrical Aether; he likely knew tricks and applications that Dellen had never thought of. “I’m not convinced I could defeat or restrain Thaddeus.”

“Now, now, let’s not get hasty and rush to violence.” Said Lady Lockridge, “It is the responsibility of the nobility to represent a better path. I have a gala to preside over. Come see me tomorrow, and I will see what I can do to find this Captain Thatch.”

Dellen nodded, “Thank you, yes, that is excellent advice.”

Lady Lockridge left the room as quickly as good manners allowed.

“What do you want to do now?” Gilgamesh said.

“I think we should attend the rest of the Gala,” Dellen replied.

“It’s odd having you talk to the air,” Eliza said.

“Gilgamesh has been my only constant companion since this time loop began. He’s the only one who remembers everything I’ve done, everywhere I’ve been, the people I’ve spoken to.” A sad smile twisted over his lips. “It can feel futile trying to speak to someone knowing that they will remember the conversation for a few days, and then it’s like it never was.”

Eliza took his arm, “Would an hors d’oeuvre improve your mood?”

“It wouldn’t hurt it,” Dellen replied, linking his arm with hers and walking back to the gala.

The band was playing a livelier beat, and the crowd seemed louder than when they’d left the room. “What do you think? Is there anyone in here that you might want to interview?”

Eliza scanned the room, “I think Lady Vane, Lord Smythe, and Countess Blackwood can be avoided; as to the rest, I don’t know. This is your world, not mine.”

Dellen considered the vista ahead of him; he felt he’d accomplished his goal, spoken to many nobles, and found a potential ally against Thaddeus.

“You could also take a break.” Gilgamesh said, “Enjoy the food, have a drink.”

Dellen nodded slowly, he’d do just as Gilgamesh said, for the first time since he was back in Copperopolis, he’d relax. The morning would see him visiting Northcote Industries and Lady Lockridge.

He held a hand out to Eliza, “Would you join me for the next dance?”

It turned out he didn’t quite remember the steps.