The crew scattered around them. Dellen noticed that all of the figures were, like him, Second Trinity.

“Well, this doesn’t look too bad,” Gilgamesh said.

Sailors gave Dellen brief glances, but their attention was focused on Miss Thornbrook, not that Dellen blamed them, he was a minnow that could be overwhelmed, she was a kraken that could scupper the ship and eat them. If the situation were reversed, he would be paying scant attention to the Second Trinity who had jumped aboard as well.

“Who seems to be in charge here?” Composed and in control, Miss Thornbrook spoke in a tone that would have been appropriate if she had stopped into a shop to purchase fabric for a dress, a book for a gift, or perhaps wine for a gala. She looked about the deck with a questioning glance as though expecting any of the sailors to step forward and claim the captaincy for themselves.

“I’m in charge.” A darker patch of shadow that had somehow escaped Dellen’s notice unfolded from the side of the ship, growing larger until a man broke free from it.

“Oh, that’s not good,” Gilgamesh said.

Dellen licked his lips nervously. It was hard for him to tell at the Higher Trinities, but he thought the man looked about as forged as Miss Thornbrook, Seventh Trinity. Miss Thornbrook stiffened and then relaxed, quickly enough that Dellen almost missed it. “Welcome to Copperopolis,” she said, “It’s a pleasing city, quite beautiful, what brings you here?”

“I wanted to see one of the fabled cities of the Mercantile Guild for myself.” The man’s voice had a dissonant quality, harsh and smooth at the same time, almost like silk being slid over something rough. It made Dellen want to rub his ears.

“And you are?” Miss Thornbrook asked.

“Dakkon Nightsky.”

Dellen felt a small thrill at the name, it was almost familiar.

“Dakkon Nightsky, I haven’t encountered that surname before. How charming, where are you from?”

Dakkon ignored the question, “Why have you boarded this ship?”

“Straight to business, I see,” she sighed in Dellen’s direction, “Everyone is so abrupt, always in a rush.” She turned back to Dakkon and blended truth with lies, “We represent the city,” Dellen was not convinced that was true, “Yours is the largest ship to pay us a visit in quite some time, and rather unfortunately, she looks rigged for war.”

Dakkon laughed, “Purely preventative.” He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes, and his teeth looked predatory. “We’re here because this city has been closed off for several thousand years, and now it’s not. Phenomenons like that are rare, I wanted to know more.”

That much could have been true, but Dellen could not escape the feeling that if he had showed up on deck alone, Dakkon would have happily thrown him over the railing and watched him fall. Well, perhaps not thrown him, possibly just snapped him in half. Throwing an Aetherforged with Electrical Aether over locations as densely metaled as a city might not have been an effective means of disposal.

“There’s not much to see,” Miss Thornbrook said, “But I would be delighted to help you tour Copperopolis.”

“I prefer to visit on my own,” Dakkon said.

“Understandable, but I’m afraid I cannot allow that.”

“Allow?” Dakkon let the word stretch out, “I don’t need you to allow me to do anything.” He crossed the deck toward Miss Thornbrook, and the sailors all edged away.

“You should make some distance,” Gilgamesh said.

Dellen agreed. He had no particular desire to get flattened in a conflict between the two and find himself in the practice room with Thaddeus again. It felt like he had accomplished too much since his last… death.

“This doesn’t need to be violent,” Miss Thornbrook said in the same ‘let’s sit down and have some tea’ tone of hers.

“It doesn’t need to be. You just need to leave,” Dakkon said, voice full of skepticism.

Miss Thornbrook sighed, and Dellen saw her adjust her stance and her fingers curl ever so slightly as though ready to cup fire. She stood and waited. Dakkon eyed her, and despite standing in the full light of the sun, the shadows at his feet spread out, looking deeper, darker, and somehow wet. “This is your last chance.”

“He doesn’t want to fight someone of his own Trinity,” Gilgamesh said, “There’s few enough of them that he might not ever have fought someone of his Trinity, and shadow against fire might not favor him so much.”

Miss Thornbrook strode forward, her leg ignited between one step and the next, blazing with fire when it landed on the inner edge of the shadow. Dellen noticed the way her light cut into the dark and also noticed the way her fire left the wood untouched. The shadow did not retreat the way it was supposed to, it formed a ring around her, only pushed back a few feet by the blaze.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Is a confrontation really better than a stroll?” Miss Thornwood asked him.

Dellen took a few steps back; he did not see a future where Dakkon chose to accompany Miss Thornbrook on a stroll.

Shadows retreated.

Miss Thornbrook halted her advance and let her blaze die down.

The unnatural darkness on the deck retreated, and the sun shone down. The sailors all exchanged confused glances.

“A stroll would be lovely. Where would you like to begin?”

“This isn’t much better,” Gilgamesh said.

They had toured Dakkon’s ship, ‘The Night’s Muse.’ From a design perspective, Dellen was fascinated, more internal levels than any ship he had previously set foot upon as well as aetheric weapons, although he had not been allowed to inspect those. Crew quarters similar to what he had seen before, and cargo holds with trade goods, though fewer than he would have expected from a ship of that size.

Five minutes later, they were on a cog, and Dellen was inclined to agree with Gilgamesh. Dakkon was looking about with great interest at the mostly unforged stream of people walking by, many of whom stared at Dakkon and Miss Thornbrook both. “So many unforged,” Dakkon said, “I’ve heard of you, of course, when did you reach the city?”

“Only a few days ago. I must confess that the name Dakkon Nightsky had never visited my ears before today. How old are you, and where are you from?”

“Lurun.”

“That’s rather unspecific, Lurun is a continent.”

“Indeed.”

“How long did it take you to get here?”

“Six days after I heard about the… Unusual inhabitants.” Dakkon said, still eyeing the crowds going by.

“What’s your interest in the unforged?” Dellen asked.

Both Miss Thornbrook and Dakkon looked startled, like they had forgotten he was anywhere nearby. Dakkon licked his lips like he was about to have a good meal, “It’s academic.”

“It feels gastronomic,” Gilgamesh muttered.

“Come along,” Miss Thornbrook said, “There are some bazaars here with simply delightful dishes that I haven’t had outside of the city.”

“I suppose a few millennia is long enough to develop unique cuisine.”

“Indeed, though the Mercantile Guild did let them import spices.”

Dellen felt confused, trailing behind the two, they had felt so close to blows on the ship’s deck, and now they were walking with what he felt was still a very much false sense of camaraderie. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, he felt like the stroll could, at any moment, explode into violence. He could understand Dakkon not fighting on the ship; he might have cared about collateral damage, but on the ground? Dellen did not see the same restraint holding him back.

The bazaar was on the Aldsmith Cog, a flat area of tents and covered stands, surrounded on all sides by tall buildings. “I don’t like being here with him. It’s too shadowy,” Gilgamesh said.

Dellen muttered his reply in a low voice, “Why are you complaining? It’s not like he can physically touch you.”

“It still feels exposed.”

Dellen’s jaw muscles clenched, Dakkon made him uncomfortable. He walked about the bazaar, almost like another person, though his clothes were different, and his off-putting voice made people turn and stare, even before they saw his steelskin. People kept asking Miss Thornbrook if she could forge them there and then at the bazaar, but she kept turning them aside, telling them to find her at the Northcote warehouse.

“Is it just you, single-handedly forging an entire city?” Dakkon said around a mouthful of spiced meat.

“No, I have assistance. It’s not as though I can forge anyone other than those with Pyro Aether.”

Dakkon finished his meat, “Thank you. I have enjoyed our little excursion, but the hour grows late.”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon,” Gilgamesh protested.

A patch of shadow by Dakkon’s feet swallowed him, and he was gone. Miss Thornbrook lunged at the space where he had been, but her fingers just caught air. “Hmm.”

Dellen spun about, looking for shadows heavier than they should be, any dark corner or flap of cloth that Dakkon might spring out of.

“Oh, do relax,” Miss Thornbrook said, “He’s not going to come back and attack you. Why would he? You’re not what he wants.”

“What does he want?” Dellen asked.

“Unclear, he decided to back away from a confrontation when we could have just fought, probably a wise choice on his part, I would have had the advantage, and I might well have destroyed his ship.”

Dellen was reasonably certain that would have been a better result, “And now he’s loose in the city, and the only person who doesn’t need to fear him is you.”

“He could cause a problem for me if he found me while I was sleeping.”

“So why did you back away from the confrontation on his ship?” Dellen asked, just managing to refrain from yelling.

“I try not to be the aggressor in any fights. You would be amazed how many confrontations I have de-escalated by being willing to listen to a few additional sentences.”

Dellen ground his teeth together, “Nothing was de-escalated; he’s out in the city somewhere, and he can do whatever he wants like a malevolent phantom.”

“Would you have rathered that I destroyed the ship and sent it raining debris down over the cogs, killing hundreds, if not thousands?”

Dellen stared at her in stony silence.

“Whatever damage he does, however many people he hurts, which could be as few as zero, will be fewer than the people I would have hurt if I had fought him.”

This attitude felt inherently wrong to Dellen, just… Leaving someone dangerous behind who can unleash unknown havoc with no one around who could stop them. “What will you do if he starts causing trouble?”

“It depends on if he decides to stay and fight.” She gave a shrug, “There’s not much you can do if an Aetherforged with an Umbral Affinity decides to leave your city. It’s hard to pin a shadow down. If he causes trouble and leaves? We’ll just have to hope he doesn’t come back. I can only, really, help if someone comes here with the intention of setting themselves up like a despot. With Dakkon? My help began and ended when I stepped onto that deck and let him know I was here.”

Dellen opened his mouth to argue, then considered. It was true, Dakkon knew Miss Thornbrook was in the city, and that she was willing to cross him if he caused trouble. That was a great deal more than if he had chosen to enter the city and encountered unforged citizen after unforged citizen, occasionally broken up by Aetherforged who could barely use their Aether and had not yet reached First Trinity.

“That’s all well and good,” Gilgamesh said, “But what is Dakkon going to do?”

“You aren’t worried about him, at all?”

“Yes, but I don’t think he’s going to cause major havoc.”

“Then why did he rush here so quickly?”

“The same reason members of the Order were buying the unforged,” Miss Thornbrook said with a sad smile. “To use the unforged as resources.”

“We need to stop him!” Dellen protested, feeling sick to his stomach.

“I am stopping him, we’re making people useless for that kind of savagery. Come on, let’s get back to the warehouse.”