The ancient, mechanical clocktower was the tallest building in Outer Realm Umt, giving Lady Iellaya a sprawling view of the downtown area of the floating piece of land. She looked down through the glamorously wide stone streets that were absolutely clogged with soldiers in military uniform. Superior officers shouted and waved their arms, forcing their various battalions to move to make room the soldiers flowing ceaselessly behind them.

Lady Iellaya checked with her aide on one key fact and was somewhat nonplussed when it turned out that her initial impression was correct. For most of the off-duty personnel, attending the funeral was only voluntary.

Looking at the numbers that continued ceaselessly to flow out of the teleporter formation, it seemed that many had resolved themselves to volunteer. And Lady Iellaya didn’t fail to realize that the more people were present in the Outer Realm, the more difficult it would be for her to detect a saboteur. Lady Iellaya glanced sideways at the aide standing next to her. “Do we have the room for all of the soldiers?”

“We’ve already started moving all of the soldiers below the rank of Commander out to the overflow venues, so this area should clear up shortly.” The aide responded quickly. “In addition, we have received regular reports both from the extra security around the teleporter and the entrance to the undercity; there has been no suspicious activity thus far. Everything is optimal.”

Lady Iellaya allowed herself a short nod. The black feathers down her arms and spine flared slightly, hidden under the tight military uniform that she wore. It was difficult to shake the feeling that she was missing something. But for the past week, she had been tirelessly throwing herself into preparations for this funeral. She had visited the nearby Outer Realm that had been attacked. She had thoroughly inspected thousands of teleportation records. She had patrolled every public inch of Umt, looking for any trace images that stuck out to her amongst the local population.

Maybe what I’m missing is a fucking break, Lady Iellaya thought sourly.

Perhaps most depressingly, she was slowly realizing that successfully pulling off Commandant Lyrim’s funeral would mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. This was only a detriment to her career; a failure here would mean she could no longer advance, while Military High Command would almost instantly forget her hard work should she succeed.

Or, even worse, they might assign her more funerals in the future.

Lady Iellaya shuddered, then looked back out to the streets below. Due to the sheer volume of people who came out for the funeral, most of the actual residents of Outer Realm Umt were stuck within their stone residences, their noses pressed to their windows to watch the spectacle. While the few remaining family members of the Commandant had already been taken to the chapel, the rest of the people who lived here, descendants or not, wore solemn faces and watched the soldiers march below. Somehow, the event felt less like a moment honoring a fallen comrade than a foolhardy denial of weakness by the military.

Look at how large our armies are! Look at the solidarity! This will never happen again! We are invincible! The soldiers seemed to shout with their localized unity in each step. But as Lady Iellaya stood on the clocktower and waves of sound separated by space converged on her, all she heard was a chaotic mass of bodies stomping around.

She could understand why the real residences might be especially tense right now. Sometimes, it was better simply to avoid the attention of those in power. Especially considering how little value Commandant Lyrim appeared to put on protecting the Outer Realm even during his life… and also because of how shallow the backing was of this Outer Realm currently.

Offending the wrong person would mean this place would be wiped off of the map.

The residents of this Outer Realm might be relatively affluent in the grand scheme of the Nexus. Many of them were employed by the NLC or were assistants to the Overseers of the various Cohorts. But although they might have specialty training, it wasn’t so strenuous that replacements couldn’t be found, even in the short term.

That was the reality of the Nexus. There were simply too many people waiting in the wings, hungry for access to more Aether.

Lady Iellaya turned away from the window. That’s why I cannot hesitate to seize more responsibility. I’m so close. Just a little more…

She glanced sideways at her aide. “Contact me immediately if something comes up. But for now, I need to pay my respects. Let’s get this over with.”

The aide bowed and Lady Iellaya proceeded down the straight and sharp cornered stretches of stairs that formed a repeating square, all the way down to the ground. She could have utilized her Authority in the Nexus Ways to jump to the location more directly, but Lady Iellaya thought it was better to not clutter the signals being observed by her team monitoring the Ways. If anything unusual happened, she wanted to know immediately. The time that they took to investigate her movements might be crucial to the security efforts.

Lady Iellaya did not forget, even for a second, that an unstable element bearing a year’s worth of Aether for an Outer Realm was lurking about. There were enough powerful individuals present at the funeral that there was little chance of anyone truly important dying, but with so much Aether missing, she was unwilling to take even the slightest risk.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Besides, Lady Iellaya could also use the physical exertion to work her way through some of the stress she was experiencing from the constant state of awareness she was maintaining. Unfortunately, she knew immediately when she arrived at the ground floor that the next few minutes wouldn’t be as stress-free as she had hoped.

Lady Iellaya narrowed her eyes at the woman waiting for her with her hands clasped behind her back. “Miss Rex. What a… surprise to find you here. Is there a problem? I can have a guard guide you to the chapel, if you wish.”

Neshamah Rex smiled sweetly at Lady Iellaya. Each strand of her emerald hair seemed to be an exquisite work of wrought stone, twinkling in the light filtering through the window. Even more strikingly, the light that hit her cascading mane of hair then radiated out from around her in a delicate and arresting halo. Lady Iellaya felt a strange, unfamiliar irritation as she looked at the inscrutable young woman in front of her. With her blue skin and a deer-skin mahogany dress, she truly looked like a perfectly manicured product rather than an actual living, breathing, and shitting individual.

Lady Iellaya convinced herself, with difficulty, that punching the woman to wipe the smile off her face would not help ease her stress.

Neshamah’s lips parted and she tilted her head to the side. She still maintained a small smile. “Oh my, how embarrassing. Have we met before? I was under the impression this was our first meeting?”

Lady Iellaya pressed her lips together. “This is our first meeting, Miss Rex. But I believe you should be aware that you are a relatively well-known figure around the Nexus. Now, if there is nothing, I must be going-”

“Of course. You are the head of security for the entire funeral right? What a stressful job! Which is why I came to speak with you.” Neshamah’s eyes crinkled at the edges. “There is something I want to say before I let you go.”

Lady Iellaya just looked at the other woman, ignoring her perfect dimples. The notoriously playful and irreverent Neshamah Rex was exactly not the sort of individual who Lady Iellaya wanted to encounter right now.

By the end of a few seconds of pregnant silence, Neshamah was practically beaming. “What I want to say is… You are doing a great job!”

Lady Iellaya’s didn’t even react. “...that’s it?”

“That’s it,” Neshamah nodded so sharply that it was clear she believed that she had accomplished something of actual significance. The young woman clapped her hands together and unleashed another bright smile. “You are basically the only woman at Military High Command, right? Hehe, I might have been a bit dishonest earlier. Even if we haven’t met before, I also know quite a bit about you, Lady Iellaya. Such a determined worker… a better soldier we haven’t seen in the Nexus for entire Cohorts! So maybe I also wanted to spark a friendship while making sure you understand how appreciated you are. Have I charmed you yet?”

“...I must return to work, Miss Rex,” Lady Iellaya said in a monotone voice. She brusquely shook the young woman’s hand and then started walking toward the door. “Thank you for your support. Now if you’ll excuse me-”

The door opened before Lady Iellaya had reached it. A rather uncomfortable looking Randidly, wearing a stiff military uniform that was entirely too tight, walked through the door. He opened his mouth to say something to Lady Iellaya as he entered, but then he caught sight of Neshamah Rex and fell completely still. Then, his gaze toward the beautiful daughter of Solomon Rex turned rather intense.

Almost hungry.

Seriously, Randidly? Lady Iellaya rolled her eyes inwardly. But she said nothing because she was rather shocked to discover that Neshamah was similarly transfixed by the sight of Randidly Ghosthound. The daughter of Solomon Rex blinked several times as she considered Randidly. The two were balanced in a frozen moment, stalling in their previous movements.

Neshamah recovered first. Her trademark smile bloomed. “Well, well, well. It’s been quite some time since I’ve been surprised like this. You are…?”

“Randidly Ghosthound,” Randidly said quietly. His emerald eyes scrutinized Neshamah, but Lady Iellaya could now vaguely sense he wasn’t actually besotted as she had assumed; he was peering through Neshamah, examining some interior construct of her person. “And you?”

“Ah! You are that contentious Head Drill Sergeant? The mad dog of Shevran?!? Haha! This is quite amusing.” Neshamah slapped her knee with all the glee of an old sailor hearing the news that the red-light district was having a sale, all of her previous coquettishness gone. “I am Neshamah Rex. It’s very nice to meet you. For now, let’s leave it at that. But in the future… feel free to reach out, Mr. Ghosthound.”

Still chuckling, she walked past Randidly and out into the street, where two tall bodyguards in grey coats were waiting. The trio quickly cut into the dwindling crowd of soldiers and seemed to instantly vanish.

Lady Iellaya frowned at Randidly. “What was that about?”

Randidly’s eyes were still pointed out the door, looking through the crowd following the vanished figures. The muscles of his jaw continued to work, as though he were clenching and unclenching his jaw. “That Neshamah… uses Nether. Actively. The way it was moving through her person… she’s better than using than I am.”

Lady Iellaya blinked. “Really?”

“Really,” Randidly confirmed, finally shaking his head and turning to Lady Iellaya. Lady Iellaya chewed on her lip at that thought. Not that she didn’t believe Randidly, but it was difficult to imagine that one of the most famous individuals in the Nexus had been secretly utilizing Nether this entire time.

...which probably meant she was doing it with the Nexus’s blessing. Hum. That was something worth considering. And it was slightly disturbing to realize that this young woman had been using Nether right next to her without Lady Iellaya being able to sense it at all.

But Lady Iellaya quickly shook herself. They could discuss the implications of the Nether later. “If you have something to say, let’s talk while walking; we are already late enough as it is. If I don’t bury the Commandant personally, I don’t think it will even happen.”