When Lai Shi Po showed up with Lady Fau and her two bodyguards to escort Sobon, Mian, Ki'el, and Lui to the auction, Sobon noted that she could not sense any immediate stirring of the aether in the vicinity that she would associate with a gathering crowd. She didn't bother to ask, though, especially when Lai Shi Po's group showed up in a flying sled, one that Sobon glanced over without comment. Although it seemed a bit crass to Sobon, comparing the rich elegance of the sled to the poor and in-progress repairs to the city around Sobon's own house... at the same time, Sobon's own fortifications and her own stoic detachment from it all would have made any argument she made hypocritical.
Sobon studied the sled, deciding after a while that it was not Lai Shi Po's design, or at least, not her construction. The foundation was a firm but shallow box, without wheels or runners, and a simple but firmly constructed shed was placed on it, with complex qi seals on the front and back to handle the wind blast and thrust, with another complex seal on the bottom for lift. Sobon could feel a flavor of qi running through the structure itself that she assumed was "wood" qi, reinforcing it without too much stiffness, but the power that flowed through the seals was too complex to pick apart.
Lai Shi Po was seated, and did not rise, when Sobon and the others boarded. The guards, Lady Fau, and one other who was piloting the sled itself, all crammed in on a single bench on one side, and Sobon and his group took the opposite bench, Sobon lining up directly with Lai Shi Po.
The inscriptionist took no time to engage Sobon in a private communication, although Sobon noted the guards glancing her way when the qi pulses began.
[ Everything you do, you impress, ] Lai Shi Po said. [ I cannot grasp what has shifted in your qi, but the fact that it has shifted is unmistakable. And you have another bone set as well? Two? ]
Instead of immediately replying, Sobon conceptualized a simple public-private key exchange algorithm and pulsed it at Lai Shi Po, who frowned, but then put on a serious face, clearly focusing. After a moment, she was able to pulse back an encrypted packet with her own primitive key, and Sobon simplified her own to match it, taking some of the stress off the woman's face.
[ I have finished two bones, yes, only late remembering to finish and script the second. Regrettably I set my sights rather high with my project, and it consumed all of the time I had remaining. There are only two units to be sold, but... I expect they will not disappoint. ]
It took Lai Shi Po several moments to decode Sobon's pulse, form and encode her own, but when she finally sent it, Sobon noted that she still performed the encryption perfectly, with no flaws. She was also reasonably happy that the other woman's mental voice seemed to relax a bit, knowing that her minders couldn't hear. [ I'm sure if you got serious, you'd blow the socks off of even the Diamond Lord. Don't tell me what you made; I want to be surprised when it comes up. They'll ask you to explain the item with intent, and I assure you, they'll find a way to inflate their description so much even you will want to buy it, all without telling a lie. ]
Sobon considered the message, and considered how she would convey the item's purpose with intent, but sent another message back since she had a private channel. [ When you spoke of that prophecy, or promise, you said you had heard the intent of the prophecy itself. Can you recreate the (academic intent), the (qi signature) of the prophecy itself? ]
Lai Shi Po winced at the packed meaning once she decrypted it, but sent back a reply fairly quickly. [ I have only heard translations of the intent. But I believe there is a scholar at (the city we are going to) Asteria City who might be able to provide that intent. I will set up a meeting once we arrive. ]
Sobon raised an eyebrow. [ Where are we going, exactly? Not far into the Empire, I trust? ]
Instead of replying in that way, Lai Shi Po spoke out loud. "We are travelling to the city of Asteria, a city in the deep mountains so important to the Empire that they cut a direct road through the center of a mountain to reach it. In this place, they mine many consequential gems and metals from deep within the earth, at the place where an ancient star fell to the ground. In the time before the Starbeasts appeared, these materials were prized as the most profound materials for inscription, and there were... other anomalies also to be discovered there." She glanced at Sobon, finishing her words with encrypted intent alone. [ Created objects. The star that fell was a vessel for beings from beyond the sky. ]
Sobon frowned, but replied. [ Does this have to do with the prophecy? ]
[ No. The starfall crater is thousands of years old, perhaps more. The prophecy was from the rising of the Diamond Lord, much more recent. ] Lai Shi Po turned to Mian, answering a question that Sobon had paid no attention to. "The Empire threatened to invade many times, but the elders threatened to destroy certain things that must be left intact. When assassins struck, they proved that it their resolve was deep and their words were not empty. The Empire has not tried again."
"Then it is a neutral city?" Sobon let her voice sound detached, even bored, and she noted a slight jostle as the sled passed through a spot of disturbed air. Some, like Lui, seemed to tense at the shaking, but the people who had traveled like this before showed no signs of being upset.
"It preserves its place by not growing too close to any other neighbors, and so it can only be neutral. It remains difficult to reach by land, but anyone with money can buy simple flight artifacts."
"It's not on any major roads?" Sobon raised an eyebrow.
"Not except the one to the Empire. But the city maintains contacts with many of the smaller cities, so that the smaller nobles families can gain the resources they need to oppose the Empire. Rarely, if ever, are the Empire families invited to any of their events, although a few show up out of spite."
Sobon nodded, and before long, the flying shed slowed and stopped. The pilot opened the door to reveal they were on a high balcony of a palace, overlooking a massive city. Sobon, following two others, stepped out and looked, finding that whole city occupied a wide valley between seven mountain peaks, each of which had a massive, glowing tower on top. The area within that boundary was packed full of houses and businesses, with many large towers and ziggurats, both on the valley floor and up the sides of the mountains in every direction.
From the palace that they had landed on--and Sobon could tell it was exactly that--several people were already standing and waiting, two with silver trays ready. Their dress was very different from the Djang style that Sobon had seen so far, despite similar features--they dressed in ways that were severe, and with dress that might have been uncomplicated if not for the gold trim and house emblems on their chests. They also all wore hats, and all but the leading man had their heads tilted to hide their eyes behind them.
"Lai Shi Po! An honor, as always." The leading man bounded forward several steps, and Sobon noticed him completely disregard the bristling bodyguards. "When I heard that you had sent a message, I knew right away that something auspicious was in motion. You said you brought a guest?"
"Hello, Bin Suei. I did, but you will forgive us if our guest remains anonymous for tonight." Lai Shi Po didn't need to gesture, but she did, a very informal flick that Sobon took as her opportunity to step forward. She noted that one of the servants with silver trays stepped towards her, but hesitated out of reach. "She also has not prepared a description plaque for her items. If you would bring her to the Appraiser, I believe he will be... impressed."
"Always what I like to hear," Bin Suei laughed and clapped his hands. Sobon nodded at the nearer servant, and when the tray was presented, she appeared the two bronze-trimmed boxes onto the tray, close enough to center that they would not have caused it to tip--though Sobon expected that the slight woman, since that's what this server was, would have been able to adjust even if Sobon had dropped the boxes right on the edge.
Sobon thought she felt the slightest pulse of aether as the two crowns appeared, and wondered if they were the Inverse Aether gently sorting through the many fates that were being brought here. But when Bin Suei gestured for Sobon to follow the servant into a side room, she did without comment, simply wondering exactly what sort of man the Appraiser would be.
Sobon was... not immediately impressed, to find that the Appraiser was an obese man with spectacles and qi firmly stuck at two Gold stars. Not like Man Gai, who was only mildly chubby; this man looked like he didn't commonly like to stand or move around, and lounged in an excessively ornate chair with only a single wooden table to his side, where a plate of food, a bowl, and a large carafe of wine all laid out beside him. His fingers were festooned with rings, and his hair hair hung long and straight behind him.
And yet, once the crowns crossed within perhaps ten paces of him, the man leaped to his feet nimbly and rushed forward in a graceful bound. The servant, though Sobon saw her jolt, patiently stopped and held the tray for his inspection.
"I do believe I smell the undeniable smell of fortune on this one," the obese Appraiser practically giggled as he bounded from one foot to the other, shifting feet to one side or another as he examined the two boxes from several angles, never coming close to touching them. "What is it, what is it? Hmm?" He stopped bounding when the server was between him and Sobon, and peered past the smaller woman to see Sobon's face. "You do intend to tell me, don't you? With intent, if you would. Be as nuanced as you like; my hearing is very good."
Ah, sensory-centered, of course. That might also explain his appetite. Sobon eyed the man, whose face was somewhere between an overeager child's, and a very patient but very serious father's; with the fat in the way, it was difficult to tell the subtleties, and whether the look was interest or mischief. But Sobon closed her eyes and forgot about it, taking a deep breath, and spoke clearly.
The man absorbed her words and intent, and in only a moment was back in his chair, writing on a piece of paper that he had produced from a spatial ring. After a long moment of silence, he glanced up. "I've heard your words," he said, and with one hand shooed Sobon and the attendant both away. "Trust that I know what I am doing. Your work will be very well represented."
Sobon glared back at the man. "I would never cast aspersions, sir Appraiser, but..."
"But you want to test me?" The man fully looked up, an upset look crossing his face. "I suppose after that little display of mine, a little confusion is warranted. Fine, but I want to save my... reinterpretation. Let it be a surprise. Instead..." He disappeared his writing tools and bounded forward, and with a careful move that Sobon almost couldn't catch, made the attendant swirl around to face her, clearly against the woman's will.
"[This box,]" intoned the Appraiser, his words ringing with carefully metered intent, each word impressing on the listener not only the Appraiser's certainty of its value, but the raw truth of his words, "[Is the work of an absolute master. Although the materials appear inauspicious, they were chosen specifically to conceal the treasure within. Forged of flawless steel and bronze with secret methods, not a hint of Forging Qi remains. The masterwork is so flawless that the box itself may have been pulled into being purely from the imagination of its creator, without tool or forge. The hinge and latch are so perfectly fitted that there isn't even the smallest flaw in its movements, and the two complex emblems on the cover are perfect matches to the smallest detail.] Does that suffice to convince you that I am competent to continue to do my job, honored customer?"
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Sobon had nearly paled and stepped back, conflicted at the near-worship that she could sense behind the man's words--but also, the sharp contradiction between that and the steady, bored, nearly insulted look on the man's face. So Sobon looked away, apologized, and left, conscious of the attendant behind her. As soon as they left the room, though, they split--another attendant taking Sobon to the private balcony prepared for Lai Shi Po, while her items were taken away by another route.
Sobon was surprised to see that the Lai family guards stood outside the door, not inside, but when they let her in without argument she chose to simply be relieved. Within, everyone but Lady Fau stood at the balcony looking down over those gathered. Lai Shi Po's head turned just a bit, as though she were listening to Sobon's entrance, but she didn't turn fully around.
"I imagine we are free to talk here?" Sobon spoke calmly as she walked to the railing, and Lui and Ki'el turned suddenly as though they hadn't heard her enter.
"Not a word leaves except if we carry it out ourselves," Lai Shi Po said. "The Jade Phoenix auction house prizes nobility too much to allow anyone to even feign the ability to pierce their veil. You, too, should not even attempt to pry through the defenses, or you may be asked to leave."
"I would not have tried," Sobon acknowledged, moving up to the railing. "I know all too well that such attempts are easy to track down."
"Alassi," Mian said, breathless. "Do you have any idea the kinds of things they're selling here?"
"None," confirmed Sobon, as she glanced around Lai Shi Po at the man. Mian had always been quiet, and Sobon still wasn't sure she had a great bead on the man's character. "Do you--"
"I don't want--I mean, I can't ask you to buy anything," he said. "But did you know, they are rumored to be selling the Invincible Sword tonight? The blade that could not be shattered, even by a Starbeast in the Flame phase of qi?"
Sobon found herself making a face, but cleared it immediately and let the man talk. Apparently, it belonged to a war hero, one who had stopped a rampaging monster in a city near his home. She wanted to speak with Lai Shi Po... but the inscriptionist was also staring firmly out at the world beyond their balcony, as though burning a hole in an opposing wall. Sobon followed her eyes to see another balcony across the way, one whose occupants were in shadow--actually, she noted, all opposing balconies showed only blank shadows of people.
Although Mian was still talking, Sobon moved up next to Lai Shi Po and spoke quietly. "Friends of yours?"
"Unless they have given away his private box, and they would not... my husband," Lai Shi Po said, and her voice was not clear on what exactly her feelings were. Though... Sobon could not read the fact that they were in a different booth in more than one way.
"Complicated?"
"He wishes." Lai Shi Po made a face, almost half a sneer. "I may end up not bidding on your item, because he will buy the other, no matter the price."
Sobon looked over at the other balcony. Although she could not see or sense the people in that booth, or in any of the others, she felt certain that she could say one thing. "He will not," she said, simply. "He will be outbid."
"There are very few people who can out-bid a Lai Family Leader. They are the third-greatest trading family in all of Djang."
Sobon turned and gave Lai Shi Po a sympathetic look. "Your life sounds like an interesting one, Lai Shi Po."
"Don't think too highly of me," she said, not looking away. "He has many wives, and I am far from his favorite. I was simply..." she glanced over at Sobon, and her eyes were muted, the contents unclear. "...an investment."
Sobon could sense the years of things unspoken in those eyes, and looked away, sympathetically.
Finally, though, she spoke. "Do you know if House Mofu will be here?"
"They are a Djang minor noble house. They wouldn't be invited, and wouldn't have spies to tell them that an auction was being formed. You are hoping to resolve your battle quickly?" Lai Shi Po glanced at her. "I don't care about these things, but I'm not stupid, Shiva Alassi. Fau Mide said you killed one of their elders, which is more than enough for them to announce a blood feud. They will come with all the strength of their house, and most likely, an observer from the Djang Imperial House. You are strong enough to beat them, but you will need to reveal yourself to all the world, and the Empire does not like strong warriors who are not Djang. Your position is extremely dangerous. Do you have a plan?"
Sobon looked out and away, aware that the others in the booth had clenched in fear at the other woman's words. She considered everything for a long moment. "I only want them to be safe," Sobon said after a time. "I can die without it being the end of me. But Ki'el, Lui, and Mian need protection."
"Wait just a damn minute--" Mian started to react angrily, and made the foolish choice to try to push Lai Shi Po aside. But the woman turned to look at him with fury in her face, and backhanded Mian until he crashed against the far side of the booth.
Despite the noise, even the guards outside didn't respond.
Lui and Ki'el sucked in a breath, and Ki'el turned and glared at Sobon, clearly feeling betrayed that their earlier conversation hadn't changed Sobon's mind, not that there was anything Sobon could say right now. Instead, she sighed, and moved away from the railing to take a seat. "I am immortal, Lai Shi Po. It is not unbeatable--nothing is. But if I choose to lose that battle, or make the Empire of Djang an enemy, I will simply reappear later in another body, and they will likely never know. When the Mofu elder came, they were ruthless and stupid, attacking innocents and putting the people I care about in danger. I fear that even if I try to simply hide from them, it will not be enough."
"So then you admit what you are?" Lai Shi Po turned, her features severe.
Although Sobon could, and probably should, have remained coy, she felt compelled to speak, and trusted that feeling. "I am not sent here to destroy the Empire. I am here to retake something that the Empire has stolen." Sobon met the woman's eyes. "I know I am not strong enough yet. Even with all my profound methods, this lifetime may not be enough. But there is an urgency, a need. This can only end with me going to the Great Mountain and ensuring that one specific treasure there does not end up in the Diamond Lord's hands."
Sobon almost expected the aether of the entire room to freeze at her words, conscious as she was just how close other people were, but the Jade Phoenix auction house's wards were truly great. The only one to stir was the fox spirit guarding Lai Shi Po, who uncurled enough to shine one red eye on Sobon, as though even it fully understood the words that had come out of Sobon's mouth.
Lai Shi Po didn't shift, as though she had been expecting Sobon to admit to exactly that, but neither did she reply.
"For that reason, it's also urgent that I know what that perhaps-prophecy was. There are ways to examine the workings of fate. If it was a prophecy, a working of fate, then I need to know what it said. It may mean the difference between..." Sobon paused. "Between all things continuing in safety, or the end of more than the Empire. An end to this world."
"A profound weapon lays in the Diamond Lord's hands?" Lai Shi Po seemed to be thinking hard about it, although Sobon wasn't sure how to read the look in the woman's eyes.
"A tool that will be retaken," Sobon said. "By me, or by an army, every member of whom is unimaginably stronger than me."
Lai Shi Po looked back at her. "Then the Diamond Lord was truly shielding us from a terrible fate?"
"I don't know," Sobon answered. "But I don't think so. I believe that if there is any terrible fate occuring here, it is entirely because of the Diamond Lord, or one someone of his power."
"I see." Lai Shi Po finally broke away and looked down, moving to a seat near the balcony and finally sitting. "What--no, I know you won't say. Even with my oath, there are important things that must be kept secret. But it is fine for this weapon to be out of our control? In the hands of others from the heavens?"
Sobon gave the woman an unimpressed look. "Lai Shi Po," she said. "This tool is special to your people because you only have access to one. It is not special to them."
Suddenly, from the Corona, Sobon received a ping. [ High myth shear near you, ] K'val commented, without any need for details.
"Lai--"
"Would you stop calling me that?" Suddenly, Lai Shi Po stood up, grabbed the chair, and with the full force of her qi, smashed it against the nearest wall. The chair, a large ornate wooden seat, shattered into pieces, leaving no marks on the wall. "Lai, Lai, Lai, Lai. The Lai family forced me forced me into bondage because I dared to have talent while being attractive. While being a woman!" She looked at Sobon, and her eyes were mad, and tears were flowing. "If I were born a man, someone with my talent would have been adopted as a son and allowed to pick a wife, at the very least not bound to such an... an incompatible oaf. Instead, as a woman, a pudgy, boorish man in ill-fitting silks randomly walks into my life to rape me, and not even because he wants to. Because old men keep insisting he try to have sons with every pretty thing they have set before him. They threaten him because I refuse to bear a child, while they sit back and play chess and drink wine!"
"It's only because he accepts how absurdly cruel it all is that he has done anything to let me have my own life, my own future, and still the Elders betray him, stabbing me in the back at every turn! And you speak of walking away and wanting your own people protected?" Lai Shi Po's fists clenched, and her breath was heaving. "And you, absurd walking calamity that you are, you talk about making sure foreign overlords get their toy back instead of caring about the lives that are right in front of you?"
Sobon sighed, but straightened. Technically, her new stores of Superior and Inverse aether--Sacred and Corrupt--gave her insight into the workings of fate around her, and technically she could sense the odd flowing of aether around her, and had been wondering if what she sensed was this Mythic Shear crap as it was happening. But in truth, she understood almost nothing of what she was seeing; and despite having an instinct to meddle with what she saw, Sobon was a Marine, and Marines didn't fuck around with powers they didn't understand. She'd both been told and seen for herself that most great and powerful things could be turned into a bomb--if you were willing to be blown up in the process, potentially with a lot of other innocent people. Very few powerful things could simply be picked up and used as a weapon in any other way, in any way that was safe for the wielder, and those around them.
Fate magic was a powerful tool indeed, but Hyperior aether was a tool a whole tier higher. And when Sobon pulled a bit from its thorn and placed it in her hand, the aether radiation showed her a great many things for just a flash of an instant. Like before, that insight only lasted a moment, but this time, Sobon thought she understood why, even if she couldn't put into words exactly what that reason was. Like a bomb, a tiny shockwave tore out, and it wasn't clear exactly why, or what it meant.
Still, Sobon took the hand with that small bit of Hyperior Aether, that small bit of Truth, and pressed it to Lai Shi Po's hand, keeping her intent steady.
"I care," Sobon said, and the words were true, "and I want to help, and perhaps I can help. But... Shi Po. You can't me bad at me for not solving everything when you've only just told me the problem exists."
"I'm not--" Lai Shi Po snarled and turned away, though her guardian deity kept its eye on Sobon. "The grand workings of the heaven have arrived at my very doorstep, Alassi. And they are not here to save me."
"No," Sobon said, calmly. "I am not here to save you. I am also not here to breathe, drink water, or eat food, and yet I do."
"So save me," Lai Shi Po hissed at her, half turning.
Sobon raised an eyebrow, then turned to look over the balcony. "For a start, why don't you wait and see what I've put up for auction?"
That change in subject might have infuriated a great many people. But a great many people were not Lai Shi Po, a woman who was forced to marry into the Lai family because she was a prodigy at inscriptions. They were not Shi Po, a hated and beaten beggar who had no family name until she saved a spiritual deity's shrine from destruction. They were not Po, the once nameless girl who had stared at the inscription on a lamp post when she was just an orphaned child, and scratched a copy into a clay pot, setting it on fire and distracting the guards so that she could steal food, food she would share with castoffs and broken people that gave her her first name.
Lai Shi Po could understand a great deal more than she let most people know, and even miserable and confused, she understood exactly what Sobon was suggesting. And she took a deep breath, and the rising feeling in her chest, a feeling that was nameless except to Sobon, subsided, and a crazy smile spread across her face, one that many people would have mistrusted.
Perhaps in the end, Sobon should have mistrusted it, but she did not.