Sobon finished the day with a only a few things--putting most of the contents of her space ring into the basement, excepting only what she would take into battle, then making the frame that held her basement portable, finishing the large bracelet space ring and placing inside, and giving that to Lai Shi Po for safekeeping.

Everyone else, for the moment, was occupied; Xoi Xam had insisted on bringing Mian and Ki'el to her uncle, and Lui and Fau Mide had gone to examine the properties of the cauldron that Sobon had gifted her. That left Sobon and Lai Shi Po, for the moment, alone in Sobon's house, with only guards posted outside, far from able to hear or see what went on within.

For whichever reason, Lai Shi Po, while she made the bracelet disappear, didn't stop staring at Sobon. "You acting like you're going off to death," she said, her voice somehow rougher than normal. "But even if you've insulted a major house--and the Mofu clan is a very minor house--you could have appealed to the Imperial Family to intercede. For the help of a genius, that wouldn't be too much to ask."

"I know," Sobon said, tiredly, as she turned to look back over the house. It hadn't been hers for very long, and she wasn't particularly attached to it, yet--but it was all that she had at the moment, and it was strange to leave it. "I suppose you of all people would understand..." she paused. "You hate being called Lai Shi Po, so what would you prefer I call you?"

Lai Shi Po just bared her teeth like an animal, without giving an immdiate answer. "I should not have been upset about it before. My name is my whole being. Every piece a part of my history. And yet..." she closed her eyes, and kept them closed for a long time. "...Every time I have gained a new name, it was an acknowledgement from someone that I was worthy. Ever since joining house Lai, I have felt like that declaration of worthiness was a lie, a poison. It is a prestigous name, but cold and brutal, like my husband." She reopened her eyes, but they were just as clear as ever. "You can call me anything you like. I put up with Fau Mide's childish name because it means she found me worthy as well, of friendship."

Sobon just shook her head, since that answer had avoided the question entirely. "If I asked for the Imperial Family to interfere, then that would be our relationship. Aether--the foundation of qi--is an element of connection, across distance, and even across time." As she said that, she was reminded that she had heard nothing back from the Ri'lef engineer regarding the prophecies and/or myths... but had her own private guess as to why. Nevertheless, she sent a ping to the Corona, the AI confirming that her messages had been delivered successfully. "There is a specific political reality that I must avoid in order to do my job, I think."

"A specific political reality?" Lai Shi Po's voice was somewhere between irritated and... what? Afraid? Sobon wasn't sure.

"At least, that's my working theory. I'm not a politician, or even really a strategist." Sobon shook her head. "But I can't let this world come to depend on me as though I was one of their geniuses. I'd do a terrible job of hiding everything I know, and if I refused to act, it would be with the whole world's eye on me. Hiding from public sight is part of what I need to do, and..." Sobon shook her head, again, more firmly this time "Even if I'm right about the future... that will still be either necessary, or a damned good idea."

"You've been different, since you created the crowns," Lai Shi Po observed suddenly, and Sobon thought it was accusatory.

"I have," Sobon said. "The process necessary to create primordial qi exposed me to more complex aether than I was ever directly able to use. One of the things that has made me so strong, and able to rise swiftly, is because my soul has already used higher-level aethers, controlled them, been a part of them. Parts of me exist in higher levels, and it's the same for you, and others who have cultivated great levels of qi. I was trained to see and manipulate aether clearly and cleanly, and so these lesser things seem so base in comparison. But touching the highest level of aether... well, no. Not highest." Sobon shook her head again, half lost in her thoughts. "But higher than I'd ever gone before. Touching that, and using it safely and successfully... puts just a little bit of me on a higher level than I was before."

"It's... new," Sobon admitted, taking a deep breath, and sensing things in the air, in the walls around, in the ground beneath her feet. "And concerning. I'd done very little with fate aethers, before, and having any insight into that at all is terrifying."

"Fate... is simply a level of power? Control over fate? Perception into it?" Lai Shi Po's voice, still rough, was suddenly rapturous. "How can that be?"

"It's not that simple," Sobon said, shaking her head. "I can't, and won't, explain much, Shi Po. But as long as a single thread of aether exists from the past to the future, you can hear echoes of the future through it. That thread can be easily broken, especially if you listen at it too long--hearing the future changes it, which puts strain on it."

"You saw the future through the crowns," accused Lai Shi Po, and Sobon just nodded, tiredly.

"Not my own," she confirmed. "Through the entire future of the crowns that I saw, none of the people who held those crowns ever met me again. That includes you, and Ki'el."

"You can't be certain."

"No, but I'm certain enough." Sobon shook her head. "It doesn't mean we may never speak again. But an in-person visit... I don't think so. Being around me has changed you already, Shi Po, and I don't see signs of that again."

The woman stood stock-still for a moment, and when she spoke, it was with an angry voice. "So break that future--"

"You don't understand why I'm choosing that future," Sobon interrupted. "Shi Po, I haven't heard back about the prophecies, but let me tell you what I heard in them. The first one was easy--that one or more members of the alien master race, who stands above all other life in known space, would preside over the end of the Empire. I'm not them, and that prophecy cannot possibly be about me." Sobon shook her head. "The bit about [of any face] even carries traces of intent that are specific to their abilities. When they wish it, the world dissolves like sand around them, rebuilding however they wish it to look. When they wish to disguise themselves, their disguise is as good as reality to any but the most powerful masters--and I have never been, and will never be, at their level."

Lai Shi Po was still standing there in shock. "Then... could they already be here?"

"The people I work for should already know that, if it were true," Sobon said, finding herself stressing the word more than she meant to. "But if they had arrived on this world, I don't think they would be subtle about it. From what I know, they would be very disappointed in this world and what's happened here." Sobon paused only a moment, but moved on quickly. "The second prophecy--at a guess--wasn't a prophecy, and not a promise, as you said, or not exactly. It was a myth."

Lai Shi Po frowned. "A myth? But it had intent, and the weight of prophecy."

"Right, sorry," Sobon paused only a moment to form the full intent for the word, then spoke. "I believe it was a [myth]. My people study what [myth] means on worlds of aether, and the ...people I work for here can detect, track, and understand some forms of myth in ways I cannot understand. What I do know is that [myth] energy is tied to fate. Once an aether--a qi-backed myth comes into existence, it is similar to a prophecy, only without basis in fact. Importantly, myth energy is, or can be, very healthy for society. It can also destroy societies, species... even worlds."

"I..." Lai Shi Po's voice was confused.

"I shouldn't speak too much, but I'll talk about my world. In the time before the Empire was founded, which has sustained us for hundreds of years, leaders were for a time elected by popular vote. This was very useful, as those who were bad at leadership were unpopular, but in time, there became a science and an art to manipulating people to gain control. That is best described in terms of aether-backed myths."

"In these contests for control of leadership, there were of course factions, and the conflict was first, between the factions, and second, within them. But the fractious war between the factions was the most poisonous, because each side demonized the other. They swore that the other side only existed to do harm or cause strife, that their own people were the ones who should be trusted. For generations, it was believed that the words themselves were what swayed people, made them believe that one side or the other was superior, the other side was evil."

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"But as we came to understand aether better, we understood that there were things buried within our society that were magical, which we had thought were not. At the founding of the empire, two great figures created defenses against myth, and forced it first on the leaders, and second on the people. What they discovered was first, that these defenses blocked harmful effects, but second, that they also blocked positive effects. They adjusted their defenses until the result was healthy, and the empire has lasted as a result."

"So you believe that [myth] controlling people is... good?"

"Don't confuse the energy with the intent," Sobon corrected, although as she spoke, she found her own thinking on the topic expanding. How long had it been since she had really talked at length about these things? Not counting her strange discussions with a spirituals hadow? "Myth exists through and around people. It can control people, and it can sway people, and it can misinform people, and it can help people to resist control, manipulation, and misinformation. It connects people. It is difficult to manipulate an entire people connected with bonding [myths]--unless you are an insider, given the priviledge to do so as a matter of social or political status."

Sobon paused, and in that context, tried to recall the RI'lef concept of mythic [shear]. Sobon's existence, without a doubt, put strain on people's connections with one another; she existed outside of these people's world, and it wasn't hard to imagine that people would need to pick a side--Sobon's or the Djang's--if the distance between them became too great. And myth energy wasn't intelligent like a person, but instinctual--a combination of what the Ri'lef called [Sacred] and [Corrupt], energies which attracted fates or avoided them. If myth itself recognized Sobon as something which people must polarize themselves towards or against... some part of that energy would transfer throughout the whole myth network, whenever people spoke to one another, became entangled with one another, traded energy with one another. That must be the [mythological fault] that they were afraid of.

She considered those thoughts as she continued speaking, letting her words fall into things she knew better so she didn't have to focus quite so much. "My people like to talk about the foundational social myth--the myth, both the words and the energy, that binds an entire society together. Because while you may consider the Djang to be all one people, for instance, the lives on different sides of the nation are very different, and the lives of farmers and warriors are very different, and the lives of city folk and fishermen are very different. But no matter where you go or what you look at, two Djang will agree that they are both Djang, and you can also sense it, if you have the [academic intent] of what it means to be a Djang. If both are connected to the [myth of being Djang], then that exists within their spirit."

"But this myth can be disrupted, or completely destroyed. It will first fracture, like ice or stone. A people will still technically be whole, but they won't believe it, or feel it. And if that fracture is not healed, and especially if any more stress is put on it, it will widen and widen. That is a spiritual truth, and fully recognized as such by my people, but it also reflects what happens in words and actions in the real world. If people doubt that it is a good thing to be Djang, they will still be Djang--but they may not hold tightly to it. They may decide that if another options comes, perhaps that other option will be for the best. And the power of myth that both manipulates them, but also helps them resist the manipulation of others, will fade, and they will be swayed by the words and feelings of others, even if those words and feelings are lies."

Sobon paused, realizing she'd been preaching, and shook her head. "None of this is really relevant to you. But the point is that the Diamond Lord's words about [one insignificant life]..." Sobon stopped. She had intended to say one thing, about how it the intent had felt like a warning, but now she felt differently. "Only it wasn't his words, it was the words of the wise one, right? And that was ...an alien master. Which meant that it wasn't a warning, but a curse."

But Lai Shi Po was disoriented, seemingly more overwhelmed by the topic than she had been about Sobon's topics of advanced math applying to qi and space itself. So Sobon shook her head, and the other woman process for a long moment, and she also did her best to keep her mind on track.

Because, ultimately, she couldn't lead these people, and she would never follow them.

The social mythos of this world was utterly and completely foreign to Sobon, and mostly offensive. Its roles for women, its brutality, the high handed way the Djang muscled down the rest, the way that they had so casually begun slaughtering Starbeasts in droves... Sobon had been avoiding entangling herself with the world, but still found so much that was completely incompatible between it and herself. If she tried to force her own way of thinking into the world, they would only see her as... well, who knows exactly what. Most likely, a foreign entity that must either be conquered or yielded to.

Violence or submission. Ki'el said her grandmother summarized qi itself into those polarizing opposites, but it spoke to their worldview as a whole. When it came to power itself--you either fought it, or submitted to it. Doubtless, the woman would have said the same thing about the pirates, or the Djang, or the Starbeasts, or the Ri'lef, or the Founders. Fight or yield. As though there's no such thing as coexistence.

"If..." Lai Shi Po's voice broke into Sobon's thinking. "If that's all true... then what? What do we do? What changes? I am not sure that I understand."

"It's not useful knowledge in everyday life," Sobon admitted, doing her best to mentally return to where she'd left the conversation. "But it speaks to leadership and power. For example... there is a [social myth] tying the Lai family together. I am sure you can speak better than I about what it actually is, except... that you need to be able to step outside of it and look at it without being controlled by it." Sobon frowned, and trying to draw a little bit on her Superior and Inverse dynamos, reached out and touched Lai Shi Po's shoulders. Her intent was simple--she formed just the slightest bit of circulation, breathing fresh aether into the woman without adding anything new. Technically speaking, nothing should change--she was still connected to everyone she had ever been connected to, but now...

Now she was also connected to the world, in this moment. That was the distinction between fresh and stale aether; one was connected to the now, and one was only connected to the past.

Lai Shi Po took a sharp, deep breath, blinking, and held her breath, as though she expected some kind of miraculous revelation to descend, but Sobon just laughed.

"Sorry," she said. "That's not some kind of magic spell. But... from the outside world, Lai Shi Po, your husband being able to control you, and you being unable to leave despite all your power and genius... it's ridiculous." Sobon knew that the woman would likely be hearing the words as though for the first time, and tried to speak carefully. "The name is only a name. Their actions are their actions. Your value is your value. The family leader is simply the person currently leading. Many things that feel like mountains to you are only what they are, and nothing more."

"And..." Sobon felt like the connection was tenuous, but spoke anyway. "That's... why I have to go fight. Everyone here wants me to be what I am to them, and I cherish Ki'el, and Lui, and Mian, and Lord Shida, and you. But the things that actually are larger than us are out there, waiting. They are not patient, and the world is cold and cruel. The things that feel big to us here need to be kept in context, and the facts are such that... if I am wrong, or do the wrong things, this entire world might die."

Lai Shi Po turned and looked at Sobon, her eyes clear, but empty, as though the woman wasn't sure what to make of what she was hearing.

"Fate energy, and powers greater than it, are still only energy. The whole world continues to go on. Tearing through fates that want to keep us where are is difficult, but it is also necessary. The bonds that hold you down, the bonds that want to hold me in place, the bonds that might have crushed Lui and Ki'el and Mian, those things are bigger than our individual lives, but the world is so much larger than those bonds of fate that it makes a mockery of them."

"I don't understand," Lai Shi Po said. "What... is to be done about myth? About the future?"

Sobon just shrugged. "I told you. If you try too hard to listen to the future, the connection breaks. Trying to find the perfect future by paying careful attention to myth and prophecy only ends up causing a lot of chaos, altering the future so much that nothing can be predicted anymore. Stable futures, prosperous ones, require that people be predictable, to some extent. So the best thing to do about myth is pay attention to the fact that it exists, and try to detect unhealthy ones. Those specific unhealthy ones, you destroy, or at least refuse to be bound by. The rest..." She made a vague gesture in the air. "Let them be. Coexist with them. Profit from them, if you can. Let others profit from them, if you can't. No one is supposed to control the future, and that includes the wisest sages, and masters of magic. If those of the past could control the future, why would we, here in the present, even need to be born?"

"Just let them be?" Lai Shi Po's eyes remained fixed in the far distance. "But... they are wrong."

"Often," Sobon acknowledged. "Should I point it out to you every last time you're wrong? For the rest of your life?"

Lai Shi Po blinked, and looked at Sobon. "No. But that would have been a much more appealing marriage proposition than the one my husband made to me."

Sobon took a moment to really understand what she was saying, before she laughed. "Ah... I suppose. But it gets tiring, even if you like the person. We can't actually correct our every thought and action, and if you were given the opportunity, you wouldn't enjoy it."

"No," Lai Shi Po said, "but I would have enjoyed living with someone clever enough to notice when things were wrong, and brave enough to point them out. Subtle enough to pick up on things too small even for me to notice. Instead, Lai Ten too often cannot grasp even the simplest things. A better man, a cleverer man... I cannot imagine what it would be like to have a happy married life. With someone who was a good match."

Sobon looked at her, and shook her head. "Do you think that Mian...?"

"I don't know either of them well. But something in the two of them harmonizes." Lai Shi Po shook her head. "For myself and Lai Ten, it was the opposite. So, I would say there is hope."

Sobon nodded, and smiled. "Sometimes, that's all we have." And inwardly, she forced herself to move on as well, to push her thoughts back to what was coming.

And what she was going to do about it all.