As it turned out, all Lady Arraihos wanted was for Rieren to have cake. And, of course, to spite Essalina. Apparently, she had her little squadron of servants waiting somewhere near the tent Rieren, Folend, and the guards had been assigned to ambush them as soon as Essalina made a move.

“I must admit that this is good cake,” Rieren said. She wasn’t sure the cake tasted as nice as the thought of spiting Essalina just because did, but then, she wasn’t about to complain.

“I am glad you are enjoying it, dear,” Lady Arraihos said from her ornately carved chair. “It is the least I can offer you.”

“Mother!” Amalyse got to her feet, apparently done with that line of discussion before it could even begin. “For the last time, let us please stop treating Rieren like a monkey-scratching mercenary! Monkey’s busted balls.”

Lady Arraihos held up one dainty hand against her mouth. “Is that the kind of language they have been teaching you at that Sect, Amalyse?” She went on before Amalyse could reply. “It’s a rhetorical question, dear. Don’t bother replying. And also, if it is really the last time, as you say, then good, I can go on speaking about the matter without further interruptions.”

“Mother, for the last time is a figure of speech.”

“No better than the last one you uttered too. But anyway, tell me, Rieren. What do you make of the Sect’s chances of survival? Amalyse assures me that most of you are not actually all dead, that there might even be some minuscule amount of hope. I would like to hear a different opinion.”

“My opinion is not different, Lady Arraihos,” Rieren said.

“Oh, please don’t use the same word play I use to keep my daughter in her place.” At her mother’s words, Amalyse’s eyebrows seemed to be trying to escape off her forehead. But once again, Lady Arraihos bowled over her before she could speak. “I wish to hear the truth you hold in your heart of hearts.”

That was a strange way to put it, and Rieren was certainly not revealing that kind of truth, least of all to this strange woman.

“I believe the Sect has a chance at coming out of this well and alive,” she said, trying to figure where exactly her actual estimates of the situation lay. “There are too many variables here, and though things look dire from an outside perspective, there is much we can all do to hasten the Sect’s prosperous victory.”

Lady Arraihos looked past Rieren and out through the opening of her tent, straight to where the broken slopes of Lionshard mountain rose higher and higher. “Prosperous victory, you say?”

“Within the given circumstances, yes.”

“And will this victory exclude anyone else’s prosperity?”

“Well, I suppose that would depend on how anyone else seeks to claim prosperity.”

“And what if greater powers wished to claim the same thing the Sect wants to?”

The way Lady Arraihos was battering Rieren with questions, she had a feeling that the woman must have performed a practice run on poor Amalyse.

“I cannot claim to know what the Sect Leader would do in that scenario,” Rieren said. “We would all abide by his decision.”

“You all in the Sect would, certainly. But what of you, Rieren? You do not seem like a girl who will simply allow the Sect Leader to hand over the prosperity of the Sect to other competitors. What would you do in such a case?”

“Me, my lady?”

“Yes, you. You are the only Rieren I am aware of.”

She smiled. “Why, I would simply ensure there were no other competitors trying to steal the Sect’s prosperity.”

That brought on the exact kind of uncomfortable silence Rieren had been aiming for. She had no doubt that all of the different parties here, including those who hadn’t showed up in the initial meeting, had ulterior motives when it came to Lionshard mountain. Most likely, they sought the Dungeon Core for themselves.

Rieren did wish for the Sect to get to decide how to act with regards to it. Dungeon Cores themselves weren’t as simple, ingestible beings like Beast Cores. They had life. Sentience. It was like a tree in many ways, but capable of thought, emotions, and a certain method of communication.

In an ideal world, she wouldn’t have wished for it to be torn from its home and devoured like a fruit. But there were too many mitigating circumstances to be so altruistic.

For one, it was trying to kill them all by aligning itself with the Abyssals. For another, the Sect really might have great need of the strength that a Dungeon Core could provide. If the Sect Leader decided that taking the Dungeon Core lay in Lionshard Sect’s best interests, then Rieren would help him accomplish it, cruel though it might seem to the Dungeon Core itself.

“Mother, please,” Amalyse eventually said, trying to break the unshakable ice. “You said we weren’t bringing Rieren here just to grill her endlessly with questions and worse.”

For the first time in the entire conversation, Lady Arraihos relented. Perhaps something had shifted at Rieren’s brazen reply to the last inquiry. “Yes, yes, I suppose you are correct. I fear there will be a bigger meeting soon, so if you two wish to spend some time by yourselves, I will grant you the opportunity to do so.”

Lady Arraihos got up and actually left through the tent’s opening, not even looking back once. Then she veered to the left.

Amalyse continued to glare at the entrance. “She hasn’t actually left.”

Rieren could see that too. A faint trace of Lady Arraihos’s shadow could still be seen on the tent’s canvas.

“It is alright,” Rieren said. “I am still grateful for not having to talk with Essalina.” She paused to consider. “To an extent.”

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Amalyse snorted. “You’re welcome. I had to convince her that it would be worth it to bring you in here so you could get away. Arteroth isn’t going to interrogate you in our tent. But that also meant mother had the great idea of grilling you for every morsel of information she couldn’t dig out from me.”

“I was happy to oblige.”

Amalyse raised an eyebrow. Even Rieren had to admit that had sounded rather fake. They couldn’t talk freely with Lady Arraihos eavesdropping, so they chatted about inconsequential matters like what new robes Amalyse was hoping to get, and all the fun things they had gone through together at the Sect, and of course, all the boys and girls they had found ravishing.

It wasn’t long before they had to end, though. Essalina had decided that the Arteroth’s latest guests had rested long enough. It was time to begin the meeting.

Another tent had been prepared, this one far larger than the one Rieren and the others had been gifted. Essalina was there, of course, as were Lady Arraihos, the delegate from the Karlosyne clan, and a few others Rieren didn’t recognize. They looked important, though.

Apart from one man whose exterior dress was a simple traveller’s cloak, worn and dirty. His face was unshaved, and his hair was long and uncombed. Whoever he was—and he no doubt had to be someone important to be invited to the meeting—he clearly didn’t set much store by the way of appearances. Intriguing.

“Now that we have all gathered here,” Essalina began, standing next to the circular table in the middle of the tent. “Let us clear up the context, first. The Lionshard Sect disciples can tell us everything that has happened so far. So, speak up, please. We must know everything if we are to make the right decision.”

Rieren figured Essalina and at least some of the others here had already made their real decision. All that would change were some minor details, depending on the exact information of the dungeon.

If anyone else had intended to go first or be their unelected spokesperson, Rieren laid those foolish ambitions to rest. She went ahead and told Essalina and the other dignitaries exactly how much she determined appropriate. The only limitation she had to take care of was making certain she told them no less than what she had told Lady Arraihos.

While Amalyse’s mother might appreciate being in the greater know, Rieren didn’t want to be beholden to her. She might owe Rieren a favour, according to her own words, but who was to say she wouldn’t use the knowledge that Rieren had hidden information from the rest of the gathering to her advantage as well.

An advantage that might have significant repercussions against Rieren.

No, best to be as honest as she had been already. Though, she would also have to make sure she didn’t say anything more than what she had done before. Politics was such a pain.

When she was done, Essalina looked thoughtful, as did some of the others. Rieren caught the eyes of her fellow disciples. Both Folend and Amalyse kept up their neutral expressions. She wondered what was going through Folend’s mind, especially after having been held in the company of the Karlosyne delegate.

“Intriguing information,” Essalina finally said. “I had suspected there were Abyss Rents somewhere around here, though I didn’t think a dungeon would be the place to hold them. Nevertheless, this just reinforces the idea of why we were brought here in the first place.”

Rieren frowned. Brought here? It sounded like she was intent on using the Forborne Emperor’s excuse of cooperation to deflect any culpability.

“Will you then journey on into the dungeon?” the man in the cloak asked.

“Of course,” Essalina said. “There isn’t a moment to waste. We must close these Abyss Rents and defeat the Dungeon Core before its influence spreads. The Sect is unlikely to be able to accomplish that on its own.”

Alarm rang through Rieren like discordant clanging bells. She had been fearing that the Arteroth were here to take advantage of the situation, but invading the dungeon itself made one thing quite obvious. They were after the Dungeon Core too, just as the Avatar was. Just as the Abyssals were desperate to keep it to themselves.

“We mustn’t be hasty,” Amalyse said. She had come to the same conclusion that it would not be good for the Sect if they were having to deal with more competition. “The Sect is more than capable of handling it. Trust us to take care of it.”

Essalina grinned her evil smile. “Why, of course, we all have the greatest faith in what tattered remains are left of Lionshard Sect somewhere within the walls of the dungeon. But you see, the Forborne Emperor has commanded us that we must cooperate. So cooperate we shall, regardless of whatever difficulties we must face. We must help each other, after all!”

Ah. There it was. The Emperor’s edict of cooperation was likely what had brought all these seemingly disparate delegates together, and now they were here to take advantage of the idea of cooperation. Rather ingenious of them, from a political point of view.

Amalyse stared at her. She tried to look to her mother for assistance, but Lady Arraihos had on an approving mask. Clearly, she wasn’t going to get any help there. The others were just as approving of the decision as well. They may have arrived with vested interests for their charges under the Sect, but their true motives weren’t so simple.

Cooperation was a thin veneer for a chance at some sort of material profit.

The rest of the meeting didn’t last long. There were some specific questions about the goings on within the dungeon, especially regarding certain people like Rollo and, strangely, Silk. The man in the travelling cloak was interested most in her. Curious.

Rieren also understood that her power was limited here. Her only role in this little meeting was to deliver the information she was called upon to do so, nothing more. None of her opinions, not a single one of her thoughts, were important here. Even Lady Arraihos no longer seemed interested in her viewpoints. As such, it would be pointless to try to argue with them.

Soon enough, the meeting ended. Essalina bid them all farewell and began preparing her troops to head into the dungeon.

“We will begin making headway into the dungeon immediately,” Essalina said. “Members of Lionshard Sect, you are free to join us, if you wish.”

An open invitation that didn’t need them to be present. Once again, playing with her words. Cooperation wasn’t force. They could choose to work together or refuse and incur the Emperor’s wrath. A façade of freedom that essentially left no choice at all.

Which made Rieren wonder what the Emperor would think of his Avatar’s actions here. How much did he know about the gods’ manipulation?

It only took a few minutes for the soldiers of the Arteroth clan to be prepared to follow their leader. Their black-and-gold breastplates shone in the sunlight, their red mantles gleaming like crystallized blood. Some had spears, some had swords, some more had bows, but all had round greatshields upon their backs.

Essalina herself had a similar regalia, looking every bit the leader she had been raised to be as a scion of the Arteroth. Her long hair flowed like liquid night, her longsword a razor of steely darkness.

“Must you go and join them, Amalyse?” Lady Arraihos asked.

Amalyse glanced at Rieren, who kept her face carefully blank. Her friend wouldn’t need any expression of reassurance. It was to prevent Lady Arraihos from gleaning anything further she could use. The woman had taken enough already.

“I will need to, mother,” Amalyse said. “The Sect needs my help.”

“And yet, you were so quick to suggest that the Sect could handle its own.”

“I am part of the Sect.”

“Yet, you are also the scion of the Arraihos.”

“Sadly.”

There was the tiniest hint of bitterness creeping into Lady Arraihos’s face, but long years of practice allowed her to wipe it away as though it had never been there. “Go, then. May you find what you seek and return to me safely.” She turned to Rieren. “Please ensure she does not end up dead.”

Rieren bowed her head. “With my life.”

The gallant thing to say. The words that made Lady Arraihos grant her a beatific smile. The—

Amalyse cuffed her shoulder. Rieren allowed one corner of mouth to turn up in a crooked grin.

Nearby, Folend was already heading towards the back line of the Arteroth soldiers. He looked surprisingly thoughtful. Meanwhile, Avalien and the other guard had already readied some packs and supplies. They knew this was coming. This little excursion outside was nothing but a short breather.

Bidding their farewells to Lady Arraihos, Rieren and Amalyse walked upslope to join the others. It was time to re-enter the dungeon.