Rieren trudged over with a smile. After what had happened to Silomene, she was glad to see Amalyse not having gone through similar trouble.

“I hear you’re having adventures without us,” Amalyse said with a matching smile. “Care to entertain us and share your tale?”

“If I did not care, would you rest until I did?”

“We both know the answer to that.”

Rieren decided to take a seat near the tree. Amalyse followed, and after a moment, so did Rollo. Apparently, he was unable to stay aloof under the assault of his curiosity. Kalvia had been sitting there already, watching the interchange between Rieren and Amalyse, though she closed her eyes and appeared to refocus on her cultivating as they approached.

“What have you heard so far?” Rieren asked as she settled down.

Amalyse glanced at Kalvia. “Only what Silk’s told us so far. That you ran off to save the Clanmistress from being assassinated.” Her face turned grim. “Considering you’re back and look happyish, I suspect she survived.”

Rieren nodded. “The Clanmistress did.”

“…but not everyone?”

Rieren licked her lips. She explained the whole story of how she and Silomene had sneaked into the Stannerig estate, how they had been forced to confront the former Ordorian Clanmaster who was now dead after Gorint Malloh had helped Rieren capture him, and how the Clanmistress herself intended to take the fall for the death.

“So,” Amalyse said. “Instead of blaming you because you actually did kill the former Clanmaster and consigning you to death, she’s going to sacrifice herself? She’s very kind, and also very stupid.”

Rieren stared. “You want her to put the blame on me?”

“Well… it’s the most logical solution from her point of view. And it wasn’t like you had to kill him. You only did it so you could frame the other former Clanmaster, and it sounds like she’s not buying it.”

“She should. That man actually allowed the assassination of his own daughter to go ahead with his permission.” Rieren frowned. “He has even done away with Mercion and now, no one can find him. The former Clanmaster cannot be trusted.”

“Of course. But at the same time, he has some not-insignificant support. Turning against him to such a degree would make everyone who supports him turn against the clan as well.”

Gorint Malloh had insinuated much the same thing. That was why he had ultimately decided to hold himself back from killing the former Clanmasters. And yet, that clemency was what had allowed the attempted assassination to happen in the first place.

Maybe Rieren should never have stepped into that tavern and stopped him from killing Yonvig there.

“Coddling such sentiments is what has allowed it to grow so intense,” Rieren said. “Perhaps there is a fine balance between respecting the political power of one’s opponents and protecting oneself from such vicious, cowardly attempts on one’s life, but this is clearly not it.”

“I am sad they aren’t razing the dissidents to the ground entirely,” Rollo said. He was playing with some snow in his hand, turning it into a ball. “Such a revolt of that calibre needs to be taught a quick, violent lesson. A purge should prevent any such notions from rising again.”

“A purge?” Amalyse stared at him, part exasperated, part aghast. “Your solution to mutiny is purging them entirely? Let me guess, you want to kill their families too, then salt the earth with their blood. Maybe even put some of the corpses up on tall stakes for all the world to see. Nothing beats that kind of lesson, right?”

“Correct! That would take more effort than I’d care to spend, although, I ought to have a small army at my disposal as a Clanmaster. So yes, I agree. Make the lesson harsh and long-lasting, and all will remember what you intended to say.”

Amalyse groaned, though she didn’t argue. It was pointless to do so with Rollo. Strangely, he seemed more animated than Rieren had seen him for quite some time. She decided not to comment how the grisly affair had excited him more than other, more normal things did nowadays.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kalvia said all of a sudden, cutting into their conversation. “What they do is beyond our influence or purview. We shouldn’t concern ourselves with it.”

“Well, it does influence us to a good degree,” Amalyse said. “For instance, mine and Rollo’s contract comes from the Stannerig. If they go into a state of upheaval, that would put us out of work. At the same time, we struck a deal with the current Clanmistress. If a new Clanmaster ousts her, then I don’t know if they would still hold onto the deal or not.”

That was also true. With Mercion out of the picture, Rieren’s own contract with the Ordorian could possibly be considered null and avoid. While she had earned herself a good deal of Credits, she couldn’t tell if the Ordorian clan would uphold its side of the bargain.

Especially when there was no Mercion and not even a Clanmaster to decide, she couldn’t be certain what their goal would be.

“What are you going to do now?” Amalyse asked. “Especially if the Clanmistress is forced to step down?”

That was a generally aimed question. Their latest talks as a group had involved Avathene as well. If she was gone for good, then they would now be in an unforeseen, unprecedented position.

“I have my goals set on cultivating,” Rieren said. “And on stopping the Aetherians. It is not as if I am doing something heinous that might implicate the Archnobles.”

“What exactly are you going to do about the Aetherians?” Kalvia asked, eyes suddenly alert. Rieren wondered if she had seen a similar vision just like her while she had been cultivating. “I want to stop them too.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Rieren nodded. “I am yet to figure out how, but I must get started soon. Though, they aren’t the only danger of course.” She explained how they had received a message that there might be something going on at the frontier. “That a Clanmaster himself had to go to reinforce the frontier is not a good sign. It might be heralding the arrival of the Dreadflood.”

“Dreadflood?” Amalyse asked.

Ah, of course. She had been long dead by the time Rieren had arrived in the Shatterlands. Amalyse wouldn’t have seen or known about the Dreadflood, or how it had led to the fall of Falstrom. The same went for Rollo, and perhaps even Kalvia to some extent.

“A powerful Abyssal. I suspect S-Grade, though I wasn’t sure last time. It can’t be defeated easily, not even by the Clanmaster. In fact, if that is what he has gone on to face, he might not return at all.”

“Making everything even more complicated than it already is!” Rollo said. They all stared at his exuberance. “What? I just enjoy how things are coming to a head.”

Amalyse shook her head. “I should contact Lord Kerolast and send him a message about the recent events and what he expects of us. I suppose they’ll only send us to the frontier on more missions.”

“Have you not fulfilled the terms of your contract yet?” Rieren asked.

“The Sect negotiated an extension, with our approval, of course.”

“Approval… or because you asked?”

Amalyse flushed a little. “Some of both,” she admitted.

“I’m going to begin cultivating,” Rieren said. “And see what I can find out about the Aether invading the Mortal realm.”

“Oh, right. I broke through the Enlightened realm, finally.”

Rieren smiled at her. “And now you get to spend several months to a few years getting through it.”

“I’ve requested some assistance from mother for that. But with the way things are headed, I imagine it will be a while before I receive any further word or get the chance to cultivate properly again.”

That wasn’t surprising. They had all learned that communication with the rest of the Elderlands was dwindling to a halt thanks to the Abyssal armies encroaching all around. Besides which, Amalyse had responsibilities. It was a surprise she had even found the time to reach the Enlightened realm.

Rollo got to his feet. “I will go make enquiries. You can stay here.”

“What?” Amalyse asked.

“I said, I will go speak with Kerolast and the others. In the meantime, you can continue cultivating until such a time comes when we are needed in battle.”

She stared at Rollo. He didn’t wait to ask for permission or anything of the kind. Instead, he turned around and began walking downslope.

“You shouldn’t keep ignore cultivation itself just to keep spiting your clan, Rollo,” Amalyse called after him. “Do you have any idea how stupid that is?”

Rollo only raised a hand in farewell while continuing to walk away. By the sounds of it, they’d had this argument before, and it certainly hadn’t come to a good resolution.

“I wonder what his deal is,” Kalvia said.

“His deal is that he holds onto grudges too much.” Amalyse sighed. “At this rate, he’s almost going to make me feel bad for his clan.”

“No, I meant his deal in that he clearly likes you.”

“What?”

Rieren blinked. She had noticed their growing closeness too, though she hadn’t thought it had gone to the degree of blooming romance. If it had, though, she wouldn’t be surprised.

“I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about,” Amalyse said with no small amount of heat.

Kalvia simply smiled to herself. “Of course. Such a thing is hard to notice for those who are involved in it. ‘Tis a gradual change, slowly turning from mild antagonism, to greater understanding that leads to amicability, and then shared experiences that allow one to bond and take it to the level of amour.”

Amalyse looked like she didn’t know whether it was best to argue or to insult Kalvia directly. Failing to make a decision, she turned around and headed away. “I’m going to try to cultivate before I’m inevitably called away.”

She actually did walk away. They had gathered close enough to converse normally but cultivating in each other’s proximity would be needlessly difficult.

Kalvia shared a knowing smile with Rieren.

“Oh,” Rieren said. “What happened to your retainer? I assume you were finally able to convince him to let you remain here.”

Kalvia looked a little stricken at having the conversation turned around so that she was the subject of enquiry now. “I resent the implication that I needed permission.”

“Well, then I was fooled by your desperate need to reason with him.”

“Argh, fine. I had to make some promises, but he eventually agreed that I could stay.”

That didn’t sound like he was convinced it was the right decision. More as though he had been forced to give in to Kalvia’s demands.

“What sort of promises?” Rieren asked.

“Just some oaths and the like about what we will do when I claim my rightful place upon the throne.”

Rieren’s ears perked up at that. “Oaths?”

“It isn’t as dangerous as it sounds. I didn’t promise that I’d anoint him Emperor and listen to his every whim. More measured decisions about what my priorities will be when I properly rule the Elderlands.”

That sounded more reasonable, though Rieren was still left a little uneasy by it all. She hadn’t found anything untoward from the retainer. Nevertheless, he wasn’t in charge of looking after Kalvia out of the goodness of his heart. It was best to make sure that whatever he wanted wasn’t something that they would object to later.

“What did you see in the Aether?” Rieren asked.

Kalvia grimaced a little. “So you noticed.”

“I did.”

She was silent for a moment, as if determining her choice of words. Rieren didn’t blame her for taking her time. The sight she had seen wasn’t exactly easy to describe.

“A cosmos,” Kalvia said. “Which was expected. But there were two suns there. Or I suppose, one sun with another planet that was just as big, and they were circulating each other. Farther out, those two were being orbited by a great number of smaller planets. The most curious thing was that it seemed the planets were being pulled into the centre of the two large bodies.”

Rieren nodded. “That is the Aether, yes.”

“You’ve seen it before?”

Rieren nodded. She had visited while she had been cultivating here, which she had never had the chance to reveal to Kalvia because of Silomene’s interruption. Though, she had also visited it before in the previous timeline. Back then, it hadn’t been in such a state of turmoil.

“What do you make of it?” Kalvia asked.

“The little worlds you saw entering the centre of the cosmos,” Rieren said. “Those are the meteors we have been dealing in the Shatterlands?”

Kalvia’s eyes widened. “Truly?”

“Yes. That they intend to all come together is quite terrible news, actually.”

“Stopping one or a few meteors is one thing. How is anyone supposed to stop that many all at once?”

Kalvia understood the problem well. She had seen first-hand just how many little worlds there had been in the Aether. If they all came in together, they would be hard pressed to stop the shower of meteors, even if they were all working together, which was impossible anyway. A good many of them would have to deal with the Abyssals, wouldn’t they?

“What is your plan, then?” Kalvia asked.

Rieren raised her eyebrows, then smiled. “Bold of you to assume I have a plan.”

“You look like the kind of person who always has a plan.”

Was that so? How strange that it never felt that way for Rieren herself. It wasn’t that she thought she was floundering more often than not. There were often more obstacles than she could foresee, which sometimes tended to defeat the purpose of her turning back time.

In the previous timeline, she had never encountered powerful monsters called Arisen. She had never faced down Aetherians attacking the Shatterlands through meteor showers.

But that didn’t mean Rieren was going to be stymied. She hadn’t known everything in the last timeline either, and she had succeeded overall. Rieren would do so again.

“Time for me to begin,” Rieren said and focused on her cultivation.