It had barely been an hour after Remis Sharan’s departure that Rieren’s meditation was once again interrupted. She didn’t mind the interruption this time, however.

Not when Amalyse was just as excited about Rieren’s return to her former self as she was.

“You!” Amalyse rushed up then halted a few steps before Rieren who was getting to her feet. “You’re bac—” She frowned. “Well, I’m not sure I’d call that getting back, but you look much better, so I’m sure it’s progress!”

Rieren laughed softly. Then she stepped forward and embraced her friend. Her larger friend again. Amalyse was so surprised, she turned into a statue for a few moments, before then wrapping her arms around Rieren and squeezing hard. Rieren was certain she heard some ribs crack.

“I know I should never have doubted you,” Amalyse said. “I always knew you’d find a solution.”

Rieren extricated herself from the embrace. “That is as much an apology as I am ever going to get out of you, am I not?”

Amalyse shook her head with a little grin. “You think I was going about a roundabout apology?”

“Why else would you express regret in such a fashion?”

They laughed together. It was nice to be able to laugh like that, to let the pleasure of the moment course through her and make her soul feel alive like again.

Rieren and Amalyse talked of nothing and everything, just happy to spend time in each other’s company again. It had been so long since they had simply existed in each other’s company without anything important or necessary to discuss. So long since they’d just been two friends happy to be together and nothing else.

Of course, conversation eventually turned to things that did relate to their recent experiences. Especially the fact that Rieren had returned to being a human again. Mostly.

“Can you actually tell how…” Amalyse rolled her hand like she wasn’t sure how to put it. “How human you actually are? No offence, of course.”

Rieren tutted. “You cannot say no offence after saying everything you could to offend me.”

“Of course I can! I’m your best friend, aren’t I? That’s what I’m here for.”

Rieren sorted. “I am not certain, in all honesty. I certainly feel much closer to what I should have been feeling as a human all this time.” She smiled. “Just the fact I can feel things again is wondrous. But you are right.” She placed a finger under her eye. “I still retain some monstrousness.”

“It’s not a terrible thing. Look at some of those advanced cultivator pricks. When they start using their actual powers, they turn into monsters too.”

“You have no idea how often I have wished to say just that.”

They laughed together again. Eventually, their talk turned to how others would react to Rieren’s transformation. She would love to see Mercion and Silomene’s reaction, that of Clanmistress Avathene and maybe even Kalvia.

At the name of the Empress-to-be, Amalyse’s face twisted.

“We’ll need some luck with that one,” she muttered.

“I have been curious for a while what has been going on with her,” Rieren said. “Her situation is undoubtedly difficult.”

How much of Kalvia’s original plans and intentions were in disarray? Her hope of being the Empress had been cut short when the old Emperor’s ascension had forced Astern to take up the throne. Therefore, she would be forced to bide her time for now. Wait until she was strong enough to stake a true claim to the throne.

Of course, she would have been forced to do that in her original plan too. In fact, in the current iteration, she had apparently been accepted into the imperial clan as the true hair, bastard of Zhouven the Forborne Emperor though she was.

Shouldn’t that have made things easier? If so, why was she stressed and acting as though things were hurtling towards a disaster?

“Perhaps we should make an effort to find out just what the matter is,” Rieren said.

Amalyse looked like she wanted to say the same reply she had uttered earlier, but she held her tongue. Their conversations turned to less stressful matters for a while. Rieren regaled her with some of Batcat’s adventures she hadn’t heard of, while Amalyse blushingly told Rieren of the experiences she had shared with Rollo. Rieren hadn’t been able to hold back her grin then.

Eventually, however, their conversation returned to important matters. Such as scheduling a meeting with Clanmistress Avathene and getting Rieren integrated back into her original position among the humans.

Or rather, since she wasn’t certain she wanted her true old position back, she would mostly look forward to one thing only.

Making sure they were all prepared for the end of the tournament.

***

The others were no less amazed to see Rieren back in her real form again. She had to admit. It was an amazing sensation. Why wouldn’t they all be staring slightly slack-jawed?

Clanmistress Avathene was the first to recover her surprise, doing so quite adroitly while Mercion, Silomene, and Oromin all continued to gawk. “Welcome back, Rieren. I am tremendously happy to find that you have… cured yourself.” She paused. “I’m not certain if that is the right way to put it, but I hope you understand what I mean.”

Instead of them coming over, it was Rieren who had decided to go meet them in the Stannerig tent within the tournament grounds. What a wonderful feeling it was to not have anyone block her path or look at her as though she was some sort of abomination.

Of course, she still turned heads. Something Rieren would have to get used to, if this was how she would look from now on.

Maybe not ideal, but she wasn’t going to complain. It was leagues better than her previous appearance as an Arisen.

Rieren laughed lightly. “I do. And I am glad to be back, Clanmistress. Back to my old self, at least, as much as I have retrieved it.”

“How did you even manage it?” Oromin asked. He looked to the side. “Not to sound suspicious, but was this your true motivation behind healing Rykion?”

“It was certainly part of it.” Rieren shook her head. The euphoric feeling faded a little, letting a darkness take root in their place. A swirling miasma where she recalled all the nothingness she had been dealing with for weeks on end, and what someone else in her shoes might have gone through instead. “But I would never wish anyone to experience the same.”

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

Oromin nodded, as though beneath the suspicions he had voiced, his true thoughts aligned with Rieren’s last statement.

“To answer your other question,” Rieren said. “It was indeed trying to help Rykion that opened my eyes as to how I could heal myself.”

She explained the plan she had executed with the help of Elder Olg. It needed her to go over how exactly her elixir field and meridians had been blocked by the monstrous corruption so far. Rieren almost wanted to go faster so she felt less like she was wasting everyone’s time, but the discovery was enormously significant, so she shuttered those impulses and spoke normally.

“This Elder Olg,” the Clanmistress said. “So he has become more monstrous than he already was, thanks to your plan?”

Rieren nodded. “Regrettably, yes. I need to see if he is alright still.”

“He is also the Dreadflood,” Oromin noted darkly.

Avathene frowned a little, though she didn’t appear particularly troubled. “Better an Abyssal like that being controlled by some human notion, than a mindless monster heading wherever it wishes.”

“But that begs the question why he is here, Clanmistress.”

“That is something I can answer,” Rieren said. She glanced Mercion.

He cleared his throat. “I’ve told her everything you’ve told me, Rieren.”

Rieren nodded. She reiterated the important bits, connecting the real reason the Elder was here to the presence of the Starloper and the upcoming ascension of one of their own to the position of Banishedborn. Strange how the same event would be used as bait by both major sides in this conflict. A trap with multiple layers.

“I was aware of this for a while, yes,” Clanmistress Avathene said. “While we will be ready to act, what we need to determine is how much we can act against our ultimate foes.”

That was a good question. If they were eventually going to face off against the Banishedborn, they wouldn’t stand a chance. They were too powerful. Especially together.

All of the Banishedborn were in the Fated realm, the same one the old Emperor had been in, and he’d been the strongest cultivator in the entirety of the Elderlands by a wide margin. It was said that, at his peak, he could take on an entire region’s worth of cultivators on his own. A small group such as their current one would be wiped out by even a handful of Banishedborn.

“We are certainly not stronger enough,” Rieren said. “Even Starloper is not. At least, not alone. As such, I believe he has a certain plan, one that might potentially make use of the same item that Elder Olg seeks here. Something to truly entrap the other Banishedborn with.”

“Which suggests that our true enemies would be the followers of the Banishedborn.”

“The imperial court, yes.”

“Bunch of bastards,” Mercion muttered.

True enough, on multiple fronts. The imperial court was quite powerful, employing strong cultivators from all over the Elderlands. That didn’t even count all the Masked Avatars under their employment too. Rieren was certain that, even if Astern could use his authority to take control of some of the Avatars, there would still be a sizable number working with the court.

“I think I might be able to come up with a plan,” Avathene said with a sudden smile. A sharp smile that glinted with no small amount of mischief. “Let me think on it, for a moment. Rest assured that, when the time cones, we shall be ready.”

“Yes,” Oromin said. “I was not expecting the tournament to devolve into this, but I will not lie that I suspected something foul had to be underfoot.” He scowled. “We will root out the ugliness, mark my words.”

Rieren nodded. “I am glad to hear it. We will not be alone. There are others I can call upon.”

Avathene swayed a little where she stood. Oromin was close by to help support her. She didn’t even bother acknowledging it. Such instances were too commonplace for Clanmistress Avathene now. “As can I. The Stannerig and the Ordorian certainly do not stand alone.”

They decided to part for now. Their plans would need to solidify and take into account various other factors. Things were shaping up into a coherent structure, however. Rieren was reasonably confident that they could successfully see through the upcoming conflict without too great a difficulty.

She just had to make Starloper talk more about his Abyss-cursed plan.

“Where will you stay, Rieren?” Silomene asked. “You could return to our camp. I am certain there won’t be any issues now.”

Riern smiled at her friend. While all of them talked war and conflict and whatnot, Silomene of all people was still looking at things from a very human perspective. “Thank you, but I will decline for now. I like my little glen.”

“Are you sure you want to find yourself scratchy and irritable after sleeping on the ground before such an important event?” Mercion asked.

“I have been sleeping on the ground for the last few weeks, Lord Mercion. I doubt a few days more will change anything.”

“Yes, well, you weren’t a normal person for the last few weeks. No offence.”

People really needed to stop worrying about offending her.

“Let the lady sleep on the wild grass, you two,” Avathene said with a soft chuckle. “Our camp will always be open to Rieren, so if she ever desires, she can always hop over.”

Leaving them with a smile of farewell, Rieren headed to a different section of the camp. Batcat awoke from where it had slept through the last meeting on top of her head. It meowed at nothing in particular before drifting back to its doze.

“Yes, kitten,” Rieren said softly, petting its fuzzy back. “Enjoy your regular perch.”

Her wandering steps took her towards the imperial clan’s tents. The one she had only seen through Batcat’s memories.

It was perhaps a little brazen to walk up there with no advance warning or anything of the kind. For all Rieren knew, she would be turned away by the guards. It was worth trying all the same. Worth getting to Kalvia, if she could.

“Who are you?” one of the guards challenged her, as was expected.

“What is your business?” the other asked.

Rieren bowed her head demurely. It was nice to act again, to feel like she was acting. A ploy against the foolishness of others. “I only wanted to see the Empress-to-be. It is my dream. She gives me so much hope.”

“What in the Abyss are you babbling about, girl?” The first guard stepped forward, placing himself solidly between her and the encampment. “Scram before I get rough with you. You won’t like it if it comes to that.”

He added the last bit with a leer. Well, now Rieren was starting to wish for an entirely different approach for her entry.

But before she could switch to her new method, an unlikely saviour appeared.

“The Abyss are you two doing?” The voice made Rieren jerk her head up. Zhalen. He was standing farther into the camp, glowering at the two guards like they were naughty children who had just stolen some cookies. “Get away from that woman and get back to your post.”

“But my lord—”

“Don’t but me. Didn’t you hear that lady has a meeting with the honoured heir? Stand aside, now.”

The hard bark in his voice made both guards practically leap out of Rieren’s way. She stepped past them without a single glance at their worthless hides.

Zhalen flashed her a brilliant little smile. He looked perfectly recovered from their battle. No sign of any wounds, neither physical ones nor any lingering in his mind. A small frown marred his features for the briefest moment, but then his expression cleared. He refused to believe that the woman he was seeing in front of him was the same one who had beaten him.

It made Rieren smile widely.

“Welcome to our little camp,” Zhalen said. His smile had to be the most winning one he could summon. “Would you like m to show you around our little encampment?” He winked. “I promise I know the best little spots.”

Rieren covered her mouth as she did her best approximation of a simpering laugh. “I would love that, my lord. Though, I hope you will take me to the honoured heir eventually.”

His answering smile was wicked and conspiratorial. “Eventually, yes.”

“Zhalen, cut it out.”

Rieren, and Zhalen both turned to see Kalvia walking towards them with a little scowl she didn’t bother smoothing over. Ah. It looked like Rieren’s little fun was about to end. But she didn’t mind. Her real intention had materialized.

“Not now, cousin,” Zhalen said. “Allow me to entertain our beautiful guest for a mom—”

Kalvia scoffed a little. “That isn’t who you think it is, you idiot.”

“What ever do you mean?”

“Cousin, that’s the woman knocked your mulchy behind out of the tournament.”

With wooden stiffness, Zhalen slowly turned to frown at Rieren again. Then he leaped back almost like his guards had. Rieren couldn’t held back her laughter at the sight. It even woke up Batcat, who yowled with displeasure atop her head.

“You harridan!” Zhalen said. “I knew you looked familiar. You can’t even change your form properly so no one suspects you, can you?”

Rieren smirked. “Well, it certainly fooled you long enough.”

“The Abyss are you doing here? Trying to sabotage the final battle before it even begins?” He raised his hand in a fighting stance. “You’ll find that we won’t be so easily convinced like the stupid Karlosyne—”

“Zhalen,” Kalvia said, but she was cut off as Zhalen went on unheeding.

“You’ve made a grave mistake.” Zhalen took a step forward. “I’ll end you right here, right now. I’ll—”

“Zhalen!”

He turned to glare at his cousin. “What?”

“Get out of here and let me talk to Rieren in private, please. Can’t you see that she has changed?”

Zhalen glared at them both like he wanted to argue against the notion that Rieren could ever have changed. But he sighed, shot a last glower in Rieren’s direction, then stalked off. She was certain he was hiding behind one of the tents to listen in on their conversation.

“So,” Kalvia crossed her arms. “What brings you here, former monster, Rieren Vallorne?”