Kire’s face scrunched up. “Well, for starters, please no ‘Empress Kire’. Now that I’ve introduced myself without all that formality, it’s just strange to hear me addressed like that. Besides,” she huffed, staring out at the forest beyond them, “it’s not like I have a throne to sit on at the moment. Or that I should even be sitting on it, should we win it back.” She pondered on his offer. “That’s very generous of you. Maybe for a visit. But we do have a home, of sorts. We’ve made some strongholds around the empire that serve as our bases. I move between them often, while most of my family stays in the northernmost region, ruled by one of my cousins.” She paused, smiling. “You’d love my little cousins, though. They’re quite cross with me lately because they don’t get to see me as much.” She sighed. “I would love them all to be safe, though. If things don’t go as planned—we lose more ground, gods forbid, or I lose all of my influence—maybe I could consider bringing them here. Though, so far, bringing people from my world to yours has just led to calamity.” 

She sank into silence, looking out at the stream, the forests, wishing she could just stay in this peaceful space, and that all the rest of them—Ikegai, Akuma, the Gemini, Itallo—could just get swallowed up by the ground. “I’m sorry. For dragging Ruli into this.”