Anarion

Return to Thellamie

Yuki looks at her tablet, reads it over carefully, listens to Sulochana. She nods as her friend is speaking. Nods again when there's the undercurrent of I won't let her hurt you and looks right in Sulochana's eyes and smiles. An act of particular intimacy with a Nagi, to gaze straight into their eyes, particularly if they're feeling jumpy.

But then, Yuki wasn't feeling jumpy anymore. She had been startled, of course. She wasn't sure if there was danger, or if Azaza's presence might have been related to her and Hazel being called back into the world. She might be, but the way Sulochana wrote "STAR" in the chat, that said something about Thellamie, about what people thought of Thellamie and it sounded like Stars still being around in various forms over time, that was normal. It was part of the world, even if it was risky too. So Yuki was reassured, even though Sulochana obviously wasn't.

Yuki pulls her tablet out to reply, lowering her face before she can give away anything with the impish grin that's spreading on it
>[.snowkitten]
>No need to apologize. It's part of the world, right? So that's normal and I'll learn how all these things work. Now that I'm here the second time, now that there isn't such a rush. Well...probably, we'll see if somebody makes a rush. But I think it won't be MY rush this time. It's not the same, I'm not the same, and everybody has gotten older and knows how to do things differently. I mean, heck I even learned fencing, and maybe I'll have some good heart duels while I'm here without any extra help!

Yuki furiously types all of this and then sends in one block, causing Sulochana to look down at her tablet as it beeps at her to read Yuki's message. There's a light sound, the softest swish of silk, no more than a breeze blowing in from the palanquin curtain. But when Sulochana looks up, she's find Yuki's face in between Sulochana's arms and face, as Yuki's hand gently extras the necklace and fastens it around her neck, then looks up at her friend. She pulls the silver up, blows on one time with her breath so it fogs and lets the fog naturally fade so it remains just a little cloudy.

"There, beautiful." Yuki looks again right in Sulochana's eyes. "Listen, Suli..." she uses the short name she'd used all those years ago. "I'll be excited for you if...you know" she inclines her head toward their destination without saying the whole crown thing out loud again. "But whatever happens, whatever power you have, it doesn't mean you have to do everything, okay? You can relax sometimes, and not just because you've already arranged everything just as you want it and are taking a break before a new problem comes out. It's okay to accept help when you need it. That's what you told me once and I didn't forget. So many people helped me in Thellamie, and then more when I got home so I could focus on studying and sports. And even then it's not like I've decided what I'm going to do with my life. I'm not a princess at home, I don't rule anything except a medium size collection of stuffed animals, and they're very easy to deal with. Except for Pink Bunny, who's terribly uncommunicative." Yuki blushes, lets herself focus on Sulochana again. "Promise me that if you're having a hard time, you'll say that you need help. Okay?"

Return to Thellamie

Yuki can tell that they have started to cover some distance as Sulochana parts the curtains of the palanquin to receive the gift box from the artisan. The scent from outside the palanquin has changed, the whiff of air from the outside no longer smells of the scent of sand and stone that characterizes the looming Viperiat. Rather, they are closer to the market and she can smell the scent of baking dough on the air. The warm scent of cones, waffles, and fried sweets that characterizes the market at all times, multiplied in intensity when there’s a festival. The Nagi know how to make their food enticing.

It makes her think of Hazel for a moment. She hopes he had a good ice cream and that he found something nice from the street vendors after that. She imagined he might have gotten caught up with any number of Nagi attractions, which was a fine enough way to enjoy the world. She figured he wouldn’t get too over his head and it wasn’t likely that any Nagi would do more than tease an unusual foreigner like him. Certainly not in public and at a festival! Even so, she would need to check on him soon.

Her attention is, of course, pulled back to the box before she has time to write out a proper message. She’ll for sure chat Hazel after this, but she can hardly ignore Sulochana presenting her a gift. And what a gift. She holds the box in her hands for a moment simply marveling at the gold and silver combined with the beautiful dark wood. Her father likes woodworking. At an amateur level, mind you, his day job was tax accounting. But on weekends, he’d often make things in his workshop. He had started with whittling, years and years ago, carving little pieces of wood with a knife. And when he’d gotten space, he’d built up some tools, a bigger saw for cutting larger things, and made some himself. Again, nothing this fancy, but he had made them a nice salad bowl, and he’d made Yuki a little treasure box for her room and carved her initials into it along with a little vine pattern around the outside. It had taken him two whole weekends to do that because he had gone slowly to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes. He would love this box though. The way the metal was inlaid into it and the deep color of the wood. He liked that, and he’d want to learn all about the inlaying process. It made her smile to think about it, and so for a moment, despite Sulochana’s obvious twitchy anticipation, she simply looked over the box, ran her hands across it, felt the way that the metal joined with the wood and tried to understand it.

But she also didn’t want Sulochana to explode, and so she took out the necklace. Stared in jaw-dropping awe at the mother of pearl. This was surely too rich for her. She knew Sulochana was a princess, of course. And even that wealth was a little different in Thellamie. They didn’t have the same range of electronics as she had at home, the tablets were new and special, whereas she understood vaguely that precious metals were a bit less precious here and could be found more readily, particularly as people explored the outside and found new pockets of special materials. For that matter, she’d heard that sometimes Heron would just drop into a town with enough valuables to completely upend the economy while buying them out of all the useful trinkets and adventuring tools.

But even so, even so! This was incredible. She lets out a little squee as she looks it over, and happily goes to model for Sulochana. It’s only as the tablet is held up that she sees the eye. Her reaction is all instinct, and it is mainly bumping her head on the ceiling of the palanquin because the part of her that added the fluffy triangles wants to be up high and feel safe and trying to suddenly and instinctively stand up and jump away inside a palanquin just means bumping your noggin, shouting a sudden “ouch” and then rubbing her head sheepishly and settling back down as the eye fades. She quickly rubs her hand against the spot on the silver though, smudging it with a bit of the natural oil of her fingers as she looks down, then back up at Sulochana.

“Did you see…um…is it safe to use her name? The um…the star who was here before, I saw her eye in the mirror. Is that um…normal? Do all the fallen stars stay here? It’s safe, right? Is it safe to use her name if I see her like that? It just startled me, but that must be why you have all the velvet in the Viperiat so intensely. How does that work now? Do people know why she doesn’t appear in the tablet screens?”

Yuki has a lot of questions, very quickly, and she’s also looking at Sulochana’s face, trying to quickly figure out if this is a special Yuki thing that she’s going to have to worry about now or if this is an Azaza thing and if so just how far it extends and what it means years after her defeat. Her mind is whirring and she’s realizing that there are a lot of questions she could have asked before coming back here and had never really thought about.

Return to Thellamie

At first there’s just the physical intimacy of the moment. Yuki relaxes into the coils, the fingers brushing her head, working through her ears. Her arm pulls the silks of the palanquin close around them, nestles into a pillow as she relaxes her legs and lets the cool coils work around them. She purrs and she lets herself close her eyes and relax into the moment as Sulochana speaks.

But oh, what awful things. Yuki is still purring, low and deep below her throat, almost in her belly, but her eyes are open again, looking up at Sulochana’s, meeting her gaze. “I so sorry, I didn’t know. Everyone was so focused on Azaza. And before, it was such a whirlwind of places. Arriving in Kel, the temples and churches, rushing through the stone roads, the Viperiat. I just assumed…well…I don’t know, I was so much younger. Earth has environmental problems too, and overcrowding. But it always feels like a problem that we make ourselves. Like a problem of people disagreeing about how they should live, and if we could just all agree and work together, we could build more homes, higher and in new places, enough to give everyone some space even if it’s not as much space as a few people really want.”

She’s silent for a few seconds, mulling. “Well, this isn’t about Earth. I’m here again, and I’m going to learn about Thellamie’s problems. And…I’ll help however I can. Whatever happens. Famines shouldn’t ever have to happen. And you shouldn’t have to deal with something like that alone. Not ever.”

Yuki looks right at Sulochana with earnest eyes. Eyes that say that she’s older and that she read about famines in 11th grade history and has opinions about them, and that maybe this is the kind of conversation that’s going to impact her college major, And even though Sulochana probably doesn’t know what a college major is, she can tell that there’s a sincerity there that isn’t just momentary and that Yuki means what she’s saying. And maybe Sulochana hasn’t noticed, but the hand that was holding the silks is warm and it’s resting on her coils and Yuki is here, now. Intent, focused, however her friend needs her.

[Comfort and support with heart: 2+3+2=7.]

Return to Thellamie

Yuki pulls her gaze away from the market as the DM pops on her tablet. Whitemarket is so wonderful! She’s knows not to just pop into a store and try to buy it out, but the point is the advertising and the Nagi do it so well! The showpieces are beautiful. The perfume shop may be overpriced, but the window gives visions of long, beautiful gowns in several cuts matched with flowers and sweets that promise the allure of the perfumes they’re selling. The glass shop may be overcharging, but they’ve got the most beautiful piece of stained glass for the door, a scene of the sunrise over the Viperiat that promises that they have the taste to make it worth your while if money is no object. And the artisans here, the swirling clay vessels and curved flowing wood of the nagi crafters offers such a unique aesthetic. It brings a smile to Yuki’s face just to gaze on it. Doubly so since she had been in chains the last time she was led through here, SELI.

But, she does want to pay attention.
>[.snowkitten]
>@rockamt good luck, give’em an extra kick for me, sounds like a jerk!
>Miss you though, and you too packsis, hope I can make it out to you! <3

She looks at Sulochana’s DM. Blank face. There’s some skepticism, but she’s thinking about what to say. Starts to type something, but feels the tail before anything more than “snowkitten is typing” can pop up and decides that’s the better route. Easy as it would be to slip into DMing someone three feet away from her while they both lounged on separate cushions.

She takes the invitation and shifts herself onto her side on one elbow leaning against Sulochana. She puts her own face just below Sulochana’s so she can nuzzle Sulochana’s neck and under chin with the top of her head and her ears. She does this quietly for a moment, before tilting her head back to look up at her friend. “That sounds exciting. You already rallied the Nagi together to help stop Azasa. I bet, well, I don’t know what the crown of light will look like, but I bet with a blessing like that, everyone will support you, even the ones who can’t see past their own feet, er coils like Purnima. Then you can do, well, hm, what would you like to do with the crown of light? Build something cool, maybe?”

Return to Thellamie

Yuki takes out her tablet as they exit the main corridors of the Viperiat so that she can take a picture of the space with its new dark tapestries sucking up the sound and light where before the mirrors had created a dazzling rainbow of reflections. It’s different and she’s not really sure when she’ll have another chance to see the Viperiat. It could be tonight with Sulochana, or it could be never if adventures sweep her in a different direction. So she needs a picture! Well, several actually because Sulochana is late, so she doesn’t so much stop to take a picture as turn around and walk backwards, her heels echoing off cool stone as they come down and she snaps picture after picture. She can look at them in the palanquin, delete the ones that are blurry, or uneven, or get the tapestries too dark because the angle doesn’t capture the light coming in from the open stable door. As long as she gets one or two solid ones, she’ll send them around to the chat group excitedly. The Viperiat that she had opened, now redecorated, consecrated from her own work!

Of course, there’s a bit of oddity to it. This was obviously Sulochana’s space now, her home in a way that it was never Yuki’s. That was how it always should have been, but it’s weird to be the conquering hero of a space and then come back and feel like it’s not yours. You’re supposed to feel good about stuff you conquer, right? Going out to the stables added to the weird trespasser feel, even though she obviously wasn’t since last time she had shoved open the main gates after her daring breakout.

She glanced to the side, wondering if she could see the main gates at this angle, but the heavy stone bulwarks and rounded corners of the architecture meant she couldn’t see what the main gate itself looked like. Come to think of it, it probably didn’t see much use anyway, it was so wide it could march in an army, way too intimidating for regular business. That’s why they brought people in via the stables, or maybe a service entrance, or a servant’s entrance, things like that. Much more intimate, much quieter, felt in keeping with all the heavy tapestries.

Yuki was so caught up with her photos that she nearly walked into the palanquin before Sulochana’s gentle coil stopped her with an angled shove that avoided tripping her while arresting her momentum into nearly sitting on those thick, white-pink coils striped with gold for the ceremony. Sulochana really could make herself beautiful in such incredible ways.

Yuki blushes sheepishly and puts the tablet away as she climbs into the palanquin with Sulochana. The rest of the description is only now catching up with her with the photos done. Yukisworld, really? This was definitely Keli’s fault and she would pay for it. In gold in fact because the way you got a foxgirl was in business payouts. Between that and the ransom they had received for her, she was definitely owed some luxury and a little pampering!

“I swear I told most of you that my planet was called Earth, right? Yeah, nothing to be done at this point I guess. Not if you’re using it without even thinking. So Yukisworld fencing, it’s more like a sport than maid knight fighting. You use long piercing swords that are bendy and uh…supple I think is the word for it. Everybody wears special protective clothes, and you get points for scoring a hit on someone’s body but nobody gets hurt. It’s good practice because since the swords are so light and easy to move around the duels go really fast and you usually score a hit in just a few moves. Parry, riposte, score!” She excitedly thrusts one arm in the palanquin in demonstration as she’s speaking, rustling the velvet curtains. “It’s actually pretty different from my heart blade though. I tried summoning it right when I got here and I think it got even bigger and heavier than when I was younger, like it sized up for me at least a little, maybe even more than a little. And like, it’s not really heavy, you know what I mean, but the way I want it to be it has momentum to it. It helps you swing it and when it’s going it puts weight behind it beyond just what I’ve got in my still pretty little body.” She blushes again, but no point denying that she’s just never going to be tall. At best or maybe at worst, she’ll put on a freshmen fifteen in her sophomore year and just get thicker without gaining any more height.

“Aaaanyway, my heartblade is a big heavy axe with a long shaft, but even though it’s a way different weapon from fencing, I still feel like I learned a lot about moving my own body around, how to step and balance and stuff like that, and I think that’s still super useful no matter what weapon I wield.”

She smiles, glances out of the palanquin to see what the market looks like, turns back to Sulochana. “So how are things here? Is it all backstabbing politics and tricky schemes all the time? Tell me what’s happening with Civelia, this is a big deal, right? Juniper said she couldn’t make it from so far out, but told me that every priest of Civelia is going to be in special prayer today even if they’re not here, then she DMed me a kneeling priest and five wolf emojis, which probably means this is important, right?”

Return to Thellamie

Yuki blushes as Sulochana plays with her hair. It's so nice, much better than the crushing coils of a moment ago. Firm and safe, but then her hands are so delicate and the feeling through her hair is soft. And then when they brush her ears...she missed her ears in Thellamie. The feeling sends little shivers running through her and she leans into the hug and purrs.

There's a moment where there's nothing but the sound of Yuki's purring. The hug is perfect. Hugs are wonderful. They're special. Hugs are for long lost friends to say "I care" better than any words. They're for telling someone "you're safe" and "I missed you" and it doesn't matter that she's prattling and thinking and needs to be somewhere because for a little bit, there's just the hug.

But then Yuki does relax and she feels Sulochana tense, and so she looks up at her friend that she has not seen in years, even though they've chatted. "Better late than never. Or better Nate than lever, if you're willing to read a very long and boring joke for a bad pun. Come on, let's get to the ceremony so you can put in an appearance with Civilis! I can tell you about my summer camp fencing class on the way. It's uh, it's not really assassination, I'm sorry to say, but we did learn how to stab things! I also learned to ride a horse there! It's a lot of fun, although I'm not sure how that would work with the Nagi. I think you'd need special horses, or a different kind of mount. Maybe a giant crab or something so you could coil up on top of it while it scuttled where you were going. Do you have those here, I don't remember any from last time. By the way, who was that other Nagi? Do I actually need to be worried or anything?"

Yuki gets Sulochana moving with a gentle hand and prattles as they walk because it's good to see her friend, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't hustle!

Return to Thellamie

"I feel as if I had been caught between a hammer and an anvil!" said Yuki with a grunt from between the coils. And then she giggled despite herself, as she tried to imagine whether one of the Nagi could ever bring themselves to skewer anyone. It seemed unlikely.

And, well, she mostly needed to worry about negligence, which is why she had called out even as they were about to duel. Being crushed because everyone was too distracted was really the only way, there's simply no way an angry Nagi who actually remembered her would just crush her when they had so many better options to punish a girl.

So when she had her breath back, she just kept going, grunting through shallow breaths, "you all...seem to be just fine with...my meddling...based on your...decorating choices" she manages, a grin still on her face.

The new suit of Kel mail had been such a good choice. Her old half plate was far too small, a child's size. Granted, she'd only gained a few inches since last time and it was obvious that she was always going to be short. But her shoulders, her chest, and her legs were all a lot broader in college than they'd been when she was in the summer of twelve years old. And it meant that now, she was going to be bruised, but nothing was broken or even liable to crack under the weight with it evenly distributed through the mail coat.

"So...are you...going to let me up...before you duel...or what?"

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Epilogue: A planet

On the edge of the galaxy, to the galactic west of the NC-301 system, there is a yellow star. For many, many years, this was all there was in the system. Eons ago, the yellow star had been a part of a great nebula within its sector of the galaxy, but it had drifted from that nebula, a wandering child of dust and gas all gathered about itself like a blanket. It had drifted off to sleep all on its own and that sleep had lasted until it was small and bright and burning. No great asteroids or strange magnetic fields disturbed that sleep, and so it sat whole unto itself, with no celestial bodies around it to speak of. Around its weight gravitated only loose rocks and debris, at its edges some larger bodies that drifted towards it, a distant outer shell.

So empty was this system, that as the Hybrasilians and Terenians passed through it on their wayfinding, they never gave it a name. Because it did not have a name, it remained beyond the touch of the gods.

Until now. Now, there are new gods. Gods who live in steel and titanium. Gods who live in flesh. Gods who build with dreams and paper. Can you call them anything else when they have combined their will and their arts to make a world?

The planet that the powers of the galaxy have made is unique.

It is not like Akar the Arena, which was a fully formed barren world filled with nanobots to ever shape and change its surface to the whims of a public demanding spectacle.

It is not like the secret worlds of the ancients, upon which the Zaldairans settled, worlds that had lived for so long that the work of hands and the work of nature had combined together with their automated industry and incomprehensible mechanical deities.

It is not like the great cities of the Terenians, that have eclipsed the way their worlds once appeared, replacing the surface with glass and steel that ever grasp for the sky, creating a view from space of oddly straight lines and circles of blue-gray metal woven together.

It is not like the shaped worlds of the Hybrasilians, that have combined the powers of nature with the craft of biochemistry to sustain their populations and their industry amidst their vast tree dwellings carefully cultivated by artisans.

It is not like the dead worlds that so many try to mine and fight about, their surfaces glorious but barren, settlements forced to be in bubbles meant for temporary extraction by small groups of workers.

No, this planet is alive and it has been left to its life. Left to be wild. To grow without constraints, to take shape as it pleases, in both the small and the large. The madness of a weaver and a mosaic maker at cosmic scale. It is not finished. It may never be finished.

***

The planet did not start this way. It began its life as a small, barren asteroid built around a strong iron core. Like the arena, it was shaped through the efforts of the great Zaldarian shamans who can sing to the nanobots and cause them to work and shape at speed. For raw material, it received resources from the Terenians, the bounty of the greatest miners of the galaxy combining their efforts to bring together materials from within the system and from across other systems to provide the planet everything that it could need to take shape. And for life, it received the gifts of the Hybrasilians, the seeds of the great trees, wildlife from megafauna to microbes, and the waters of their worlds.

Each empire turned their greatest resources, their unique talents to the task: Hybrasilian bio-shapers crafted designs and Terenians offered powered labor and their massive fleets to provide supplies as the Zaldarians set the nanobots to work. From an asteroid’s metallic core, they built layers upon layers over it, each exposed to the light of the system’s yellow sun that watched with avid curiosity. Layers of rock, of dirt, of soil, and finally of crust upon which land and water could rest, compacted together until they could be strong enough to hold themselves together. And when that had its strength, they brought atmosphere: the gasses of nitrogen and oxygen, and just a little carbon, and above them ozone held to warm the surface and capture the light of the little sun.

And then they shaped what had been formed. They took natural mountains that had arisen through the shaping and cut channels for rivers that did not yet exist. They carved beneath great and dusty plains, still bereft of life, that they might have reservoirs and aquifers. Water was foremost in their plans for it was water they needed first, water that might allow life to take root.

And when they were ready, water they brought in spades, great blocks of ice from the asteroids of the Terenians, carried on their transport ships. With water, Hybrasilian seeds, and Zaldarian, and Terenian. A mix of life from many planets across the galaxy.

A mixture of this sort had never been tried. Some Terenian planets cultivated crops that had originated on other planets, and Hybrasilian crafters had much experience carefully altering the biology of local flora for their needs. But a truly combined planet had only been theorycrafted, never implemented. The Hybrasilian shapers worked to make sure that everything was carefully cultivated. They created planned symbiosis, shared nutrients, a complex nitrogen cycle and bacterial processing and reprocessing that would in turn sustain the composition of the atmosphere and the clarity of the water. Once planted, they rapidly grew the seeds of life using the power of technology. Running through generations: accelerated and accelerated through the plans of the greatest scientists that the three empires could produce all collaborating in their vast efforts.

***

But then, the true magic. With all these things in place, they let it go free.

Unlike the Arena, which had its nanobots remain, this planet had them removed when they were done with its crafting. At least, mostly removed. Even the greatest Zaldarian shapers could not entirely remove the integration of nanotechnology with the fundamental life cycles of the planet because they were too integrated with the environmental and evolutionary systems that had been cultivated. What could be said then is that the spark of nanotechnology runs through the soil of the planet and life has evolved to work with it. But it is no longer shaped or even capable of being actively controlled in such a way as happened with its shaping. Instead, the planet has a stable surface and the evolution of the technology is left to its own devices.

Unlike the heartland of Hybrasil, the Hybrasilian shapers stopped their work once life was present and reproducing. The trees are not shaped into great homes for cats to live in multiple tiers. No fields are cleared for agriculture or industry. Life is not managed, and there is no promise that all things will be sustained no matter their own foolish choices. All they have left is the shape of their work, the plans for symbiosis and coevolution that they must now trust will endure.

Unlike the Terenian mining worlds or their great cities, they have removed their generators and extracted their mechas and their ships. They did not leave piles of unused equipment, nor massive settlements empty of their people, nor active generators full of crystal fire to each life for new arrivals. What remains, in rare places, are the leftovers, bits of scrap metal, of old parts, of crates and boxes and mecha feet that showed a little independence in the course of the upheaval of such heavy work. They can be found on occasion, overgrown with plants among the terrain.

In the place of the three great civilizations, life has been left to thrive wherever, and however it might. Conditions are good for this. The distance from the curious yellow star is correct for water to shift from liquid to vapor. The tilt is right to go from hot and muggy at the equator to cool at the poles. The planet has been formed with three small lunar satellites that orbit in sync, so as to pull currents and windstreams to create pockets of temperate zones and pockets of extreme weather, with variation over a twenty (20) year cycle and what scientists estimate will be a two hundred and forty (240) year cycle still to be experienced.

***

What lives here is not kind, but neither is it cruel. It is what came of rapid growth that was then left to its own devices to survive.

Low, hardy trees that cling to stone where they must, while the hot zones are full of tall graceful trees that sway and bend, but do not snap even in the strongest winds of the storms that sometimes sweep through them. The midland zones are full of all different sorts of tall trees, great forests of mist and canopies that hide who knows what. They all know how to scatter their seeds far and wide, to spread and change.

And within these lands there are animals that burrow and save for the seasons. Animals that hibernate. Animals that know how to pounce without hesitation. Some are small and numerous. Some are large, territorial, and powerful. Some, perhaps are even greater than that, titans hidden in the deep places and the tall places who have claimed a land over which they are lord in all but name. Perhaps even a few, integrated with the remaining nanobots, who represent an ecosystem unto themselves. The rumors of the Hybrasilian shapers are that it’s possible that whole islands could rest on the back of giant turtles if the conditions turned out just right.

And above them all, clouds that fly rapidly and carry rain near and far. Warm tropical rain and cool boreal rain that sticks to the mountains and the plains and flows to the seas. The clouds move quickly, and they leave gaps and parts for the curious yellow sun, burning so brightly, to peek through. And so, high and low, this planet is a world full of rainbows.

***

There is a single spaceport, built south of the equatorial zone, where it is still warm most of the year, but far enough out of the fiercest storms and inland from the waves about fifty kilometers. It is built in a solid plain, and south of it there is a moderate plateau with caves and changing tree types as one climbs. Above the plateau is a great mountain range, stretching inland. Down from the mountains, a river runs, making great haste to pool in the plateau, and then running down its sheer sides in waterfalls to strike the plains where it happily slows and ambles its way past the port city built on its banks to the great oceans fifty kilometers away.

This port was built last of all, after everything had settled, after the nanobots were gone, after everything else was removed and the scientists extracted. It was built with more traditional methods, with earth shaped by working mechas and a handful of transport ships planned to remain so that the planet would not be entirely isolated.

The port as it now stands is a mix of prefabricated units made of metal and plastics and some hand-built buildings of wood, stone, and brick, stockpiled with enough food and fuel for a few months. There is space for up to a thousand new arrivals (if they don’t mind double bunking), spare parts, tools, clothes, and various odds and ends in plenty. About a hundred souls, all vetted with Mirror, work the port. A mixture of a few people ready to explore, and several people who want to build something of their own and have no intention of going far until there’s a safe road.

The rest is left to the people who come here, the people who choose to settle such a place. The surface is unmapped beyond a rough orbital topography scan. The places that are rich or poor are unknown. The beings who inhabit the world, the gods who may dwell within, they too are unknown. What grows well, what is best to eat, what would make the best clothes. These are things to be discovered.

***

Around the planet, there is a special perimeter. The system has only one jump entry route and in order to be admitted to the system past the guards, you must send word first and be permitted entry from the planet. You must be permitted entry by Mirror or those she delegates to the task. Otherwise, the perimeter guard will turn you back, offering enough fuel to get to the nearest habitable system two jumps away if you’ve arrived in error and cannot gain entry. If you arrive and make foolish demands, you will get less than that.

This, then, is the manifestation of Mirror’s wish. The wish for a planet. The wish for a home. The wish for possibility. The final thing it needs is a name.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Isabelle

“You know I’m enjoying this too,” Marcina says as she stands before you in the face off. “I’m not just Adriana’s lackey, and you all are making for a good workout. I love learning about people like this.” She listens as you try to reason with her. “Yes maybe you’ve got a po—fdsffgfagdsaf” she says as the muffin hits her right in the mouth and you’re breezing past.

You race down the hallways with Asil and Kiriala comes loping beside you, slipping into a Hybrasilian huntress run that uses all four limbs to stay low to the ground and maintain a speedy pace that lets her run beside you without needing to pant.

Your footsteps are eaten up by carpet, and your turn the corner to find Adriana already out the door.

She turns to look at you as you barrel out of the building. “We’re not fighting in the streets, I’ll be writing this entire incident up as a planned stunt for the finale done in collaboration with Mayze Serpaws as part of her big reveal. A soft spot for skilled finalists I think. Besides, the priestess is already away along with the Antonius girl, who frankly has given her family a better reputation than at least two thirds of her much wealthier cousins. I’m biased of course, the Teresio family has always been of the opinion that we did more than half the founding of the Consortium and having to mix the name was a concession we can never get back.”

She smiles at you as Marcina comes racing up behind. “Well, off you all go, I know you’ve got things parked around her somewhere. Or I can give you a lift if not. Say hi to Mira for me when you see her.”

***

Dolly

You are indeed rescued. You and the two girls and Angela all squeezed very tightly into the Barn Owl and well clear of the whole thing. It’s obvious in retrospect that they didn’t want to turn this into a public incident. Station staff will all sign NDAs and they’ll turn the Mirror broadcast into being part of the show. It certainly stunned.

Where do you go to unpack and cooldown? To see the end of the match announced properly as they finally get camera drones to cross miles to inspect everything? What do you do with the two station attendants you’ve obviously kidnapped (because surely if they went willingly they’d lose their jobs. No, no, it’s obvious that they were coerced and kidnapped by the goddess, it’s the only explanation).

***

Mirror, Solarel

Wishes shared amidst a battlefield that will be remembered for generations.

You stride out of the radiation zone, to a world where time behaves in a linear fashion and where camera drones can create a proper feed. There is a hoard of them, carefully organized from miles away to rush across the battlefield to be here.

You signal the end of the match, there are no more ships left to fight. You signal victory for Mirror and defeat for Solarel.

You are together. Together to appear on camera. Together to leave the battlefield, slowly. Together as they fetch a shuttle for you. Together returning to the Hangar.

What more is there to do?

***

Matty

You are shirtless, soaked, and exhausted. You loll back in your chair, splay out your arms and relax. You’ve been an incredibly good girl and you get to bask in that feeling.

Or you would, until you hear Slate’s suppressed giggles from behind you. “Finally had myself a good nap. Guess the match went well, kitten?”

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Jade

There was calm. Before you turned to your Dolly. The presence faded as quickly as it rose, and the spirits you have eaten are strange, but they are not deadly on their own. You can hold them, digest them, do with as you please. Perhaps that will be an adventure for another day.

Dolly

You burst out with your new crew in tow, Jade cheering you on. You have enough time to see Isabelle holding Marcina at swordpoint, and Kiriala trying to catch her breath as she rolls around to get off the floor. Other staff at the station are too stunned to do anything, all standing in shock after coming from a job that does not typically entail violence.

You skid over the servers, land on smooth floor, and the Terenians behind you start running out of sheer inertia. And then, then Ksharta pops up in the middle of the hallway and shouts “this way, Dolly!” and unlike the others she’s a little late in coming but this means that she’s not tied up or fighting or otherwise in the midst of chaos herself. That makes hearing her voice a wash of relief. There’s an exit route, there’s someone who knows where she’s going.

As you get further out and the crowd thins, a few employees try to stop you, at least to get in the way and ask what’s going on and where you’re running off to so fast, but Sam shouts something garbled at them that sounds like “fire drill!” and they get out of the way.

And finally, as you round a corner, you see Angela, who’s guarding the entrance with the tripcaster crossbow you once used to capture her.

“You’re lucky, little priestess, that I still think this is fun, ay. You wish for a gallant escort. So I will be forced to carry you out I think.”

She grins and, before you can quite realize what’s happening, she once again hefts you unceremoniously over her shoulder, right in front of your new Terenian friends!

“Hm, everyone here will not fit in the Barn Owl though, we’ll need to get some additional transport” she adds almost as an afterthought.

***

Isabelle

“You know, Isabelle” says Adriana. “One of the mistakes I think business leaders use is comparing their work to combat. I’ve done both so I think I have a good sense of the two.”

She grins, a grin that says she’s enjoying herself immensely. “Business works best when it’s handled methodically, and, for my taste, openly. Do you know, while I’m on this…” she steps a bit to the side and takes the coffee that one of the useless employees is holding up for her. “...one of the best ways to gain power in business is to give it out. Be the person that helps other people succeed and then they’ll be happy to help you when you need it. Doubly so if you’re earnest and actually do that out of friendship without telling them you expect the quid pro quo. It’s one of the grand ironies of these things.”

She takes a sip of the coffee, sniffs, wrinkles her nose. “Ugh, a cut rate distraction to boot. I’m shocked you lured so many people with treats this poor. Next time, tell the Fisher cat I expect a Murzon blend or I’m not coming.” She grins, takes another step around you. “At any rate, the things people think they need to do for business, all that cunning, deception, decisive action and sudden strikes to annihilate anyone who threatens you…”

She tosses the coffee, lid flying off, right at Kiriala, pulls out a rose from her outfit that was actually a knife and uses it to parry your sword out of the way, and begins sprinting down the hallway, calling behind her “...those are the things you need for a fight! Marcina, distract them!”

For her part, Marcina gives you an apologetic grin and simply stands in the way with the opening provided by your sword, ready to dodge or go for a body hold if you thrust inexpertly.

***

Mirror and Solarel

At first, there is uncertainty. Time dances tantalizingly before you, the strike is done and undone, the core pierced by the needle and then restored, pierced and then restored.

But even within a realm of ghosts and broken laws of matter, there is change. With every cycle, the energy of the remaining crystal fire drive leaks and wanes, merging with the surrounding radiation. With every cycle the animating force behind the Aeteline weakens. It moves less. The arms slump and cannot raise themselves. The legs collapse. And at last, that baleful green light fades to nothing amid the wind, the water, the leaves, and the nanobots.

It is right that ancient hate lay itself to rest in the face of unrestrained love.

Moreover, around you, the camera drones are stilling, falling to the earth and working inexorably to rest even as they fall up and down in ever smaller cycles. Was that truly all connected to the Aeteline, or was there help from Jade within the network?

The world is not normal. What has happened here will not easily be undone. The power of combined crystal fire drives will make this a place where physics becomes exceptionally exotic for years to come. There are rumors of crystal fire accidents that are still sealed centuries later, though they are usually small, shipwrecks and crashes and the like.

But the world is no longer filled with malevolent will. There is no place for it to rest, no center of power for it to congregate. Only a broken hulk and a strange, shifting world.

A pressure you did not know was present is released, and you can breathe normally for the first time. The wind is gentle, the hum of change calmer. It is not safe to linger long, but you should celebrate your victory.

***

Matty

You take the claw you had nervously been chewing on out of your mouth and let out a sigh as you let a big shudder take your whole body and then stretch.

You had to pull out the audio feed for a bit. The fighting was a bit too stressful to listen to, and there were too many people doing too much. But you can see Dolly rushed out while Isabelle still hasn’t moved. And, more importantly (you admit guiltily to yourself), the camera network is starting to come back. Everything in the blast region is dead still, completely gone in fact, but camera drones from other parts of the planet have been moving inward and most have reached the edge of the blast radius and are prepared to show some feed of the result, though nobody seems keen to move anything from outside the blast inside it.