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“I see you’ve brought a golem with you,” he said. “Interesting construct.”

“More than interesting,” Leon said. “But before we get into that, I wanted to talk about the Sunlit Emperor…”

Leon quickly filled the Director in on his visit from Zeno the night before.

The Director sighed when Leon finished. “We knew that there would be some difficult questions asked about your marriage. It solves the Grand Druid-shaped problem but presents even more at the same time. Have you heard anything from the east?”

“In Sentinel lands?” Leon asked. When the Director nodded, he said, “No, I haven’t.”

“I have received reports that there have been a few meetings between the Keeper and the Sunlit Emperor over the past couple months. Sentinel military forces have been seen moving southward, apparently acting as an expeditionary force to aid in the war with the Sky Devils. But I’ve heard whispers about promises made behind closed doors and alliances made between tenth-tier mages…”

Leon frowned deeply. “Has the Keeper allied with the Sunlit Emperor? Have they allied against us?”

“This has all taken place behind closed doors so I can’t say, but that is my fear. They see Ilion and Evergold growing closer, so they reach out to each other to act as a counterbalance. This in and of itself is hardly worth commenting on, just the ebb and flow of inter-empire politics. But given what we’ve been trying to accomplish, it has me feeling nervous. So, to relieve some of that anxiety, why don’t you give me good news from the Sky Devil’s Hell? There is at least some good news, isn’t there?”

Leon’s frown quickly bent back upward into a proud smile. “I have three of the Ten Tribes rallied behind me. I’ll be visiting more once I get back, but I’ve gotten off to a promising start. There are some worrying signs that things won’t be quite as easy with the remaining Tribes, but I have confidence that I’ll be able to convince a majority of the Tribes to support me as their King.”

“Good, good,” the Director whispered. He asked a few more follow-up questions, and after about ten minutes, Leon had given him a reasonably thorough breakdown of how his few weeks on Kataigida had gone.

“I agree that these ‘Bears’ are going to be a problem,” the Director said. “It sounds almost like they’re trying to provoke a fight.”

“That’s my thought, too. What worries me is that the Jaguars are right to pull some of their military forces back to defend their lands, but this might also be used as a pretense for the Bears to break the peace and invade.”

The Director frowned lightly and said, “I’ve generally found that if any political entity wants to do something, it’s not a question of if they’ll do it, but rather what they’ll use to justify it. These Bears are going to do what they want to do anyway. Proceed with that assumption in mind and you’ll be ready for them to make their move. But don’t strike first if you can avoid it, better to keep the high ground as long as you can.”

“I know and have been advised as such by the Tribal elders. I’m more and more convinced as the days go by that there’ll be some kind of violence in the Ten Tribes, but I’ll be ending it, not starting it.”

The Director nodded. “Good. Good.” Leon recognized his tone as the one he used when he wanted to move on, and he smiled when the Director finally looked at Nestor with more than just curious dismissiveness. Nestor had remained completely silent throughout the entire exchange, surprising Leon somewhat. He knew that the dead man was likely not going to want to draw attention to himself and saw all those around him as beneath his notice, but he still thought the golem-man would’ve said something by this point.

“I want to see the arks again,” Leon said, momentarily avoiding talking about his mostly-dead kinsman and his steel shell.

“Little has changed in the months since you saw them last,” the Director replied.

“You won’t just be showing me around, you’ll be showing him,” Leon said as he nodded at Nestor. “This is no ordinary golem, it’s more of an armored, enchanted frame containing someone’s magic body.”

The Director’s eyebrows shot up into his white hair as he stared at Nestor with a mixture of wariness and amazement. “A magic body…” he whispered. “Is the… are you alive?”

Nestor responded in his resonant metallic voice, “Yes. By some definitions.”

The Director took a few steps toward Nestor, then began circling the golem he resided in, inspecting it as thoroughly as he could. Nestor had built his golem frame with steel plate covering absolutely everything. He couldn’t be mistaken for a man in armor—he was clearly a golem—but all of the golem’s internal workings were completely obscured not just from physical sight, but all magical sight, too. There was nothing of any value the Director could learn from simply examining the surface of Nestor’s body as he was.

“Incredible,” the Director muttered. “So you’re not just a magic body projecting into this body? You don’t have a living body somewhere waiting for you to return?”

Nestor briefly glanced at Leon, then simply responded, “No.”

“That…” the Director whispered, not finishing the thought aloud. However, his eyes grew wide at what Leon was certain were the implications of such advanced applications of magic. Magic bodies were effectively ageless, after all. They were incredibly fragile, of course, being vulnerable to complete destruction from even the weakest and most common defensive wards.

Nestor wasn’t in any danger of that, however, with his golem body providing as much protection as he’d need in his daily life. After the visit the Keeper made to Leon’s villa several years ago, he’d also upgraded his body a bit to ensure that even a tenth-tier would have a hard time cracking through his shell and reaching the ruby his magic body resided within.

“How was this body built?” the Director enthusiastically asked. “Can others be made like it? Could anyone use something like this?”

“Let’s not get too carried away with questions,” Leon said.

“Are you aware of the implications such a device as this could have?” the Director demanded, appearing almost rabid.

“A mage could have a form of immortality if they were to use a golem like this,” Leon said with a nod of his head. “A magic body by itself can’t generate any magic power, so any mage using a golem like this would need a constant supply of magic power. Any mage stuck in golems would be unable to return to an organic body, too, so it’s not an option I think some would choose…”

“Enough would choose to live this way if they’ve reached the end of their natural life!” the Director insisted. “The value of something like this—”

“—Isn’t up for debate,” Nestor harshly interjected. “I am not in the business of constructing prosthetic bodies, especially not for barbarians who’re only a step or two removed from rolling around in mud and flinging their shit at each other.”

“The amount of good you could do—”

“—What you’re talking about is nothing new, yet it isn’t standard practice. The theory doesn’t hold up given the sheer impracticality of constructing a golem body for everyone. Move on.”

The Director glared at Nestor, seemingly taken aback at the man’s blunt rudeness, and for a moment, Leon thought he would press on, if for no other reason than because Nestor demanded that he drop the matter altogether.

But it seemed the Director decided to cut his losses. “Fine,” he said. Turning back to Leon, he asked, “Why have you brought him?”

“Have you heard of Nestor before?” Leon asked. “You have some knowledge of my Clan as it stood when it yet ruled over this plane, so…?”

“His name is somewhat familiar. I believe I’ve noticed his name referenced here and there, but other than that, I can’t say I’ve ever really heard of him.”

“Of course you haven’t,” Nestor grumbled.

“He was one of my Clan’s best enchanters in life. His lessons have made me the enchanter I am today, and as good as my skills may be, his are still leagues better. So what I wanted was for us to visit the arkyard and have Nestor look over Storm Herald at least, if not all six arks. He’ll know far more about them than we will.”

“I’m not an arksmith,” Nestor admitted, “but I agree with the sentiment. I’m also quite interested in the malfunctioning wisps found within Storm Herald.”

The Director stared at Nestor for a long moment, but when he turned his yellow eyes back to Leon, he nodded despite the deep frown etched into his aged features. Without a word, he opened the door to his secret passage and led them to his hangar.

Leon was expecting a fairly quiet and awkward ride to the arkyard, but Nestor had some words for the Director upon laying eyes upon the Director’s personal stealth ark.

“Ahh,” the dead man said, “I’m surprised any arks of this model survived our Clan’s downfall. Looks heavily modified, though…”

“We found this ark many years ago,” the Director said slowly. “It was in pieces and had to be rebuilt. Most of its internal systems aren’t original, but we managed to repair its stealth system when rebuilding it.”

As he spoke, the three of them entered the ark and took their seats. The Director ordered that they be taken to the arkyard, and a resonant voice acknowledged the order. A moment later, the ark began powering up.

“It seems like the wisp operating this ark is still intact, too,” Nestor observed.

The Director glared at him but didn’t deny it.

“Leon,” Nestor continued, “did you happen to notice the exterior of this ark?”

Leon nodded. The ark’s hull was made of some kind of shiny, extremely reflective material that Leon assumed was another aspect of the ark’s stealth capability.

“The ark’s exterior is coated in low-grade Lumenite,” Nestor explained. “Not strong enough for more… military applications, but enough to help make the ark invisible.”

“Interesting,” Leon whispered as the ark pulled out of the hangar and set out for the arkyard where the Director was keeping the rest of the arks he’d been holding onto.

The air in the ark was already awkward, but after Leon didn’t ask any follow-up questions, Nestor didn’t speak again, and neither did the Director. They simply ‘enjoyed’ the ride to its fullest and didn’t make much small talk.

Upon reaching the arkyard, Nestor didn’t wait for Leon or the Director and instead made directly for Storm Herald.

“He seems like he knows where he’s going,” the Director observed upon their entrance as Nestor walked with great confidence through the ark’s opulent halls.

“This isn’t his first time in the ark,” Leon explained. “Out of everyone who we could have look the ark over, Nestor is one of the best we could’ve possibly had, even with his lack of expertise in arksmithing.”

“And you believe his competence outweighs his disrespect?” the Director asked.

“If I didn’t, he wouldn’t still be around,” Leon replied. “I’ve had him around a long time. He has a sharp tongue, but he’s earned it through his skills.”

Leon thought Nestor could probably hear, but at this point, he wasn’t too worried about sharing his mind. Shooting barbs back and forth when in private was one thing, but now that they were with the Director, Leon felt compelled to defend Nestor. He was kin, after all, not to mention questions about Nestor’s competence also questioned Leon’s judgment.

Fair enough, as far as Leon was concerned, but in Nestor’s case, he thought the man was proving him in the right for placing so much trust in him.

Over the next few hours, Nestor set about proving Leon right once again. He wasn’t overly talkative, but he answered as many technical questions as he could whenever the Director had any. Seeing to the wisps in the ark was one of the few moments in their survey where he could speak quite confidently and authoritatively, without adding many qualifiers. Unfortunately, when Nestor led them to find the wisps, they found that the malfunctioning wisp was the only one still operational. Nestor took the wisp, indicating that repairing it might be possible, but leaving it in the ark was otherwise pointless.

Leon thought he was imagining it given the lack of expression on Nestor’s golem face, but he thought the dead man gave him a sly look when he slid the crystal containing the wisp out of its cradle and handed it to him.

After that, Nestor took them on what was practically a tour of the ark, walking them through all of the most important sections of the ark and assessing their functionality as much as he could.

Once he was done, they found themselves on the bridge with Nestor operating several control consoles and analyzing the information they told him of the ark’s remaining intact systems.

“There’s good news and bad news,” Nestor said as he turned back to them. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“The bad news,” the Director immediately replied.

“Given what I know of your plane’s abilities, it would take many years for this ark to become operational. It would require a lake of refined Titanstone and technical knowledge that I don’t possess.”

Leon scowled, then asked, “And the good news?”

“The ark still has plenty of power,” Nestor explained. “It was mothballed as much as possible, and much of the rest of the damage was intentional sabotage to keep the ark from falling into the hands of the plane’s natives. It was clearly a rush job since the wisps and power core weren’t taken, and that might be the biggest saving grace that this ark saw back then: the crippled systems didn’t drain the power core of all magic power.”

“How do we get the ark back into functioning order?” the Director asked through gritted teeth, his frustration obvious.

“Skilled arksmiths, the aforementioned Titanstone, likely a small amount of Lumenite, and several years of work. Once someone achieves Apotheosis, they would also need to work with me to create new wisps that can replace those that were damaged and lost. The bottom line is that this ark is not getting off the ground without a significant amount of work and more resources than I think anyone on this plane could give it. Not even Heaven’s Eye.”

Leon glanced at the Director and saw a dark look on the man’s face. He wasn’t happy about this news, though that much was understandable. Leon wasn’t quite sure Heaven’s Eye didn’t have the capabilities to get what Nestor wanted, but the key was keeping these arks away from the Empires, and moving all the resources and personnel to even try and repair these arks would tip them off.

However, that didn’t mean that they were out of options.

“How much Titanstone would we need?” Leon asked.

“About seven tons of it,” Nestor replied. “And that would just be for its critical systems. To bring all of this ark’s systems back online would likely require triple that estimate.”

“Titanstone is quarried in large amounts, but the Empires have a complete monopoly on its use and trade,” the Director said.

“There are some quarries on Kataigida,” Leon replied. “I could gain access to them if I succeed in winning over all Ten Tribes.”

“We shouldn’t place all our hope of that outcome,” the Director responded.

“There is an old Titanstone refinery the Clan built in what is now Sunlit land,” Leon pointed out.

“There was,” Nestor said with a nod of his head. “I believe you mentioned a belief that it’s likely not been found.”

The Director’s head snapped around to Leon as soon as Leon mentioned it, and after Nestor’s reply, he asked, “Where?”

Leon retrieved a map and pointed out the rough location. Most Thunderbird Clan sites of any importance became cities as people took advantage of the infrastructure already built after the Thunderbird Clan’s fall. Only a few places remained potentially undiscovered or not looted bare. The Titanstone refinery was at the top of that list, along with one other important location…

“As for the technical knowledge,” Leon continued as the Director scrutinized the map, “would it be possible that there are records still surviving in the east that might prove useful in repairing this ark? The capital the Clan established on this plane was never reoccupied, as I recall, with the Sentinels declaring it absolutely off-limits to everyone.”

“That’s true,” the Director whispered as his attention shifted from the Sunlit Empire to the Sentinels’ territory. “The largest cache of Thunderbird Clan artifacts and the Sentinels prevent anyone and anything from coming within physical sight of the place, let alone close enough to explore…”

“Then it sounds like we need to gain access to this refinery and see if it has any Titanstone left, as well as trying to gain access to the old capital in the east,” Leon said. “I also have another reason to become King of the Ten Tribes.”

“This is sounding like the beginnings of a plan…” the Director acknowledged. “Assuming the Sunlit Emperor doesn’t get in our way…”

“There is one other possibility,” Leon slowly murmured. “The Grave Warden offered arks and more for accomplishing his task. He might be able to fix this ark…”

“Let’s see what we can do on our own, first,” the Director insisted. “Debts to others ought not to be taken lightly. And when debts are taken, it’s of paramount importance that we are receiving worthwhile benefits. In this case, I’m inclined to say that these benefits are, but that’s a bridge we ought to cross only when there are no other options.”

“Agreed,” Leon said. He glanced at Nestor and asked, “Is there anything more you want to see here?”

“I am only interested in the wisps the other arks may possess,” Nestor answered. “The other arks as a whole don’t interest me.”

“Then let’s see about those wisps and then head back to the Hexagon,” Leon said. “We’ve been gone long enough, I think.”

“Indeed,” the Director replied, and the three of them set about finishing up their work.

Leon wasn’t too happy about Nestor’s analysis of Storm Herald, but he took comfort in at least having some kind of plan for the future. They’d get those arks up and running at some point, that much he swore when they finally departed the arkyard. Storm Herald would fly again, but when it did, it would be flying under his banner as it lived up to its name.