East of Creation, Towards the Sun Book 7
by Shawn Hagen
Wonders Reforged for the Legion
Quiet.
Polite.
Perfectly presented.
Those were watchwords that Darken Gray had demanded she follow.
Ivory was going begging, for all that she might offer, and there was no room for anything other than quiet, polite and perfectly presented.
Ivory Peleps knelt, her formal kimono with its long sleeves settled about her in all perfection. A small amount of her essence spent to achieve that Excellence.
Darken Gray knelt next to her, in her skirt suit, high heels left by the door.
Karal Linwei, their ally of sorts within Lookshy, sat opposite them.
There had been tea drunk, and all the polite words had been spoken, by Darken Grey, all the ceremonies followed.
Nothing was done to give offence.
With all the niceties complete Linwei asked the question.
"Why have you come here?"
It was Ivory who spoke now. "We would like one of Lookshy's flying vehicles, and in exchange, I will fix at least ten of your damaged air fleet."
Linwei nodded. "And what craft would you demand for such a service."
Ivory knew the woman did not doubt that she could do as she claimed. Linwei had been among those that had watched as she had saved Lookshy, putting the Solar manse beneath it to rights—or if not to rights, she had at least kept it from destroying the city.
Her concern was what Ivory might ask for in return.
"We would demand nothing. We would accept what you would provide."
"No military craft."
Ivory almost made an exasperated click with her teeth, but she instead nodded politely. "Of course."
Linwei was looking at her as if she did not quite believe what Ivory was saying.
"Why come here?"
"My companions would seek better relations with the Seventh Legion."
"What do you need the ship for?"
This woman asks a lot of questions, Ivory thought, and almost spoke something to that effect, but Darken Gray spoke before she could.
Ivory suspected her governess had been well aware as to her thoughts.
"I wish to take Ivory travelling the world."
"Travelling the world?"
"It is educational. And there is much she still has to learn."
Linwei looked at Ivory.
Ivory looked back at her, keeping her expression soft, her golden eyes meeting Linwei's.
"I think," Linwei said, looking away from Ivory, "that there is little she needs to learn."
Ivory allowed herself a small smile at the praise.
"Few match her in sorcery, engineering and the combination of the two, but there are significant gaps in the rest of her education. A daughter of the House of Peleps is expected to know more and to be more."
Linwei nodded after a second or two of silence. "I understand."
Ivory thought, perhaps, there was something sad in the woman's tone.
If such sadness existed it was gone a moment later when she said, "I will speak to my colleagues, about your offer and whether we will accept it."
If they would accept it? Ivory was offering them, well, her. Her skills which she had shown them when she had saved the city. Skills that had increased considerably after her time in Malfeus.
It was almost as if they were trying to insult her.
She did not say anything, though she truly wanted to.
This was not the time, and many opportunities might be lost if she did not keep her temper.
She nodded, dipping her head slightly, pretending that Linwei was her mother or one of her older sisters.
It made it easier.
"We understand," Darken Gray said. "Though I would like to ask about our safety."
Linwei smiled. "Ivory Peleps saved this city. She and those with her will be safe here, as long as they offer no threat to Lookshy, its people or the Legion." She paused. "Well, beyond the threat her simply being here represents."
"Thank you," Darken Gray told her.
Later Linwei met with Maheka Lespa.
"Ivory Peleps," Lespa said. The two words stated in a tone that indicated the weight that Lespa gave them.
"Ivory Peleps," Linwei agreed.
"You are inclined to accept this agreement?"
Linwei considered this for a few seconds. "I am. If she can do what she says, the price she asks is minor, and the benefit large."
"Ivory Peleps is not your daughter. She owes no alliance to us."
"That is true. Ivory wants to deepen the relationship between herself and us."
"The foundation she began to lay when she saved this city will grow."
"And eventually there will be a vast structure, an alliance between her and us that will be too strong for us to tear down. Assuming we even want to. Or at least that is a possibility we have to consider."
Lespa looked around her office, eyes passing over some of the trophies, from countless battles, she had kept.
They, all of them, were still uncertain.
"We have spoken of this change before. I do not like it, and yet at the same time, I can't pretend that it does not happen. I am willing to accept this agreement, but I want her watched. Yoti."
Linwei nodded. "A good choice."
"I trust him not to become charmed by this Peleps girl, and to learn all that he can. If I cannot stop the changes of time, I can at least do everything possible to benefit the Seventh Legion first and foremost."
When Ivory and Heron had stayed at Lookshy, they had been given guest quarters, a separate house with an illusion of privacy.
The quarters that she and Darken Gray had been given were in one of the main fortress towers. Comfortable, but secure and well guarded. She supposed they could be a luxurious prison as well, but at the moment she did feel like a protected guest.
After changing into a less formal kimono, she had been set to making tea for Darken Gray. Kneeling on the floor, she went through the precise ballet of the tea ceremony. Each bowl she prepared and presented to the god received a critique of what was done right and what was done wrong before Darken Grey took a small drink and commented on the quality of the tea itself.
"I could just use the power of the Sun. It would be perfect."
"It would taste perfect," Darken Gray said. "But the performance is part of the ceremony. And if you achieve mastery of the tea ceremony without the Sun's blessings, think about what you will manage with it."
Ivory nodded and once more began the process.
She had prepared thirty bowls of tea when Darken Gray called the training over for the day.
Ivory did not know if she had achieved the level of proficiency that Darken Gray wanted, or if the god was just tired of sampling tea.
"Get your writing things," Darken Gray told her. "I want you to write an essay about your experiences in Malfeas."
"About what? So much happened."
"That is part of what you must decide."
Ivory went and got the fine travel case that held her inks and brushes and pens (though she would not be allowed to use the pens) as well as paper.
Darken Gray took a few minutes to examine each brush and had Ivory trim the brushes where required.
"Begin," Darken Gray told her.
Ivory prepared her ink then took up one of the brushes in her right hand, and with her left holding back the sleeve of her kimono, began to write.
There was so much she might talk about.
The bazaars and the streets of the hopeful slave, of the game Heron played, and of rushing through the streets with Janequin, her visit to the Forge of Night and her audience with Alveua.
What she could not write about was her meeting with Ligier.
Taking a deep breath she wrote of the Forge of Night, and its mistress.
When she finally finished Darken Gray picked up the pages and looked them over. She produced a red, mechanical pen with an ink reservoir (the sort that she would not let Ivory use) and began to mark the pages, leaving behind red circles and lines of text.
"Work on your word choice, you need to make your reader feel something. Provide richer, fuller descriptions. This reads like a technical document. Write it again." She placed the heavily annotated pages in front of Ivory.
Ivory picked up the pages, looked over the notes, and then reached for fresh sheets of paper.
She had just begun when someone knocked on the door.
"Continue your work," Darken Gray said as she stood and left the room.
Ivory could hear the sound of the door opening, soft murmur of voices, then Darken Gray calling, "Ivory, please come here."
Carefully she put aside her brush and then stood, walking with a measured pace towards the suite's entrance.
She found Karal Linwei seated in the visiting room, Darken Gray putting a cup of tea in front of her. How had she made tea so fast?
"Good evening Peleps-san. The rooms are comfortable."
Ivory bowed, but did not kneel, and said, "Yes, thank you Karal-Taimyo." She then took a seat.
Linwei took a drink of her tea and then said, "We have agreed to your proposal. For providing repair services to Lookshy's air fleet, you will be allowed to then repair a damaged, nonmilitary aircraft which will be given to you."
"Thank you," Ivory said.
"Just a moment," Darken Gray said.
"Yes?" Linwei asked.
"What is the standard work day among the member of the Legion, outside of war footing?"
Linwei smiled. "Of course. Shall we say an eight hour day?"
Ivory was about to say she could easily work twelve, but Darken Gray answered, "That is acceptable."
"Very well, tomorrow Maheka Yoti will meet you here. He will be your guide and provide assistance when required."
"Yoti," Ivory said, and then added almost too late, "san?"
"Will that be a problem?"
Ivory suspected there was more to that question than there appeared. She shook her head and said, "No."
"Very well. I hope we both benefit greatly from this agreement."
Linwei stood, and Ivory did as well. She saw the woman from the room, made the proper goodbyes.
"Spend another hour on your essay," Darken Gray told her. "Then you can get some rest. Things will become busy tomorrow."
Ivory did not feel like resting, but she did not feel like arguing the point. Not then.
She returned to the room Darken Gray had designated the classroom and took up her brush again. She looked at what she had written and, pulling her kimono sleeve back, began to again write.
Dressed in red hakama and a white kimono of a shrine maiden, Ivory was ready to meet Yoti.
He was prompt, knocking at the door at the exact minute.
Darken Gray opened the door and invited him in, asking if he wished some tea.
"No thank you," he told her. "I want to get started on this as soon as possible.
Ivory, listening from another room, suspected what was unsaid was the sooner it started the sooner it would be over.
"Ready Hu?" she asked the tiger who lounged near by.
Hu did not answer but merely yawned.
"I'll take that as a yes," Ivory told him and went out to meet Yoti.
The stout sorcerer technician and his armiger: Mesha; the construct that Ivory had taken, used, destroyed and then rebuilt. The construct that had refused to stay with her.
That still upset her.
She was careful not to show it.
"Maheka-san," she politely, and dipped her head in an abbreviated bow. Not quite rude.
He nodded. "Are you ready?" he asked, abruptly.
"I am."
He turned and walked from the room.
"Behave well," Darken Gray told her.
"Of course," Ivory told her with her most innocent smile.
Darken Gray just frowned and shook her head.
She ran a few steps to catch up to Yoti and Mesha, Hu padding quietly at her side.
The four of them should have attracted a lot of attention, but the path they took was not well travelled, and Ivory saw guards at some places, likely making sure that she and the others were not seen and so commented on.
So she was likely a secret from most of Lookshy.
It was not that surprising.
Though she had hoped she might be able to put on a bit of a show.
They entered a tunnel, dipped under the public streets of the city, then came up outside of a large, closed building.
"Maintenance hangar," Yoti told her in a brusque tone.
Ivory nodded. The building looked familiar, and Ivory supposed she might have seen it from a distance before.
There had been many buildings she had wanted to see closer during the time she and Heron had stayed in the city.
He led her past a guard at the door, grunting at the woman's friendly greeting.
"Don't mind him," Mesha said. "He's playing tour guide and less than happy."
The guard smiled at the construct.
Ivory was impressed with the social agility of Mesha. She was also annoyed that the construct had not seen how much better it would have been had she stayed with Ivory.
They stepped out of the early morning sun and into the hangar.
The ceiling above them was divided into sections by several beam cranes, one of them rumbling along, swinging the wing section of a Manta-class transport away from the craft it had been taken from.
The room was full of aircraft, and the workers, and their tools. Ivory wanted to run among them and look at it all, touch it all, pick it up and see what she could do with it. Her steps slowed as, eyes wide, she looked all around.
"This way," Yoti grumbled.
Ivory looked longingly at the Warbird resting on its landing gear, no more than twenty feet away.
Sighing she followed after Yoti.
People looked towards them, the little girl and the tiger more than anything, but a scowling glance from Yoti cured their curiosity and sent their attention back to their work.
At the far side of the building, among parts and junk and parts that were likely scrap, three craft stood apparently abandoned.
Two were Manta class air carriers, both stripped of their armour, and the third aircraft a sky chariot.
"You think you can get these three operating?"
Ivory looked at them, walking closer. Where to even start? "Maintenance records?"
"This way."
From a nearby small toolkit, he pulled out the notes and handed them to her.
Ivory looked at the dusty container, wiped it off, and then took a seat, leaving Yoti to find his own seat or stand.
She was not surprised he chose to stand. To loom over her as best he could with his short stature.
The notes covered all the work done on the three craft over the centuries they had been in service, though only the previous few years were highly detailed. There was also a précis of their recent service.
Three craft, none of which the Sorcerer Technicians of Lookshy could make work. All three about to be consigned to the bone yard and stripped for parts.
"Very good," Ivory said, placing the notes aside, then walking to the nearest of the craft, one the Mantas.
Putting a hand on its frame she closed her eyes for a moment, letting a trickle of her essence flow into the metal of the hull. She could sense the structure of the craft under her fingers, behind her closed lids she could envision the structure within.
She took her hand from it, walked across the floor, towards a well-stocked tool cart. From it, she took out a wrench, one nearly as long as she was tall.
"What are you planning?" Yoti asked, then snapped, "Back to work," at some mechanics who had been watching Ivory.
"The airframe of the Manta is bent, probably from that crash ten years ago."
"It only stopped working eight months ago."
"It is a tiny bend, but it's thrown off the alignment of the essence reactor. Over the years it got worse."
"How do you know that?"
Ivory paused and looked at him. "I share in the brilliance of the Sun."
He scowled.
Ivory walked back to the Manta, looked it over, then jammed the wrench against the frame and pulled down, hanging her weight on it, at the same time calling on her essence.
There was an almost inaudible creak as she straightened the frame. She then climbed up into the craft, made her way to the reactor, and gave the casing a few quick taps with the base of the wrench.
"Fixed," she said.
"What?" Yoti asked, almost sounding angry.
Hu yawned, perhaps reminding Yoti what big teeth he had.
"Test it," Ivory said, then climbed out to look at the other Manta.
She head Yoti send someone for a hearthstone as she looked over the maintenance records of the second Manta. Hit by a lightning ballistae in battle, systems beginning to fail after that, several attempts made by the technicians to fix it, none working.
Putting the notes aside Ivory climbed into the craft and began to run her hands along the inside surface of the hull.
Burnt out, integrated essence circuitry, nearly impossible to fix. Ivory fed essence into the surrounding metal, repairing the damage.
The sound of the other Manta's reactor humming to life and the expressions of surprise from the technicians made her smile, but she kept working.
The craft shifted a little, and she heard the sound of footsteps. "What are you doing now?" Yoti asked.
"Repairing the craft. This one is going to be a little tricky." She looked over her shoulder at him.
He took a step back.
Ivory knew her caste mark was glittering on her forehead.
He made a choking sound, as if he had been about to say something and then cut himself off. She wondered if he had bit his own tongue. She hoped he had.
"I'm a Solar," she told him as she looked back to what she was working on. "The mark on my forehead is the sign of the Sun's favour. I would appreciate if you got used to it, or it will be harder to work together." She shook her head. "I'm helping you after all."
She increased the essence she was using, knew that she was surrounded by a golden halo of light.
"Stop that! What if anyone sees you?" he demanded.
"They are going to see me anyways I would think. If you really want the aircraft repaired, you'll have to deal with it."
He did not say anything, but she could hear him muttering something under his breath.
Feeling a little sorry for him Ivory slowed her work a little, let her anima fade so that nothing showed by the time she had finished the repairs.
With less disbelief in his tone of voice, Yoti called the technicians to test the repairs.
Ivory went and looked at the sky sledge.
Lots of wear and tear, and a number of points of failure, but nothing complicated. Ivory did not even have to call on her essence to make the repairs.
She watched at the crews moved all the vehicles, out from where they had sat for so long and into the general maintenance section. Ivory had dealt with the hardest to diagnose and most difficult to fix issues, but there was a still a lot of basic repairs that needed to be completed.
It had only been a little over two hours.
Yoti looked at her.
Ivory looked back at him.
"Come this way, I want you to look at this."
He did not sound pleased.
He led her out of the building, into the walled yard behind it.
It was filled with junk, ruined aircraft, stripped down, apparently used for parts.
"The bone yard," Yoti announced.
Ivory nodded, thinking she could, with a little time, build a many craft out of all the parts that rested there.
Yoti took her over to a large, tarp draped object. Mesha, at his command, cut the ropes and pulled the tarps away from what lay beneath.
The craft was sixty feet long and twenty wide. "It is a battle carrier," Yoti told her. "Will carry a talon of soldiers. It's been here over a century, hardly touched because," he paused, "it's not as if we have a lot of others to make repairs on. Can you fix this?"
It was a challenge Ivory thought, but perhaps there was also hope in it. How many great tools of battle from the First Age sat in the boneyards of Lookshy? Was he growing tired of seeing them?
Ivory entered the craft and moved through it, examining it. There had been some scavenging from it, no matter what Yoti might have said. Hu followed after her, but Yoti stayed outside, with Mesha.
She heard the sound of them, pulling more tarps from the battle carrier.
She would have to replace all the missing parts first.
Out in the boneyard, she found what she needed, things she could rebuild and repurpose to serve her needs. She asked Yoti to move them into the battle carrier. He and Mesha picked them up and carried them in.
Once she had enough to work with Ivory returned to the ship's interior and began making what she needed.
She fixed some parts, rebuilt others, combined different ones and even turned fused piles of junk into brand new components. It was after noon when she finished. By that time she was glowing brightly and hungry.
She was probably not the only one for Yoti said to her, "Stay in here so no one can see you. I am going to get some food. You're hungry right?"
Ivory nodded. "Yes, thank you."
She watched him leave with Mesha.
"He does not trust you," Hu told her.
"A little?"
"Not really. He has become better at hiding it. And he is watching you closely. I think he is becoming frustrated that he does not understand how you do things."
Ivory was seated on a power converter she had been working on. "How am I supposed to get him to trust me? I am trying."
"It may take a long time," Hu told her. "Small things building up into trust. He has left you alone and is getting you a meal. That is something of a start."
"Probably left Mesha somewhere in hiding to watch.
"Probably," Hu agreed.
"Heron could make Yoti trust him."
"You are not Heron. Your ways will have to be different." Hu was quiet for a moment before he added, "Trust earned is better than trust forced."
"Heron does not force people to trust him," Ivory said quickly, with a defensive tone that she knew Hu did not deserve.
The tiger yawned at her, which she knew was not a quiet threat it might be for other people. "I'm not bein' dull," she mumbled.
Yoti returned with several rice balls, trays of cold noodles and a thermos of tea. He had also brought a piece of raw meat—goat Hu would later tell her—for Hu.
They ate together, in silence. Ivory's anima died down, and she gained back some of the essence she had earlier used, absorbing it from the very air as she breathed.
Feeling refreshed, she went to back to work. She had replaced what had been scavenged from the battle carrier over the years, next she had to fix what was broken.
Under the sun the interior of the battle carrier began to heat up.
Her golden hairband kept her from getting sweaty and dishevelled. She wondered what was keeping Yoti looking as if he were not helping her out in what was starting to feel a little like an oven.
She supposed it might be sheet obstinance.
Shortly before her work day was to end Yoti plugged a hearthstone into the system, and the battle carrier came to life around them.
"Impossible," he said even as the carrier lifted into the air.
Ivory, again surrounded by a bright golden glow, asked, "Why won't you trust me?" Maybe she sounded a little like she was whining, Ivory thought, but so what. Sometimes she deserved to cry.
Yoti looked over at her, seeming surprised. He frowned, running his hands over the console, letting the battle carrier drift back to the ground as he powered the system down. "Even if I accept you are not a demon, and I am not saying I do, you are only interested in what you are interested in. You owe loyalty to no one but your own whims."
"That's not true."
"You are a child, full of whimsical desires. You have power few adults could be trusted with. That makes you dangerous."
Ivory could not argue that she was not dangerous. "I am very responsible."
He finished powering down the carrier and pulled the stone from the control panel. "Children are only responsible as they can be made to be." Then he took in a deep breath and let it out. "We will see over these next few weeks."
The next day Ivory worked on rebuilding several warbirds, the one man fighters all rested, forgotten, in maintenance cradles. There were six of them, all of them picked apart over the years.
Ivory took two of them completely apart and used those parts to rebuild the other four. As her anima began to glow brighter Yoti had Mesha string up some tarps to hide the light. Ivory was too busy to be bothered by it at the time, but afterwards, as she walked to her quarters with Darken Gray she complained. "I gave them back four warbirds, and they still don't want anyone to know about me."
"It will take time, lifetimes, but you have lifetimes," Darken Gray told her. "These are but small steps. Be patient Ivory."
"I don't want to be patient."
She wanted to slouch, she wished there was a stone on the clean road she might kick.
Darken Gray stopped and put a hand on Ivory's shoulder, bringing her to a halt.
"Come out children," Darken Gray said, her tone soft, warm, and yet there was an undeniable command in it.
Three children stepped out from an alley.
Ivory recognised them.
The chunky Ottom, a little taller than Ivory recalled, seeming a little less pudgy.
Sooka, the muscles on his still young body more developed.
Pretty Linna, looking the same, but her hair a little longer.
They had been Ivory's playmates for a time when she had lived in Lookshy, with Heron; partners in mischief.
"And who would you three be?" Darken Gray asked.
They answered quickly, politely.
"Sooka of Gens Carerdar."
"Ottom of Gens Nefvarin."
"Linna of Gens Teresu, ma'am."
Darken Gray looked them over.
All three stood up straighter.
Ivory was not surprised.
Darken Gray was a goddess well used to dealing with children.
"Your friends Ivory?"
"Yes," Ivory answered.
"We heard that Ivory was back in the city," Ottom said.
"We heard there was a red headed girl," Linna corrected.
"We really wanted to see Ivory again," Sooka said, with his natural smile.
Darken Gray looked at each three as they spoke, then nodded. "Well, Ivory does not have time to play tonight, but perhaps a play date might be arranged tomorrow."
Ivory was fairly sure that had they not stood under Darken Gray's gaze they would have rolled their eyes, but they all nodded respectfully. She wanted to roll her eyes. A 'play date'? Really, she was not a baby.
"You may speak to your friends Ivory, but only for a short time."
One last glance at the three and then Darken Gray walked off some distance, leaving the four children alone.
"What're you doin' here?" Sooka asked.
"Do you really have a giant demon cat?" That from Linna.
"My brother said the man you were with killed one of the Legion's Intelligence Officers!"
"What?"
"You never said that."
"Why were ya keepin' a secret?" Sooka pushed Ottom in the shoulder.
"Heron did not kill the maid," Ivory said, remembering Pira, the Dragon Blood spy who had lived with them. "The assassin did."
The three looked at her, heads turning almost in unison.
"Assassin?" Sooka asked.
Ivory nodded. "After me."
"You?" Ottom looked at her, wide eyed.
"Why would anyone be after you?" Linna's snotty tone made it an obvious insult.
Ivory did not rise to it. Instead, she smiled and said, "I'm pretty amazing."
"What are you doing here?" Sooka asked again.
"It is a secret," Ivory told him, supposing she really could not give them the truth, not with Yoti, as annoying as he was, going to such great lengths to hide what she was doing.
Not any of them liked that answer.
"You're probably doing nothing," Linna said.
It rang false as it was evident that Ivory was doing something, and the sour look on Linna's face made it clear she knew it.
"Let's say I am getting to see some really amazing things."
"Can you show us?" Ottom asked, tone hopeful.
Ivory felt a little bad for that. "No, I don't think so, but," she paused, "if we meet tomorrow I'll show you some interesting things."
"What?" Sooka asked.
"Ivory, it is time to leave," Darken Gray said at the same time.
"I have to go," Ivory said.
"You don't want to disobey your nurse," Linna stated in a tone like she was speaking to a small child.
"She's my governess," Ivory answered with a little heat.
"I remember you ran circles around your last governess," Linna told her. That Ivory had lost her touch was unsaid but implied.
"Do you think you could run circles around her?" Ivory asked.
The three children looked at Darken Gray.
None of them said anything to Ivory's question.
A bath, dinner, fencing and dance lessons had filled Ivory's evening.
She should have been asleep, but late in the night, she was prowling the darkened, secret corridors of Lookshy.
Hu paced her, a hidden scout, finding a path, watching her back trail, warning her when to hide.
She was a like a ghost; unseen and unheard.
At one point, as she crouched in a patch of shadow, waiting for two guards to pass, she wondered if Darken Gray knew she had snuck from the apartments.
Ivory could not imagine she did not.
Which meant the goddess was likely viewing Ivory's actions as somehow educational.
Her destination was a vault, one of the vaults she and Heron had searched when they had sought the Mask of Winters' weapon.
It was as she remembered.
Not even the lock combination had changed.
"Sloppy," she said as she entered the vault.
The room was filled with interesting things, and at another time Ivory might have examined them all, but instead, she went straight to a cube, its side twice her height.
The exterior was white jade, and probably no one at the Seventh Legion knew that that the jade was only a shell.
Ivory placed her hands on the cool material and leaned her weight against it, spreading her small hands, varying the pressure of her fingers.
Something clicked.
A seam appeared in the jade, running the length of the face Ivory was working with. With a hiss part of the face slid in, then up, opening the cube's interior. Within was a complex array of Orichalcum and Moon Silver gears, in which were placed a series of adamant gems.
Ivory reached in, gently touching the gems.
"The goddess comes," Hu said.
It was warning enough that Ivory did not start when she heard Tien Yu say, "Ivory Peleps, what are you doing here?"
Ivory turned, smiling as if she had expected Tien Yu to be there, she said, "Tien Yu-Sama, I am pleased to see you." She bowed, politely, though not too low.
"I very much doubt that, and my question still stands."
Ivory knew that the goddess was in something of an awkward position. After all, Ivory had played a major part in saving the city. "This is a Reality Engine."
Tien Yu looked at the cube.
Ivory suspected she had not known.
"It is currently inoperable."
"I see. Are you going to fix it."
Ivory was still smiling. "There are two others in the city's vaults, not exactly like this, but Reality Engines. I am going to use the parts of one to fix the other two."
"I see." The goddess frowned.
"I will then take one and leave the other, the most powerful."
"You are going to steal one and a half of the Legion's Reality Engines."
"Yes, I suppose you might see it that way. And really, without me, it is just junk, zero Reality Engines."
"You have a high opinion of yourself."
Ivory lifted her chin. "What manse did not explode and did not destroy this city?"
The goddess of Lookshy was silent for a moment. "Fair enough. Why do you want a Reality Engine?"
"Doesn't every little girl want a Reality Engine?"
"I actually do not know what little girls want. Perhaps I should start paying attention."
"Consider that the lands where Thorns was are currently tainted by the Wyld."
"I am aware."
"The Legion could march this Reality Engine about a day into the lands of that used to be Thorns and activate it." Ivory put her hands on the cube. "The lands would be quickly cleansed, and the rest of where Thorns was could be brought to order."
"That is quite valuable."
"And the cost is only my borrowing the less powerful of the Reality Engines."
Tien Yu looked uncertain.
It was not a good look for her, Ivory thought.
"Borrowing?"
"I'll bring it back within the next decade."
She nodded. "Very well. I will look the other way."
"Great. Now, do you think you could fetch the other two engines for me?"
Lookshy was not the kind of city that had parks, but it had the Green Hunt, a place of the wild, or as wild as it could get inside the city.
Ivory, Linna, Ottom and Sooka had come there, late in the day, after Ivory had finished her work.
The children were playing with a flying toy that Ivory had built. It the size of a large dog, and carried a simple pneumatic cannon that fired small, padded darts. The control was a pane of crystal that Sooka currently held, turning it back and forth, while within the crystal was projected an image of what was in front of the toy.
Sooka spun it around a tree, turning it sharply, and fired the cannon.
One of the padded darts hit a squirrel, knocking of off the branch.
"A hit," Sooka crowed.
"Let me try it," Ottom said, crowding Sooka and reaching for the control.
Sooka elbowed him in the side. "I'm flying it."
"Ivory," Ottom said, turning towards her, almost whining.
"Actually, I think it is Linna's turn."
Linna smiled smugly. "Yeah, it is my turn." She reached for the control.
Sooka looked for a moment as if he was going to refuse to give it up, but a hard stare from Ivory made him hand it over.
Linna quickly had the toy flying within the branches of the tree, hunting squirrels.
Other children, as well as adults, in the area, watched the four children.
The drone that Ivory had built seemed incredible. And those that were soldiers watched it with a certain intensity, especially when the cannon fired.
Of course Darken Gray was there as well, watching Ivory.
She was joined by Karal Linwei.
Linwei wore a wide brimmed hat that hid her face, come to the Green Hunt incognito.
Darken Gray nodded politely to the woman.
For a time the two watched without speaking, then Linwei asked, "What will happen to those children?"
Darken Gray did not look towards her, did not answer immediately. "To spend time with the Celestial Exalted is to have the threads of Fate become tangled around you. If there is any chance those three would exalt as Dragon Bloods, then I would say it is now almost certain they will."
"Certain?"
"So the records from the First Age suggest."
Darken Gray did not look towards Linwei, though she could sense the discomfort that radiated off the woman.
Her beliefs were being challenged, but it seemed Linwei sought to test them.
"They are not guaranteed a happy life," Linwei said.
"Who is? But yes, to be tangled in fate it to be snarled in greatness. Simple happiness is difficult to find."
"Simple happiness? It has been some time since I understood that."
Darken Gray turned towards the woman. Looking at her, seeing the little girl that Linwei had once been. "Simple joys are easy enough to find. But you need to let yourself be open to them."
"That's not easy."
Darken Gray smiled at her. "Sometimes it is easier than you know. If you'll excuse me."
"Of course," Linwei said.
Darken Gray nodded politely and then walked towards where Ivory and the others were playing.
"Ivory, say goodnight to your friends, we have things to take care of before the sun fully sets."
There were half hearted protests, but no real resistance to the suggestion. Ivory turned the toy over to her playmates and then left with Darken Gray.
"Are you worried they will break it?" she asked.
"No. I could always fix it, or make another."
Darken Gray wondered if Ivory was generous or manipulative in her sharing. She supposed that it was probably both.
"Where are we going?" Ivory asked her.
"I found a craft that I think will suit our needs?"
"Really? Anything I've seen has had too many military applications. They would never give it up, even if it was a wreck."
"Supplying military equipment to Solars could come back at them. Even if it were a wreck when they let you have it."
Ivory seemed to give that some thought for a few moments. "I suppose so."
"How are you getting along with Yoti and the other technicians."
"Yoti is never going to like me."
"He has reasons. Do you think you can get him to accept you, perhaps respect you?"
"Maybe."
"Then work on that."
Ivory nodded. "The other technicians, the ones that I can actually talk to, seem to like me, maybe."
"The ones you can actually talk to?"
"Yoti keeps me away from them. Partly because he does not want them to see my anima."
Darken Gray supposed the Legion was doing its best to avoid letting it get out they were dealing with Solars.
"I have not heard any complaints about your behaviour. I am pleased about that."
Ivory nodded at the comment that Darken Gray had left purposely vague.
They walked along a path through the woods, coming to a gate. Darken Gray already had a key with which she unlocked it.
Beyond the gate was an overgrown garden, gone almost entirely wild, near the middle was a raised, two story house with a three story tower at the rear of the building.
"This is it," Darken Gray said.
Ivory looked around. "Where is…" she paused. "That is a travelling pagoda."
Darken Gray nodded. "The Legion used this as a very comfortable mobile command post, up until they were no longer able to keep it maintained. Then it was left here, and an old commander used it as a retirement lodge, but it has been empty for almost a decade. It is not military, and the Legion will let us have it."
"But it's not very fast, and it can barely get more than ten feet off the ground," Ivory said.
"I am sure that you can deal with those issues, providing greater speed and higher operating ceiling."
Rising to the challenge, as Darken Gray had expected, Ivory nodded and said, "I probably can."
"I need you to do something," Tien Yu said.
Ivory was working on tuning the Reality Engine she was planning on leaving behind. She was part way into the device and had to slip carefully free before she could look at the goddess. "What?" she asked.
"I want you to complete repairs on the manse under the city."
"I would love to," Ivory told her, and she would, "but I am not here much longer. It would take a few months."
"What can you do in the time you have?"
Ivory thought about it. "I could make everything stable, set up drains on excess power, prep it all for future repairs."
"How long could you leave that before it became a danger?"
"Several decades, probably."
"I see."
"But I will need permission," Ivory told her. "It's not like this," she looked back at the Reality Engine. "It's not something I could work on in secret, and I would need help. Help that would know I was a Solar."
"Very well. I will speak to some people."
The next evening, after a day of working on Lookshy's fleet, Ivory was, after her classes with Darken Gray, down in the Solar manse.
There were several technicians down there, including Yoti. She recognised some of them from when she had been there last time, and from their looks they remembered her as well.
At least none of them was calling her Anathema.
"I need to reset the safety features and then replace all the circuitry we burnt out last time," Ivory said. "We'll start in the central chamber and work our way out."
The technicians looked among themselves, as if not sure what to do.
Yoti was frowning.
Ivory sighed and waited.
"Is there a problem here?" Maheka Lespa asked as she entered among them. She was tall, intimidating and the expression on her face was severe.
Almost all of the technicians looked nervous, like scolded children, Ivory thought, hiding a smile.
"No problem here ma'am," Yoti called out.
"Then why isn't anyone working?"
"Central chamber?" Yoti asked Ivory as if everyone had just been waiting for her confirmation.
"Central chamber," Ivory affirmed.
The technicians gathered up their tools and followed after Ivory and Yoti.
Days spent working on the air fleet. Early evenings in lessons with Darken Gray, and working on the travelling pagoda, late nights working on the manse, and then, in the dark hours before the sun rose, she prowled the secret vaults, gathering up things she needed or wanted.
She did not sleep.
Exalted or not she should have been exhausted.
But she was not.
She would be, that was almost guaranteed, but at that time, she had a boundless well of energy.
There was so much to do, so much to see, even if she tried to sleep she knew she would not.
Darken Gray knew it but said nothing.
Ivory was amazed at it and wanted to talk about it, to talk to someone about it. When she played with Linna and the others, she wanted to brag to them about the amazing things that she was doing.
All she could do was let them be amazed at the toys she made.
And that hardly seemed enough.
When one-day Yoti asked her how she managed to work so hard, she had to restrain herself from telling her of all she did.
Pausing in her work Ivory asked, "Have you ever been working on something, been so intent on it you forgot to eat?"
Yoti nodded.
"Forgot to sleep?"
"Sometimes."
"Forgot to be tired?"
"Not for days on end."
Ivory turned back to the lightning ballistae she had been working on and reached into its workings. "I can't explain it."
"Are all," he paused, "Solars like that?"
Small hands turning a part Ivory listened for the click that would tell her it was locked in place. "I don't know. I have not met too many yet." She pictured Heron in her mind, could easily see him going for days without rest while he played cards, or socialised. And Sparrow, who likely might fight for days. "But I think so."
He made a sound, a thoughtful grunt.
"There, that's done," Ivory said, slapping the casing on the weapon closed.
Yoti stepped up and looked over the lightning ballistae. He shook his head in disbelief, or maybe an attempt at negation.
He still was not happy.
"You're done for the day," he said.
"But this is the last day. I leave tomorrow."
"Done," he repeated, and jumped down from the siege strider, a six legged assault platform, they had been re-arming. "And don't come to the manse tonight."
"But…"
He looked up at her. "Don't come. I am giving the crew a break. Everything that can be done has been done. We are done."
He stalked away, Mesha beside him.
"Well that is rude," Ivory said.
Ivory climbed down from the siege strider and stood under it. "What do you think?" she asked Hu.
The tiger, who had appeared mysteriously as he often did, said, "He still doesn't like you."
"But he kind of accepts me."
"Perhaps."
She turned towards Hu. "Well, I can only do so much. He's got to make an attempt as well."
Hu did not reply.
"Well, other people like me and accept me. As long as he does not hate me, it will be okay. Come on, if I'm done for the day I am gonna enjoy it."
Hu followed her as far as the door into the factory but left her to continue alone.
It was busy in the building, where crews worked on warstriders. Ivory paused here and there to watch what people were doing. All the work that was done there was much on the preventive maintenance side, so none of the units were stripped down enough so that Ivory could get a good look at them.
And they were all soldier units.
None of the huge noble or royal units.
She had really been hoping to work on warstriders. The siege strider had been the closest she had come, and it was not the same.
Outside the factory was a nearly deserted street, lined with various workshops and warehouses. Most everyone was still working.
She skipped along the road, looking about, listening.
Tomorrow would leave the city, she thought.
She left the industrial area behind and entered one of the busier streets. Along the way, she would stop to look in stores and to watch people.
She was going to miss the city, and the work, but at the same time she knew a great adventure awaited her.
And the entire purpose of coming to Lookshy had just been to obtain a vehicle in a manner that might not attract too much attention.
She paused and looked out at the city of Lookshy, for a moment seeing one of brass and full of demons instead.
Ivory shook her head, clearing the vision. There was a mission she had been given.
And she was looking forward to it.
Darken Gray found her not long after.
"Come along Ivory, you have guests tonight."
"Guests?"
"Yes. Best behaviour. You will be demonstrating your proficiency with tea."
"Pardon?"
Dressed in a long sleeved, formal kimono, Ivory prepared the tea, following the ceremony precisely. She finished whisking the tea, put the whisk aside, turned the bowl, and then handed it to one of the three women who knelt across from her; Karal Linwei.
With Linwei were Maheka Lespa as well as a handsome older woman, with grey hair and lines on her face. She had not been introduced, but Ivory thought she might be related to Linwei for they shared similar features.
They all observed her as she prepared the tea, gazes following the motions of her hands.
Were they looking for fault? Or simply taking pleasure in a well-performed ceremony?
Darken Gray stood near the entrance of the room, as befitted a servant, but Ivory knew she watched just as carefully as the others, seeing much and watching for errors.
Finally, she finished, all three guests had been offered tea.
"You have benefited from your stay here," Lespa said.
Ivory wondered for a moment if Lespa was referring to the gear she had 'borrowed', but she schooled her face to stillness and waited.
"Your experience here had been educational?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"That, of course, is the story," Linwei told her. "You were here, as a favour, to learn from Yoti."
Ivory wanted to say that Yoti had nothing to teach her, but she kept her thoughts to herself and just nodded.
"This requires that you do not gainsay this story," Lespa told her.
"I understand." She paused. "This will put Yoti in danger."
Linwei smiled. "Yes, that is so, and he understands."
"As the architect of the resurrection of much of your sky fleet the Legion's enemies will have to assume it will keep growing."
Linwei nodded. "That is true."
"So we don't have to tell you the value of you keeping this confidential then," Lespa told her.
"I do not have to brag about what I did here," Ivory said, though in truth she wanted to.
"We will trust you to keep this quiet."
"It is for Lookshy's benefit, which may be to our advantage, eventually."
The three women seemed pleased with that answer.
"I have something that I wish to give you."
From the sleeve of her kimono, Ivory brought forth a tightly rolled scroll of pale, cream paper, wrapped in a red ribbon. She placed, with both hands, upon the floor between herself and Linwei.
Linwei and Lespa looked at it as if it were something dangerous. The older woman seemed interested.
"Notes, on what is required to fully repair the Solar Manse. Maheka Yoti should be able to accomplish that with these notes."
Ivory knew she had surprised them. The Solar Manse could have been her guarantee to enter the city again, could have been a binding between her and the Seventh Legion and Lookshy.
They would wonder why she had given up such an asset.
"That is very generous of you," Linwei said, and reached towards the scroll, pausing for a moment, fingers hovering over it, then she picked it up.
"I may not be back. It seemed the right thing to do."
"You think you may not be back?" Lespa asked her.
Ivory nodded. "There is much to do. I hope that I have the opportunity to return to Looshy sooner than later."
"Quite kind."
"Where is it you are going, that such a thing worries you?" Linwei asked, looking at the scroll as if the answer was of little interest to her.
"Doesn't every part of Creation offer danger to the unwary?"
Linwei nodded. "That is true." She did not comment that Ivory had not actually answered her question.
"You leave tomorrow," Lespa said. "We shall leave you so that you might prepare. I must apologise in that none of the senior staff will be available to see you off."
Ivory lowered her head politely. "I thank you for your hospitality."
There were a few more polite leave takings and then the three women had left, and Ivory and Darken Gray were alone in the suites.
Ivory carefully put away the tea things. "Who was the woman with them, do you know?"
"No one has said," Darken Gray told her, "but I believe that she is Linwei's daughter and that if she is, she is named Fire Orchid and is a Solar Exalt like you."
That made Ivory pause. "She did not say anything."
"They did not want you to know. I suspect they wanted her opinion on you."
"But we are Solars. We are on the same side," Ivory said.
Fire Orchid's silence seemed wrong to her.
"Ivory, you may both be chosen of the Unconquered Sun; however that does not mean you are on the same side. Your fellow Solars might be the greatest threat you ever face if your intentions to not align."
Intellectually she understood what Darken Gray was saying.
Emotionally she decided that it would be important to make sure all Solars' intentions aligned with hers.