A/N I'm not going to justify my laziness. If you really want to know, pop into profile and hit up my LJ - otherwise just accept it as fact and take solace in the fact that the next chapter is also written and will be posted on friday (sooner if I have time). This chapter feels a little comic relief-y, but it actually is important, and you'll figure out why very soon.

Netherstorm was aptly named. The shattered remnants of what had once been a beautiful mountain prairie hung heavily and precariously close to the edge of the Twisting Nether. The air crackled with raw energy that slipped though the flimsy border that lay between planes, lighting up the sky with an eerie glow. There was nothing remotely stable or predictable about the place. At times the flow of energy would be so great that it would disturb the stones themselves and the wind would whip to violently that anyone foolish enough to be caught out in the open would be buffeted right over the edge and into the starlit abyss. Other times the air was eerily still, the lands silent but somehow penetrated with a sense of absolute wrongness that manifested itself as nothing more that a pricking on the back of ones neck as if standing too close to a tree that had just been struck by lightning.

Kael stood in the Keep and watched as errant energy snaked across the cracked ground, mesmerized by its primal beauty. It faintly reminded him of lightning zipping across wet grass after it struck, yet he found himself far more in fear and awe of this violent new energy than he had ever been of a mere thunder storm.

He idly wondered if the shapes he had seen moving across the wastes earlier had just been tricks of the light, shadows caused by the dust and energy in the air. He felt nervous, and he wasn't sure why. He knew it had started when he had first seen the shapes, but he didn't recall thinking that much of them at the time. He had just been standing at the viewing port, holding the fel green communication crystal that had appeared on his desk some days ago, seen something at the edge of his vision and suddenly the crystal became so hot he had almost dropped it. His Master was extremely displeased about something, but he was displeased about many things, so Kael had tried to carry on the conversation while pretending not to notice, only to find that the communication had been cut and the crystal had ceased its glow. Then he felt anxious, and also a little upset, but mostly just confused. He did recall the anxiety starting from some small place inside his mind and quickly overwhelming him. An even smaller part of his mind wondered if the anxiety had even begun as his own, and had begun to pain him slightly as a result. The storm was pleasantly distracting, and he was contemplating taking a nap after it finished, if such a thing was allowed, and, if not, at the very least find some way to shut his wandering mind off for a bit.

He was too lost in thought to hear Pathaleon quietly cough from behind him.

Pathaleon tapped his foot for a few moments, gave up on looking impatient and decided to look around the room instead. Deciding that it had, in fact, not changed sine the last time he had done so (this was becoming a rather common occurrence), he moved a bit closer to the Prince, gazed out the window at storm for a moment and cleared his throat again, much louder, and with nearly enough force to send him hacking.

Kael glanced back abruptly, quickly masking his embarrassment. He hastily conjured some water and handed it to the coughing engineer, who accepted it with something of a sheepish grin.

"Ah, yes, thank you," Pathaleon wheezed. He stood there for a moment or two, trying to collect himself and remember exactly why it was he came up some twenty minutes or so ago.

Kael watched with a small frown as the engineer began a strange dance that seemed to involve spinning around very slowly and patting as many pockets as possible. Finally Pathaleon let out an "Aha!" and produced a large stack of leather bound papers, waving them triumphantly for a moment before remembering himself and presenting them to Kael with a self-satisfied smile and an oddly elegant half bow.

"...Thank you, Path," Kael began hesitantly, staring at this new tome that despite being rather innocuous, managed to leer at him as if it was going to haunt him just as much as certain other tomes in his possession. "This is..."

"My reports," Path suggested politely.

"...Yes."

"On my current projects. You'll find them all there, cataloged and compiled according to complexity, importance, and interrest. I've included a neat little index in the back, as well as a diagram cross referencing projects 3, 5 and 7 with some of my prior projects which I find they relate to quite nicely, blue prints for 2 and 3, a rather stunning if I say so myself inking of what I feel 6 will look like when it's done, as well as cost estimations, material sheets, potential hazard information, labor requests, timelines..."

Kael tuned him out, walking to his slowly to his desk, staring at the ledger as if it was about to bite him. He couldn't recall asking for any details on any of Path's projects. In fact, he generally preferred not to know about them until they were done, as they tended to be overly complicated and dangerous migraine inducing endeavors that he strove to distance himself from as much as possible. He placed it carefully on the middle of the desk, right in front of his chair to make it look as if he intended to read it, and slowly pulled his hand away. Yes, he decided. Slow, careful movements were definitely the way to go here.

"...In fact, I think you'll be quite happy with the way 5 is already going. I realized, of course, that I really should have renumbered 5 and 1, since I fully intend to devote more time to 5, but I had already drafted up the plans and labeled them quite nicely and I would hate to put scritch marks all over such nice, clean work. In any case, they are ordered how I intend to work on them in the ledger – I already mentioned that- and I have taken the liberty of telling my crews to be ready for a visit from you in the coming week to see it. Number 5, I mean. Project Reaver. Very nice codename, really sums the whole thing up. Reaver. Simple, intimidating. You know, I think I may just name it The Reaver when I am done with it, unless of course I think of something better in the meantime, you never know..."

Kael nodded in encouragement and placed a hand on Path's shoulder, slowly guiding him out. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of his mind he was certain he heard laughing, but he chose to ignore it as he made his way to the door, occasionally dodging a wildly waving hand. Pathaleon, while a brilliant engineer, was also a highly dangerous gesticulator, and had the tendency to forget his own strength. Kael had seen him accidentally send an unfortunate mechanic's face into a control console a week before and had no desire to experience it for himself.

"Speaking of which," as they crossed the threshold, Path whirled around and Kael had to damn near duck to avoid an arm. "Remember about a week ago, when you were walking by and you asked what I was doing with that mana wyrm and that vacuum chamber and I asked what you thought on Arcane Chromodynamics?"

Kael had tried to block out the incident and had almost succeeded. He nodded anyway.

"Well," Path beamed. "I think you may want to skip ahead to project 3 then. I was lying awake that very night, wondering what could have happened to that wyrm, and it just came to me. You're going to love it. It involves taking the power of these storms, and, well...I won't spoil the surprise, you're just going to have to read it. And look at the pictures. They're quite detailed. It's a fold out, by the way. I had to use a very large parchment; I tried drawing it smaller but too much was lost and it just didn't do it justice. Anyway, you know what? Let me show you," he made a move to force himself back through the doorway, and Kael, seeing his chance for peace rapidly slipping away, quickly caught him by the shoulders and steered him down the hall.

"That's quite alright, Path. Why don't you get back to work. It sounds like you have a lot to do, and I know how you hate to fall behind your time tables. I'll go ahead and just go over the report-"

"-Reports."

"The reports myself, and that way you can work on Reaper-"

"-Reaver."

"My apologies, Reaver, and your Arcane Chrono...your projects and then you can tell me all about their histories at their assorted final reviews."

Kael had managed to get him to the ramp at the end of the hall when Path suddenly turned to face him again.

"That sounds like an excellent idea. I had actually budgeted time in for this meeting, but the thought of finishing Reaver early...why I could have something really excellent to show you by the end of the week. I'm afraid you'll find some of the lead up to it in the report, but I don't think it will spoil any of the effect of the product," he bowed again, grinning like a madman, already rolling up his sleeves and adjusting the goggles precariously balanced on his head. "Well, then. I must be off, please, please, by all means, feel free to visit me in one of the workshops at anytime with any questions you may have. If I'm not in one workshop, I'm sure to be in one of the others, just ask one of my assistants, they'll know where to find me, unless I was too suddenly struck with a thought to tell them, in which case just keep checking workshops and we'll bump into each other eventually."

Kael smiled and nodded, backing away slowly. Finally, Pathaleon started down the ramp excitedly, still rambling, although the topic seemed to have somehow changed to rather complex sounding mathematics, and Kael suddenly felt the need to have a very strong drink.