AN: Sorry for disappearing, IRL got big shoes to kick me with.

"On the left we have the cookhouses, and on the right, we have the district's fighting arena." Glace finished, as she glanced into the 'arena'. Though calling it an arena was fairly generous, beings as it was little more than a hole in the ground with a wooden cage over it. The party shared a look with each other, not sure how to feel about it. "Ah, looks like we're right on time." She commented, as she stepped up to stand in front of it, her hands clasped behind her back. The party walked up behind her, and watched as a referee took his place in a – relatively – high booth embedded in the wall of the arena.

A man and a woman stood next to each other, determinedly staring down the other side of the hole in the ground. A long moment passed, before the gate on the opposite end from the pair opened, revealing two others. The new pair walked up to the first, before all of them bowed to each other for a long moment. The pause didn't last long, as the new pair launched a flurry of attacks at the first, who were caught off guard.

"Why are they fighting?" Nepgear asked, as she looked down into the arena, concerned.

Glace recognized them, naturally, and after thinking it over for a moment, shot the referee a meaningful glance, which he returned for a moment, before nodding.

Glace took a deep breath, before she released it, and answered. "It's a marital spar." She responded simply.

Everyone in the party looked confused, though for different reasons. IF, and the CPUs were confused as to why they were sparring, while Compa, Nepgear and Uni were more generally confused about the sentence. "Um… what?" Nepgear asked, eloquently.

"A marital spar." Glace repeated, looking over her shoulder. A single eyebrow raised when that just seemed to confuse them more. "A marriage ceremony." She elaborated as the pairs began fighting each other in earnest. Compa blushed lightly, but that was the only change in expression. Glace rolled her eyes, continuing as she returned her gaze to the arena. "It's a tradition that outdates even me, but from what I understand about its origins, it was started so a married couple who were adventurers and-or militia would know the ins and outs of each other's fighting styles, so they could sync with each other on the battlefield. It has since become the primary form of either the proposal or sealing of a marriage within Shattered Rock. I, myself, don't know how much truth there is to the theory, so I usually just make it a point to watch over the spars when I am able, in an attempt to either validate or disprove it."

IF seemed thoughtful, if still somewhat confused. "I guess that makes sense, but it makes me wonder what would force someone to think about long-term battle synchrony like that, let alone have it taken seriously enough to become a city-wide tradition." IF did, in fact, notice the look that Glace shot her way that sat somewhere between 'what in the seven layers of hell are you on about' and 'are you a mentally challenged Neanderthal', despite how well the woman was hiding it.

She would never come to a conclusive reason as to why her mind decided on those exact words.

Glace took a long moment to let that statement sink in, and recompose herself, so the sheer incredulity rolling off her wasn't felt by the entire city. "The monsters." She stated simply, frowning. As every second passed after that seemingly innocuous statement, it became increasingly likely that the entire city did feel the incredulity pouring off the foreign party. "Perhaps we should finish this in the diplomatic chambers." Glace noted, already moving in that direction.

"That seems… appropriate." Black Heart managed, as they followed the woman.

"Right then." Glace nodded to herself, mentally putting a tack on that conversation. "On with the tour."

Chapter 2

The Isles of Burning Ice

"Oh, my lord." Glace said as she buried her face in her right hand, both exasperated and embarrassed. The others just gave her confused looks as her cheeks burned.

What laid before them was what looked to be an immense college, easily the largest building on any of the islands. The construct was a full five floors at its tallest, discounting the enormous, square, glass dome that sat overtop the building's courtyard, with what seemed to be a full eight distinct wings, with the main foyer set in the face of the building that was facing them. Its grand, Victorian architecture, with its warm browns and greys, was broken up by the copper and silver of the steam, oil, and water pipes, that seemed to have been an afterthought in the design, seeming to have, over time, come to resemble a sort of mechanical emulation of a web. At the end of each distinct 'wing' of the building, was a towering steam hub, seeming to both loom over those present while inspiring a certain awe as they took in their forms, their copper, bronze and steel shells broken up by the deep blacks of soot. From their position in front of the building, they could make out the top of a second generator billowing smoke and steam into the air.

"Here I was, wondering why it took an entire week to build the friggin' thing, only to find out that they decided to build a full-blown national capital building." Glace muttered to herself, shaking her head in her hand.

"Would that not be appropriate?" Green Heart asked, looking her over in building confusion.

"I mean, I guess you could consider it appropriate," Glace started, removing her hand from her face. "but Shattered Rock isn't anywhere near large or populous enough to warrant a national capital, beings as it's only now returning to a stable state of affairs. This is just…" She scrunched her face up in thought as she began walking toward the building. "Too many resources were put into creating this, I can already tell. An average house uses about thirty-five units of would and twenty-five units of steel; and they were only designed to hold about ten people."

"I suppose that, unless your stores are absolutely enormous, your economy wouldn't be able to easily sustain such an expense." Black Heart stated, studying the structure with interest.

"Our stores are pretty big, but they're meant for emergency situations." Glace responded, giving a halfhearted shrug and opening the front doors with little fanfare.

Inside, the building was lavish and elegant; thick, red carpets with golden detailing, warm, brown walls with blackened wood rising to where a bump guard would be, mahogany colored furniture, plush leather seating, ornate gold and crystal chandeliers hanging from a cream ceiling with intricate crown moldings, and simple wall sconces. The lighting was warm, yet soothing, set at a low output and temperature, giving the impression of a low fire. The ceiling of the foyer was high, at roughly thirty feet from the floor, and several coat racks stood on either side of the doorway.

The group was immediately met with several butlers and maids upon walking in the door, all dressed in simple black and white uniforms. They came up to the group, offering their services. They were declined, but remained near them as the group moved on, with a butler leading the way to the meeting room.

As they all sat down in plush seats adjacent to a relatively large fireplace, the servants bowed in unison, and half left, the rest taking up positions in the corners of the room. The butler that had led them there, likely the head butler, returned just a few minutes later with a teapot and several teacups, though the smell coming from the pot was that of hot chocolate. Glace just hummed in thanks, taking one of the cups with its saucer, sipping on it as she waited for her guests to start the conversation.

Purple Heart was the first to speak. "I can't help but notice how much your people revere you, like an untouchable goddess more than a leader and person."

Glace just sighed as she absorbed the loaded statement, slowly putting together her response. "To them, I may as well be. You need to keep in mind that my hands are not bloodless," She eventually decided on, staring into her cup with a solemn expression. "nor am I exactly young by their perception. To them, I am an indomitable goddess of war and survival; one that has easily vanquished every foe they have faced that proved too strong for even the most elite adventurers… and even other deities."

Compa seemed to cringe a little at learning some of what Glace had done during her tenure, and most everyone seemed distinctly uncomfortable with it, but nobody rose any grievances they may have had. Nepgear in particular seemed to deflate, curling in on herself just a bit, and Uni seemed to rub at a phantom pain in her shoulder, glancing worriedly at Nepgear. IF pursed her lips, frowning, and the rest just grimaced.

Glace took a deep breath when she noticed the liquid in the cup was beginning to ripple. "I am still young and naive by the standards of patron deities, but to them, I am ancient and all but omniscient. One of only two patrons left in a dying world."

White Heart looked skeptical, but didn't refute the point, as it was just a much more extreme example of what could've happened in their own world had the worst come to pass. If only one or two of the goddesses remained, and they were as old as this woman was claiming to be, a similar situation may very well have been reality. "Alright, but I've got to ask." She eventually said, dropping her HDD. The rest of the goddesses followed her example not long after, with the exception of Purple Heart. "Why are your people wearing so little?"

IF looked on after hearing the question, just as curious as Blanc, though Glace just scrunched her brow in confusion. "In all honesty, they're being cautious, and have somewhat thick clothing on for the weather. It's positively tropical here, the temperatures are fit for the recovery arc of one of those green world movies."

"Green world movies?" Vert asked, eyebrows all but disappearing behind her hairline.

Glace snorted into a giggle of amusement. "Easily the best-selling genre there is." She paused to take a sip from her cup and reassessed her thoughts. "Here, at least. They're movies about what a green world might be like, be it a nation that had existed in such a world since the beginning, or what our society might be like if our world had warmed up." She let an amused smirk form on her face as she continued. "I find myself enjoying them quite a bit most of the time, but there is only so much you can do with any particular genre, so the movies of said genre are starting to fall to the way-side in favor of cyberpunk, oddly enough." She took another long sip from her cup, and allowed the butler to refill it with the steaming liquid, to which she nodded her thanks. "That being said, books and artworks of green worlds are still as popular as ever."

"I… fail to see how that would be significant." Vert admitted, shrugging lightly. "Though admittedly, the pastures of Leanbox have become somewhat synonymous with the name."

Glace stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment, a moment that stretched on long enough to make Vert shift uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm just going to acknowledge I'm missing something and move on." She turned to the butler. "Have my paperwork moved to my new study, and break out the old diplomatic forms. I'll be going over trade and tourism arrangements with them for the next few hours, most likely." The man bowed his head in acceptance, heading for the door. "Oh, and have someone bring me some coffee, I'll be needing it." The butler chuckled lightly, nodding his head with a smile. She watched him for a short moment, smirking at his display of joy, before turning her attention to the end table beside her chair.

She opened the drawer and pulled out an inkwell, quill, and a stack of seemingly primitive paper, tan in color. "If you all would follow my example and pull out the parchment paper, ink and quills from your own end tables, we can begin." A somewhat befuddled group followed her instruction, and placed the indicated items on their own tables, looking to her for direction. She didn't deign to respond, and simply gave out a sharp, high pitched whistle, causing the quills to stand up on their own, before dipping themselves in their respective inkwells, and moving over to the parchments. Once that was done, Glace spoke once more. "Do all present parties consent to having the following conversation transcribed for the purpose of later review and historical documentation?" She asked. The quills moved in sync with her question, writing it down word-for-word.

A quick affirmative later, she continued, bemused by the fascination the newcomers were showing. "The spell currently being used is a low-level animation spell, which will transcribe our conversation verbatim. Keep in mind that if anyone in this room is caught lying, their quill will draw a drop of blood. I am not exempt from this rule." Glace sighed at the looks she was given in response to her statement, but pressed on regardless. "This spell was developed by my elder sibling in order to ensure the survival of Shattered Rock and any cities under its protection. If, at any time, you no longer feel comfortable with this process, you may recite 'I revoke my consent.' when referring to the spell."

Glace sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose as she thought over how to proceed.

Trade had been an oddly frustrating matter to deal with, the two factions eventually agreeing to send researchers to each other's Research and Development departments for a month at a time until they were on roughly equal footing, at which point they would once more review, and more properly settle on an arrangement. In the meantime, the trade of foodstuffs, building materials, and currency would largely be left to the people.

Tourism would be fairly straightforward; Shattered Rock would provide a copy of its passport for each nation, and each of the nations of Gamindustri would do the same for Shattered Rock, at which point border control would take care of the rest regarding transitions. People would be allowed to come and go freely between the nations and the city-state, as long as the travel was registered at minimum a week in advance, and no registered criminals attempted to jump the border.

"Lastly," She eventually decided on, sighing lightly. "trade regarding the entertainment industry, as requested by CPU Purple Heart. Please note that Shattered Rock's entertainment industry was severely stunted by several years' worth of constant fighting and low morale. Therefore, the industry is small, and only in the last month has the City-state of Shattered Rock recovered enough economically to pursue the field of entertainment seriously." She grimaced a bit at the now routine looks of pity, but bit back any retort that might spill forth as she continued. "That being said, for a city of our size, it has begun to thrive, with most of the citizenry contributing at least somewhat to the pursuit of entertainment."

Purple Heart was the first to speak up. "The Nation of Planeptune wishes to share its entertainment media freely with the City-State of Shattered Rock, if they are willing to do the same." She said with a hopeful smile, as she glanced at the other CPUs.

Noire was the next to speak up, quickly catching on to what Purple Heart was implying. "Lastation will follow in Planeptune's wake should the arrangement prove both fruitful and mutually beneficial."

IF seemed to be the only one that noticed Glace's minute tensing as the CPUs continued, but she decided not to speak up about it.

Vert followed in stride after a quick glance at Purple Heart. "Leanbox would like to acknowledge that our culture has a history of… poor views of other nations, and thus would like to await the result of Planeptune's agreement before putting forth any promises."

Blanc seemed to mull the thought over in her head before she responded, idly glancing at the quill hovering by her side, which seemed to minutely agitate Glace. "Lowee has historically been a rather isolationist Nation, and does not see that being radically changed in the near future. Limited trade would be offered from the outset, but further negotiations and a more complete understanding of Shattered Rock would have to take place for further trade to commence."

Purple Heart seemed mildly disappointed, but was largely mollified by the look on her face. Glace on the other hand, seemed to slowly take in their statements as she stirred a sugar cube into her cocoa, her butler standing behind and slightly beside her as she mused. "While I have no… overt objections to free and-or unrestricted trade in the entertainment sector, I must state that you all need understand that our propaganda board's censure department must piece through all of your media before any of it is made available on the market. As things stand, Shattered Rock is resting rather precariously on a razor's edge. If any civil disagreements were to become uncivil, well." The look in her eye shifted from the tired woman of previous into one of a calculating strategist's, with perhaps a hint of paranoia. "It could quickly spiral into an all-out catastrophe, given our… limited population. I can only hope you understand our caution on the matter."

Blanc immediately became guarded, narrowing her eyes at Glace. "That seems to lean far more heavily into paranoia than 'caution'. What if we decided not to listen to your restrictions?"

Glace became visibly agitated, a restrained sneer pulling at her face as she leveled a narrowed glare at Blanc. "Well, we'd have valid reason to declare war." At the party's shocked looks, Glace smiled an ugly, grim smile. "Subversion is a slow, insidious killer, you see, and I'm afraid that with as delicate a state as Shattered Rock is in… Well, I'd have to be either naïve or stupid to accept such a one-sided deal." She stood for the first time in the conversation, making a gesture that stilled the quills' scribbling as she turned her back to the party, looking out the sole window in the room. "Don't think I haven't noticed the subtleties in our talk. You have been…" She paused, seemingly choosing her words as she stared out the window, watching the edge of the city as children played in the snow. "generous," She decided on, glancing at a baker who handed a homeless man a loaf of bread. "in our talk, you have needled me for information, asking for more than I was willing to give, yet offering far more than you took." She sipped at her teacup, gratefully nodding as her butler refilled it yet again. "How curious, that you offer us free reign of your technology departments, yet raise no eyebrows when we don't reciprocate. How curious, that you offer hundreds of units of materials, both refined and raw, yet ask for but a dozen."

Finally, she turned to them, a distinct frown upon her otherwise soft, if weathered, features. "How curious that you've been so dangerously generous, yet so incredibly lenient." She stated eyes narrowed to slits. "I was not born yesterday. I am aware of just how easily one can use perceived debt to their advantage; I have done so myself many times. I have seen, and been part of, many cities' downfall, with perceived debt being the factor between survival and total collapse." A dark look flashed across her face, before it was once more replaced by that mask of paranoia. "I would ask what your aim was, but alas, I know better than to do so with those playing the role of savior." Her face returned to the newly recognized mask of neutrality she had held throughout the previous talk. "I am the protector of my people, their interests, and their culture. For that is what makes this City. For the city Must survive."

IF swore she could hear the capitalization, with how harshly Glace had stressed the word.

"Whatever the cost." Purple Heart muttered, a severe frown on her face. Glace nodded in acknowledgement to the point, returning to her seat, a substantially heavier atmosphere present as their trade talk resumed.

Nobody dared to question her resolve, the downright fanatical look in her eyes that was now present answered that question plenty well.

Nor did anybody speak out against Glace's restrictions again.

When all was said and done, Glace's mask of subdued altruism was as convincing when they left as it was when they had arrived, each of them carrying a copy of their correspondence with them.

IF decided she liked Glace, even if being on the receiving end of her paranoia was downright terrifying.