AUTHOR'S NOTES: Wow, what a turnout! Now let's see if my luck keeps up, shall we?

Alpha Draconis: Yep, people like them in their positions are currently pretty rare.

Chapter Fourteen: The First Emperor

Scias looked at the latest burned-out match in his hand, then at the pile of distinctly unlit and soggy kindling heaped before him. He grimaced. "I w-wish Ursula was h-here. She… w-was the one with f-fire m-magic."

"Better than that," said Deis, "I wish my magic was here. I'd fry off all the snow and make the biggest lake on the continent. I bet the fishing would be great, Ryu."

Ryu looked up at the rising sun and shivered briefly. "I'd settle for dry wood." Now what had they done the last time they were here, before Ursula had joined them and Deis had regained use of her magic - oh yes, they'd gotten down Ice Peak and into Chek before that had been an issue.

Won-Qu said, "I apologize that we canst do nothing to remedy this, Young Master."

"Don't call me that. Please." Less than an hour into the new day and already he was weary.

Nina rubbed at her arms. She had eschewed her familiar blue dress in favor of a more practical outfit. "What do you think we should do, Ryu?"

"Let's just have some bread and stuff and head for Chek." After a few more attempts and wasted matches, everyone agreed.

Bread and cheese was produced, broken up and passed out. Ryu and Nina climbed onto A-Tur, while Scias, Deis and Ershin took Won-Qu. They rushed north through the snow; the wind tore at their hair and jingled Mami's bell against the sword where Fou-Lu rested.

"Just one question, ma'am."

Ursula leaned against the railing of the sandflier and watched Kyoin distance itself. It was by no means the best money could buy, but she would've tried for worse if she had to. Her benefactor was a Wyndian merchant who refused to disclose his name; she was just happy it wasn't that Manillo. "What?"

"What've you come here for?"

He'd given her a ride; she could at least answer that. "Following someone."

"Oh. A man friend?"

She glared at his winged back. After some silence he said, "I guess not. Did you hear about Princess Elina?"

"I heard."

"Ludia's going to have a job digging its foot out of its mouth, eh?"

"I suppose so."

He stopped trying to make conversation after that, which was fine with Ursula. She counted the dunes and calculated how many more they would pass on the way to Shyde.

"It's good to see you," said the Abbess when they were all gathered in her house with hot drinks. "Might I ask who these new additions are?" Introductions were made, and she angled her head forward slightly. "I see. What can I do for you?"

Nina dipped her face toward the rising steam from her hot chocolate and lifted her eyes to see Ryu step forward and say, "Do you think Fou-Lu and I could split again?"

She didn't even blink. "Ah. But I see you already have."

He flushed. "Kind of, yeah, but I was wondering if I could get him a new body, because it wouldn't be right, would it, for him to be stuck in a sword…"

"You're right. It would not be." She frowned. "Normally I would call it impossible. If I knew a way, I would certainly have applied it to your friend."

"Of course you would've," said Deis.

"But with the power of the Yorae Dragon it might well be doable. Am I right in assuming that was what restored her?" She nodded at Deis.

Ryu nodded. "Her and Nina's sister, I think. But I don't know how I did that, and it looks like it started up before I threw it away, so…"

"Well, that at least is simple. You'll have to get your power back."

Nina accidentally inhaled some of the chocolate. And that's supposed to be simple, is it? After he made sure she was all right, Ryu turned back to the Abbess. "That's supposed to be simple, is it?"

"There is no such thing," said the Abbess, "as suicide of power. You may well have taken away that of the other Endless-" Nobody asked how she knew this. "- but the most it can do to itself is block pathways of your mind that lead to it. And what can be built can eventually be destroyed." She frowned and took a few steps closer to him. "May I?" Ryu nodded and she placed her hand on his. Nina looked on, feeling uncomfortably like a gawking spectator at some show. Hurry, hurry, see Ryu save the world, only ten zenny.

Eventually the Abbess said, "They appear to be very well-formed barriers, but with time if we cooperate they will give way." His eyes lit up. "Then you can find out how you gave your friend her new body, and repeat the basic process. We will request Fou-Lu's consent, and then draw him from your sword-"

Ryu looked first up, then down, then straight ahead. "Er. There's a bit of a problem with that."

"How so?"

"He… well… I ran into Fou-Lu in my mind, after I went to get Elina, and he said… he said he didn't want to come back. He said he wanted me to merge with him."

A timely head movement kept Nina from roasting her sinuses again. Beside her came an audible breath from Deis.

"Only I wouldn't," he continued, "so I took him out with me. That's how he got into the sword, you see."

The Abbess blinked. "Knowing this, why do you persist? Understand that I see your point, but I would like to know your reasons."

"Because - because…" Ryu kept staring and speaking to the wall. "Either he lives or I kill him. And if I do, he can't ever change his mind about it. And this might sound stupid, but if we merge… I'll get left holding all his old memories, and there might not be so much room for me anymore."

She was quiet for a moment. "I believe the best thing would be to draw him out and into someone who can hear and speak, and persuade him to this course of action. Perhaps as he recognizes you, you might -"

"No!" He flushed again. "Sorry, but if he comes back in, I'll probably never get him out again. Isn't there someone else?"

"Indeed, there is." The Abbess left without saying anything more. They all looked to the doorway, and waited until, minutes later, she returned with Rhem.

Rhem looked at Deis and her eyes widened. "Are you…"

Deis smiled wide and nodded at her. "Hi."

"Ryu, will you give us your sword?" said the Abbess. Ryu promptly drew it from its sheath and laid it on the floor, then stepped back to beside Nina. Rhem and the Abbess walked over to it and shut their eyes. "Don't worry. This will only be a minute."

After that minute, the sword glowed - if Nina blinked she would have missed it. Rhem stiffened, then fell to the floor beside the sword. As everyone decided something had gone wrong and began to rush to her en masse, Rhem's limbs began to jerk, then push herself up to stand again, and as she did this everyone but Ryu and the Abbess again backed up against the wall. For a moment Rhem's body faced Nina; Nina shuddered as she recognized someone else looking out.

"Ryu…"

It was even stranger than when Deis had done the same thing. She saw the phantom Fou-Lu again, this time standing behind Rhem and looking far worse for the wear. He stared around the room with wide eyes, Rhem's head moving with his, catching a little on Won-Qu and A-Tur, who made no move forward this time, and finally back at Ryu; his lips moved and again his voice issued from Rhem's mouth. "Why… hast thou…"

"I told you," said Ryu. His voice shook. "I won't kill you."

"All things must pass."

"But you don't have to pass yet."

He laughed. It hurt her ears. "If thou dost intend to reawaken our power, why dost thou not intend to aid they who wish for such a boon, instead of me?"

Ryu shrugged. "I don't know. Look, why don't you want to come back? What do you want me to do for you?"

"End this."

"Er. Besides that." The Abbess opened her mouth, then closed it a moment later.

"There is nothing thou canst provide besides such."

She saw the lie, and she knew Ryu did as well when he said, "We don't know that yet. There's got to be something, please, tell us what you want."

Fou-Lu folded his arms and lowered his head; pale and insubstantial strands fell and veiled his face - even ghosts and phantoms followed the usual natural laws some of the time. Won-Qu and A-Tur's terrible muteness made Nina want to shout at them. Don't you care? Then she realized, Yes, yes they do care. It's just that they don't know what they ought to say…

"I think I know," said Ryu at last. His hands shook. "It's about her, isn't it? Mami. The girl with the bell." With each of the words the phantom jerked as if Ryu had struck him, though Rhem's body stayed still. He continued as if he were only now working it out. "If I brought her back, if I took back her dying, would you be okay then?"

"Thou dost speak as though 'twill be simple as a breath."

"It mightn't be simple, but it worked for Nina's sister." Nina felt like she would choke on her heart.

Another laugh. "A hex dost utterly destroy its sacrifice. Even if thou canst retrieve her spirit, she hast nothing to return to."

"She'll have y- oh, that? I'll have to make something for her, then."

"If thou dost insist…" He stepped forward, and Rhem echoed with puppet's strides. He reached out a hand toward Ryu, who flinched away, then cautiously reached out and placed his own hand in about the right place. "I wish thee good luck, thou who art me." Fou-Lu's smile was bitter. "Thou wilt be in need of it. Farewell."

Rhem fell sideways and the Abbess dashed to catch her. As this happened Fou-Lu vanished. "Wait!" Ryu called to the air. "Wait, I-" Even as he spoke his sword glowed for another blink of time. "Damn!"

"He did give you some kind of an answer," said the Abbess as she contemplated the sword. "If I understand correctly - someone close to him died to power a hex, and you propose to return her from the dead to persuade him to allow us to return him as well."

"Yes, that's it, exactly. About those blocks - how long will it take to get them down?"

"Elsewhere, a month or more of intensive work would be needed."

Scias leaned forward. "B-but how l-long w-will it t-take here?"

"The magical energies around the site of summoning have not dissipated with the loss of the powers of the Endless - they were needed, after all, to call the Endless here to begin with. Should we go there, those energies will likely quicken our progress to a great extent. We may be done in as few as three days."

Ryu nodded. "The faster the better."

"Do not be too eager to make haste. Retrieving the dead will surely involve a great deal of mental and magical energy- one mistake with such an amount will most certainly have devastating consequences, whether they are within or without."

Ryu shrugged and tried to smile. "Hey. I did it once before. If I couldn't do it again I'd be ashamed of myself."

"As you will. But for now, you should rest."

"And another thing," said Deis. "Have you got a good firestarter by any chance?"

Ursula slid a few more coins down the counter. "So these people, with two blue and white 'dog things,' came through here two days ago?"

"Right, miss! Another one over here!"

"And Ludian soldiers came through today."

The man sitting beside her at the Shyde bar knocked back another mug of something dark and bubbly before he spoke again. "Yeah, whole bunch, 'bout twenty, an' the Ludian Master. An' with 'em-" He burped. "This is the stuff!"

Ursula sipped a bit of her own drink and tried to stay polite. "What? Who was with them?"

"Imperial with a silly hat." He waved at the bartender. "Another one, Mister! Said he was on a wossname, a goodwill visit. Some kind of bigshot in the Empire I think. Bit silly of them." He laughed. Ursula did not. "I mean, what with all the yelling about that Wyndian princess you'd think they'd have the sense to not send any of theirs over for a while, yeah?"

"Yes," she said, reminding herself she was incognito. "You'd think they would."

"'Least it all turned out all right for her."

"I guess it did. Do you-"

"An' the Ludian was pretty cranky and they say it's 'cause it took so long for the rest of the council to okay whatever they're doing. Otherwise they would've left a good bit ago."

"I'm sure. Do you know where they were going?"

"Oh, tha's easy, miss. To Mt. Ryft." He waved his arm in what was apparently intended to be the direction of the mountain, and almost clobbered the patron sitting beside him. "Hope they don't all freeze to death up there, yeah? Don'tcha think so, miss…?" She concluded after a silence that he meant to be "subtly" inquiring about her name. She deliberately misunderstood and slid him still more coins, and as expected he was too busy thanking her and quaffing his next mug to ask again.

Ursula picked up her one bag, left her drink behind - she couldn't afford a muzzy head now - and made for the north road out of Shyde. At least it would take time to get so many soldiers across, and most or all of them had never crossed Mt. Ryft before. Night was falling, but what did that matter? She wasn't tired, and with luck the gap would be closed by dawn.