It was the third day of the celebrations before we got word that the Dominion was making its move. Still quite fast, all things considered. As I paced up and down the rooftop terrace, I couldn’t help but reflect on the map in my memories, trying to reason out distances and speeds. They certainly would have had to move into position ahead of time, perhaps even start moving. Not to mention all the strategic and diplomatic preparations. The only thing missing is an official declaration of war. And opening fire, I suppose.

“Do sit down,” Mother said. “Your fidgeting won’t make things better.”

I sighed and stopped moving. She’d called me here a few minutes ago to give me the news. We were alone, not even guards on the terrace, though they waited below and further out. I knew Mother was tense, as well. Besides her snappy tone, the way she tapped her fingers and frowned would have made it obvious.

“I thought we were working on turning the Zarieni nomads,” I said.

“We were.” Mother shrugged, her frown deepening. “Such a thing isn’t easy. If we had a few years, or even a few more months, we would be in a better position. At least some of the tribes are siding with us.”

“Just not enough to stop the Zarian moving north in force, aided by the other tribes.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the balustrade.

“Obviously. That would always be a tall order; the Zarian are much more deeply hooked into the Yellow Graves than we are.”

I nodded. There was no point belaboring this, we’d just have to deal with the facts. “Have they given us any official notice yet?”

“Not yet.” Mother snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they planned to declare war the hour before they attacked. Or the hour after.”

I started pacing again, this time more slowly, keeping myself carefully controlled. The feeling of moving helped me deal with the restlessness the news brought.

“We always knew this was going to happen,” Mother said softly. “I just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. We tried to prepare. Perhaps we didn’t try hard enough.”

I shook my head. Hindsight was always best. “There were some warning signs, sure, but there’s a reason not many people expected a war to break out. The Zarian are taking a huge risk. A lot of people will die on both sides.” I frowned. “Of course, from their perspective, it’s best to strike while we still aren’t as strong as we’re otherwise going to be.”

Mother cocked her head. “You don’t think this alliance was the reason?”

I snorted. “One reason, maybe. Probably not the deciding one.”

She fell silent for a moment, and I continued pacing. Mother conjured a thread of light and twirled it absently around her finger.

“I was half-afraid you were going to blame yourself for this. Considering it’s your marriage they’re using.”

“Shouldn’t I be blaming you, then?” I stopped and plopped down on one of the recliners. “It wasn’t my idea. And really, your logic was sound even with this. They would have attacked sooner or later, anyway.”

“Even a year or two would have helped a great deal,” Mother pointed out. “Especially in getting the new technology up and ready. Refining and manufacturing planes. Those computers you’ve just so successfully invented, even. Some new light techniques.”

I frowned, wondering if she was alluding to what I was working on, or had projects of her own. But I shook my head. “Is a year or two worth the alliance with the Terbekteri? I don’t know. I don’t believe you think so, or you wouldn’t have gone through with this. Are you just playing devil’s advocate?”

Mother chuckled. “Fine. I’ll stop.”

Once again, silence fell. I was aware of the fact that she could be spending her time more productively, consulting with her advisers or giving orders to prepare the Empire. Instead, she was here, talking to me. Well, she’d probably talk privately to others, too. Kariva, at least. But I still appreciated it. I just didn’t know how to say that and didn’t want to make things weird.

“I’ve been starting to get my memories back,” I mentioned before I could really think about what I was saying. “Just little flashes. I may be able to figure out how to do more.”

Mother jerked upright, her eyes wide. “Really?”

I nodded. “I’ve got a slightly better handle on my past, though I don’t remember much about the two of us.”

Mother smiled widely. “That’s still great news, Nari. I hope that you really can recover your memories. Having you hit with amnesia like that was … not easy.”

I nodded somberly. I knew things couldn’t have been easy for her. Even though I had gotten some more insight into our prior relationship, not just from flashes of memory but hints I’d picked up, too. I knew it hadn’t been simple, either. She certainly seems to show affection more easily to Al or Xiaodan, and it isn’t just my age.

Mother cleared her throat and looked out over the palace, while I shook my head at myself. I should focus on the problem at hand.

“Are you going to have me fight in the war?” I asked. “I’ll certainly need to participate and prove myself somehow.”

Mother shook her head. “Not if I can help it. Fighting directly, at least. You were bad enough with the nomad incursion.”

I sighed but raised my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Can’t argue that, if I’m being honest. It’s not like I’m eager to put myself in danger.”

“Some of the officers seem to think differently,” Mother commented, before she shook her head again. “Never mind that. You’ll need to pack things up down there, and you could be of some help coordinating our efforts when it comes to the new factories and the new defensive capabilities.”

I sighed. That sounded like I had some hectic days ahead of me, but I could hardly refuse. “Alright. I guess I’ll leave as soon as I can.”

“Take your new husband along if you can.” Mother cocked her head. “It’s not my business if you sleep with Kajare or not, but I hope you’ve worked things out with him and things are going well?”

I nodded and avoided meeting her eyes. Kajare and I had turned out to be surprisingly compatible in the bedroom, but that wasn’t something I’d tell her. I was coming to like him on a personal level, too, and although I didn’t really trust him yet, I saw no reason not to take him along.

I hoped we were starting to build a friendship. And going to war was supposed to help with that, right? Yeah, let’s just hope we don’t really have to build it in fire.

I wouldn’t have thought I could muster up much empathy for Zarieni. The way the tribe had fought against me, devastated the Empire, killed civilians and just been a giant pain in the posterior didn’t make me feel very favorably disposed towards them. Even if I knew that not all of those people would be the same, and cultures could change.

As it turned out, I was right. I didn’t feel moved when I looked at the streams of what were basically refugees entering the city. But I did recognize that they needed shelter and we should provide it, and I didn’t feel angry or resentful, either. I just didn’t care much, but luckily I wouldn’t have to handle it myself.

“I feel like somewhere, something went wrong with how things were supposed to be,” Lei said.

I grunted. “That’s pretty much what I was just pondering.”

Tenira shrugged. “I can see how it’s strange that nomads are coming here for help, but it also makes sense if you think about it. After all, their combatants are being a huge help. Even if all they’re doing is slowing down the Zarian, we can use the time to prepare.”

I nodded. “Let me take a closer look.”

As I walked closer to the gate, many soldiers walking around moved out of my way and saluted or bowed. I nodded at them, but didn’t stop. The place was crawling with people, most of them soldiers. It had shot up like a giant mushroom, built on short notice but with more solidity than most temporary structures would have on Earth. While there were a few civilians here, most stopping on the way while they were being moved further north, this was definitely a military base. I could see the value of the location, close enough to the border to catch this stream but still far enough to be out of immediate danger, and close to Blue Valley City. The small river burbling beside the wall would let you quickly get both to the city and to the ocean.

At the gate, I saw a few elites standing on the steps leading up to the wall, watching over the comings and goings. I recognized quite a few of them from the previous campaign.

Slowing down, I looked around until I spotted the person I wanted in the crowd. She was walking closer. I made my way through, Tenira and Lei following, until I reached the open space in front of the gate.

“General.” I smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”

San Hashar bowed deeply, but returned my smile. “Your Highness. Lord Akilei, Lady Tenira. It’s good to see you’re all well.”

We stepped away from the crowd somewhat, and San Hashar led the way to a small raised platform attached to the walls, where we would have a good view over the surroundings and be able to talk privately. From up here, I could see how packed not just the road north but the airs was in comparison to the other directions.

“I didn’t think we were evacuating that many people,” I commented.

“Not all of them are evacuated, many are leaving on their own, afraid of the coming war,” San Hashar said, a frown on her face. “The land close to the border is sparsely populated as it is, with the threat of raids. Otherwise, this would be much worse.”

I sighed. That made sense, and at least the Empire was helping them get to safety. As I watched, another round-bellied airship rose into the sky, carrying passengers to the city and perhaps beyond. It looked quite different from the military aircraft that had been coming in since I’d been here, and before.

“How are the preparations coming?”

“Rushed,” San Hashar said bluntly, shrugging. “We haven’t had much warning, so everyone is scrambling to get into position, draw up plans, and coordinate the reinforcements. I’ve heard there have been quite a few arguments at headquarters, someone even mentioned they had to replace the furniture. I think they’re doing a decent job.”

I nodded. “From what I’ve seen, I agree. Though there aren’t as many reinforcements coming as I’d thought.”

She raised an eyebrow. “A large part of our strength was already here at the border,” she pointed out. “Besides that, the generals don’t want to expose the other continents. This isn’t the only place the Dominion could attack, after all. Some even want us to hit their territories first, fast and hard. Most say we can’t risk it.”

I nodded again, but didn’t comment. I wasn’t about to question the judgment of the experts, and I knew enough to know I didn’t know enough to draft our strategy.

“The new fortifications are going to help a lot,” Tenira put in. “I don’t think the Dominion could try a fast strike deeper into our territory with much hope for success, and they know that.”

“If only we started building it up earlier,” Lei said. “There’s a lot more that could be done.”

“I don’t think many people cared about the border, at least not really. Did they?” I asked.

San Hashar tilted her head. “There hasn’t been a real war between the Empire and another nation in many centuries, my lady. Even the raids were no longer much of a concern for the capital. If you look at the records closely, they were actually tapering off the last few decades, before the Rising Storm tribe’s invasion.” She grimaced. “We got complacent, I suppose.”

For a moment, we fell quiet, looking out over the base and the surrounding region in sober silence. I cycled some qi into my eyes, gazing south. I could easily make out the new wall and the towers and outposts dotting it, though anything beyond that was harder. Occasionally I got what might be the tip of a particularly tall tree peeking over it.

“It will be a bit before the Dominion is in a position to attack, Your Highness,” San Hashar commented, following my gaze. “Our allied tribes are doing their best to buy us more time. They’re harassing the Zarian, drawing away the other nomads, and causing a lot of chaos.”

I smirked. “Yes, fighting a guerrilla war against natives in the jungle doesn’t sound like fun. But you think they can’t stop them for long?”

“They’re too few and the enemy too many, my lady. We’ve already seen groups of Dominion elites close to the border, watching us and perhaps making preparations. If it comes down to it, they could just leave the weaker soldiers behind to deal with the nomads for some time while they bring their real strength to bear against us.”

Lei snorted. “Well, let’s hope the nomads are earning their keep. After all, we’re taking in their families and likely giving them better lives than they could have had in that jungle.”

I frowned, but closed my mouth without replying. He’s probably right on that count, at least.

Tenira shot Lei a dirty look. “I’m sure our allies are doing all they can, and at great risk to themselves. Not just for our sake, either.”

San Hashar nodded. “The Zarian Dominion won’t be content to just pass through the Yellow Graves on their way to attacking the Empire. Some of the nomads are wise enough to see that, and side with us for their own benefit. Unfortunately, the leaders of many tribes don’t seem to be as smart.”

I shrugged. “Who knows what they promised them. Perhaps those just want to trade the Yellow Graves for good land further south, or north if they win, even if they’d have to be under the Dominion’s thumb.” I frowned. “On second thought, I doubt all of them think like that.”

Tenira chuckled. “What, you mean not everyone feels the same way about culture? Who would have thought.”

I smiled wryly, then turned around as I noticed a slight disturbance in my qi senses. A few guards had unobtrusively followed us and were keeping watch from the wall and the ground. Aston stood farther away than most, his aura flickering a bit with spirit-aligned qi, perhaps trying something with Mior. An airship had just come in and people were disembarking, joining the crowds of soldiers in the base. Another was just setting down, and it looked like a few people on flying swords were accompanying it.

I felt a bit disgruntled that there were no planes yet. While we’d started building them, there just weren’t enough to be much of a factor in this war, still, especially since they could really use more testing. I’d sent a few of our prototypes north along with some of the more sensitive material from my research in Blue Valley City. Not that I anticipated the city being in danger any time soon, but better safe than sorry. It hadn’t taken much time to close things up there. I sighed. Probably going to be a while until I can focus on working on my projects again.

I was about to turn back to the others, but paused as something prickled in my senses. The faint sensation drew me to a spot in the shadow a little further away. I backed up a step, preparing to summon a weapon from my storage ring. A moment later, the shadow deepened and the veil of qi over it lightened so we could feel the person’s presence. Lei sucked in air in a surprised gasp. Then Kariva faded into view.

I exhaled, stepping forward again and relaxing as some of the tension drained out of me. “Kariva? What are you doing here?”

“Good senses, Your Highness.” Kariva gave a short bow. “Her Majesty sent me south to deal with an important matter.” She turned to the others, her gaze flicking over them sharply, as if she was cataloging everything. She nodded at San Hashar. “General San, you’re dismissed.”

“My lady. Your Highness.” San Hashar bowed deeply, then flitted down the stairs quickly enough that I had trouble picking out her path.

I frowned as I looked at Kariva. Mother’s spymaster looked the same as always, wearing fine cultivator’s robes and a slight detachment in her eyes, if you knew what to look for, a certain hard indifference in her face that she didn’t bother to hide.

“And what important matter is that, pray tell?”

Kariva stepped closer, and I sensed a barrier pop up around us, blurring the surroundings slightly and canceling out their sound. “A diplomatic meeting with the Zarian. We will be discussing how we can limit the use of eighth-stagers if and when it comes to violence.”

She sounded a bit sarcastic on the ‘if’, I noted. Fair enough.

“That’s good news.” I smiled. “Do we know any details?”

“The Greater Spirits are apparently involved to some extent, and have made their approval clear.”

My smile widened. I knew this would be a controversial decision, but the risk of letting human weapons of mass destruction fight was too high for me. What amounted to religious mandates against that could only help. “Where and when is the meeting?”

Kariva cocked her head a little. “With all due respect, my lady, it’s better if I don’t tell you. I won’t be going to the meeting alone, of course, but I highly doubt the Empress would allow you to participate directly. It would be far too dangerous, and unpredictable given your parentage.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it with a sigh. There was no way I’d change Kariva’s mind. Besides, she probably had a point.

This time, Mother was around, and she’d certainly not just let me do as I liked.