I didn’t think anyone got much sleep that night. Which was probably just as well. My army was composed of cultivators who were all at least in the third stage, so it didn’t pose much of a problem. But with the aftereffects of the battle for the city, the continuing headache of what to do with it, and then the excitement about our possibly breached defenses, the whole area was swarming like a kicked beehive.

That might be why the gathered nobles and officers were looking at me with barely concealed annoyance or exasperation. In most cases, at least.

“You want to take the army out now?” Zheng, one of the eighth-stagers present, demanded. He had an impressive glower, helped by his big stature, weathered face, and black and gray mane. “We’ve barely started settling in here!”

“We don’t need to settle in here,” I replied calmly. “This city is a strategic target, obviously, but now that we’ve taken it, we’re not in much danger of losing it. And with all of the destruction here, we run the risk of just getting bogged down with local problems. We’ll send supplies and reinforcements from cities we’ve already taken, and they can rebuild without us present.”

Several of the gathered people frowned. Breaking the usual pattern, we’d not met in a conference room, but outside, under the clear and sunny sky. The cold wind and freezing temperatures would have made it unpleasant for weaker people, but it wasn’t enough to bother anyone here unduly.

“So we press on,” Hashar said. “Isn’t it a dangerous gamble? We risk getting cut off from reinforcements and easy contact with our bases to the north.”

I nodded at her. “You’re right, it is risky. But we still have a lot of our airships and planes, and a cultivator army isn’t that easy to pin down. Not to mention the intelligence we have describing how the Zarian are beset by their internal problems. The factional strife has finally reached the army. It still wouldn’t do to write them off, of course. I think the Zarian have sufficiently proved how dangerous they are. But it’s still important. We’ll manage, especially with the help of our black stage cultivators.”

I smiled at the eighth-stagers present. They inclined their heads in return, and Ki even returned a small smile.

“That should not be much of a problem,” General Poteri agreed. After his campaign on the Earth Continent was finished, he’d been sent to the southern front. I suspected the army’s high command wanted a strategist to replace General Wei. Or maybe Kiyanu did. Not that I was going to complain. “The closer we draw to the capital, the more resistance from local elements we have to anticipate, however.”

“Most of those not already with the army are busy infighting,” Elia spoke up. “But our advance will definitely stir up the great families, too.”

“It will increase the time crunch for everyone,” I agreed. “That’s half the point. Are there any other objections?” I looked around the room, but no one spoke up. I nodded and continued. “Good. Let’s make sure we move quickly.”

The meeting moved pretty fast from there, and ten minutes later, it disbanded, as everyone headed off to their tasks. Several of the nobles stayed behind and tried to talk to me. I forced myself to remain polite and not brush them off too obviously. By the time I finally got out and stepped outside the estate, the army was packing up, soldiers preparing to move out. We were leaving a decently large garrison behind, and almost all of the strong cultivators in the city had died or been driven off, anyway.

I walked through the streets, which were no longer quiet but still not as bustling as they should have been, in silence, surrounded by my guard detail. After crossing through a gate in the outer wall, I found a nice spot on a hill where I had a good view over everything.

Only a minute later, I felt a familiar presence approaching. I turned and watched as the guards parted neatly to let him pass, shifting their formation slightly to watch both of our backs. Kajare wore a cultivator’s robes in the traditional Imperial style, and in clan Leri’s blue and silver. I wondered if he was making a point, or to whom.

“Nari,” he greeted me with a smile and stepped closer to kiss me on the cheek.

“Kajare,” I replied, returning his smile and slipping my hand into his.

“Are you alright?” he asked directly. He hesitated, then shrugged slightly. “This is the first time we’ve been alone and I’ve had the chance to ask you since the battle.”

“Of course. I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” He smiled again. “I’m not sure I would be so calm after seeing Jideia in person. And you finally met your Mother again. Stop me if I’m out of line, but I knew you and she had disagreements. It must have been … stressful.”

I regarded him thoughtfully. Tenira and Yarani hadn’t brought this up. They’d been there, and recognized that I didn’t want to talk about it later. I was tempted to just brush him off, but the honest concern he showed stopped me.

“It was,” I replied. “We talked things out, after a fashion. Well, it involved me having an angry fit at her, to be honest. But we ended on a better note, and I think we’ve worked through a few issues.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Although I wish I could have been there to see you shouting at the Empress.”

I returned his grin and lightly bonked him on the head. “How boorish of you. Maybe I should just shout at you if you want to see it so much.”

“Be my guest. I’m always at your service, my lady.” He put his arms around me and drew me closer.

I gave him a quick kiss, then rested my head on his shoulder. “It feels like we haven’t had time together for far too long,” I said quietly. “Just to talk.”

“True,” he agreed. “I don’t mind being your link between the Terbekteri and your own forces, quite the contrary, but it does seem to take me away from you and the others far too much.”

I pulled back, breaking the hug, and considered that for a moment. It was true that Yarani and Tenira followed me around a lot more these few last months. But Kajare wasn’t just the symbol of the Empire’s alliance with the Kingdom, he was invaluable in maintaining it.

I knew Kajare would never complain about that. He was doing his duty. He probably did enjoy doing it, on the whole, but he’d do it regardless. In that moment, I really appreciated his quiet support.

We waited in companionable silence, watching the city and the landscape of the Dominion’s central lands stretching out before us. The Whitecaps towered over the area like white sentinels dutifully guarding their people’s prizes. We could reach their capital in a few hours without hurrying too much, if there wasn’t a war going on.

We watched as the army encamped from the city, soldiers leaving through the gates and forming up. This might well be the most perilous stretch of our trek so far, and the formation they took reflected that. Tenira, Yarani, Elia, and Lei joined me and Kajare shortly, before all of us walked down to take our own places. I kept holding hands with my husband.

The signal to march out was given by several horn blasts, though it wasn’t as if everyone couldn’t tell what was going on anyway. Even with all the Lighters, still a large number even after the detachments we’d left in various places, the army wasn’t that big. Hannibal had probably taken more soldiers with him over the Alps. Of course, I intended to succeed where the Carthaginians had failed, and I wouldn’t screw around in the countryside too much and waste my chance to take the enemy’s capital. I just need to not be an idiot about it, either. I smiled to myself as we got moving.

We were traveling carefully, and I could tell that the soldiers were on edge. That was just as well, in my opinion. We were now well and truly moving through the Zarian Dominion’s heartland, and it wouldn’t do to forget the danger. The Zarian hadn’t used teleportation much since we handed them a crushing defeat with it, but that was no guarantee that they couldn’t. We hadn’t teleported much ourselves, either. I preferred to keep that card up our sleeve. It still meant that even careful scouting couldn’t tell us everything about what we might encounter, though I was sure our scouts and Kariva’s specialists did their best.

While I could feel the tension of those around me, I simply felt relaxed. I enjoyed the nice morning breeze and the winter sun shining down on us, and listened to the plodding of shoes and spirit beasts on the trail we followed. My horse seemed to feel it as well, with the contained energy in her movements, showing me she wanted to run wild.

The city had vanished into a speck behind us when the monotony of travel was first broken. We were traveling through the foothills of the Whitecaps now, hilly country bedecked with forests, small streams and grasses, and stretching into scraggly tundra-like steppes to the south.

It was inhospitable country, but a beautiful one. In a way, I felt far more connected to this than to the lush fields of the Empire’s north, more drawn to it. I no longer wondered why I had found more spirit-children among the Zarian than the Empire.

One of them was among the group waiting for us in a shadowed grove just off a stony hillside. They’d hidden themselves well, but my qi senses had been able to pick her out from a mile away. My group had ridden ahead (and slightly to the side) of the main army, and as I guided my horse between the trees, followed by my companions, I hoped we’d be able to keep this discreet.

“Imperial Princess.” The older woman bowed deeply. She glanced at my companions, bowing her head politely, and smiled as her eyes settled on Elia. “I think I’m beginning to see why you wanted to meet in person.”

“It’s not that I mistrust you,” I replied, dismounting and letting one of my guards take the reins, before I inclined my head to her. “But I’d rather be sure about these things, you understand.”

“Of course.” She glanced in the direction of the army. It felt like she was only in the fourth stage, but I wouldn’t bet on that, and she could clearly sense their presence anyway. “I see you didn’t bring many of your officers.”

“This isn’t common knowledge among them,” I answered, smiling wryly. “But even if they find out now, I don’t think they could do much harm. Still, if you don’t mind, let’s get down to business.” From the corner of my eyes, I caught Tenira and Yarani exchanging an ironic look, but ignored them.

“As you wish, Your Highness.” The spirit-child nodded at us. I wasn’t sure of her heritage, but I suspected it was a reasonably strong local spirit, nothing in Rijoko’s, or even the Auditor’s, league. She hadn’t offered her name, so I wouldn’t ask. “We were sent by Lady Vana, as I assume you know. She’s recently been titled steward of the house’s scrolls.”

I nodded. “Congratulations are in order. I imagine the new office helps with our business.” It was notable that she’d managed such a rise with the help of the Basement and our contacts. Elis had probably reached her by now, too, of course.

“Quite. We have made some progress, certainly.”

For the next few minutes, she updated us on how things were going. I listened quietly but intently, soaking up her information and storing it for later pondering, while I let my intuition play with the pieces of info. The web of Zarian politics was just as tangled as you would expect, and the recent upheavals hadn’t made it easier, but I’d been briefed on it before and she had a knack for distilling information and making things easily comprehensible. Vana had clearly chosen her carefully for this task. I’d talked to the Basement leader in her sleep last night, so this wasn’t unexpected. I didn’t think the details were going to be very important for me, anyway. It wasn’t my job to handle those.

“It seems like things are going reasonably well, then,” I finally commented. “Although this mention of overtures from the other factions worries me. The hope was that we could move quickly enough to catch them before they united against the imminent threat. Still, good work.”

I glanced at Elia, who nodded subtly. Apparently, she hadn’t sensed anything from our visitors that would give us cause for concern. My other companions were clearly listening to us attentively, too.

“That brings me to the last part of my message, Imperial Princess,” the Zarian said. She inclined her head. “I am to tell you that Spark apologizes, but she would like to amend the plan.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. Our plan was pretty vague and left room for improvisation, but I wondered what she wanted.

“Yes, my lady. She requests a personal meeting with you.”

After a moment, I nodded. “Alright. If it’s that important to her, I’ll certainly oblige. I assume she has made preparations?”

“Indeed. She has chosen a place where you will not be observed, though it is best if you arrive there… directly.”

I sighed, then turned to Aston. “Please find General San and make sure she meets us…” I paused, then pointed out a sheltered spot beside a hillock some distance away, hidden from view from the army. “There.”

Aston bowed and vanished. He’d contact Hashar telepathically, and I had no concerns about her ability to slip away.

“Thank you, Imperial Princess,” the Zarian said. “If you will excuse us, it is best my companions depart now. I will come with you to guide you to our destination.”

“Of course. May the Moon guide your way.”

The other Zarian, who’d tried hard to be unobtrusive and never spoken up, melted into the surrounding trees. I glanced after them for a moment, then turned away.

“Well, that was interesting,” Tenira said. “This isn’t going to be a quiet, peaceful little outing, is it?”

Yarani laughed. “When is it ever?”

I smiled, but didn’t respond, and pulled a bit of darkness qi over us. After a moment, Tenira and Lei joined in. We quickly made our way to the place I’d chosen.

It only took half a minute for San Hashar to arrive, flitting through the trees at a fast pace, but without making any noise. She sank to a knee. “Your Highness, you called for me?”

“Hashar, rise, please. We need to go to a meeting with an ally, and the best way to get there is teleportation. Our contact here knows the location. I hope you can get it from her?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Hashar turned to the Zarian, eying her for a moment, and smiled politely. “May I?”

“Of course.”

She closed her eyes, and I knew Hashar was establishing a telepathic connection. The Zarian was probably focusing on the destination, and Hashar would try to get familiar enough with it that she could bring us there.

A moment later, with little warning, the world around us started to shift. I stiffened and closed my eyes, enduring the familiar feeling of teleportation. It shouldn’t be too far away, but this was still disorienting.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Hashar staggering slightly, but she straightened up quickly. Then I turned my attention to my surroundings. We stood in a clearing surrounded by trees, not too different from our origin point, thought the view of the mountains on the horizon had changed. Vana waited for us accompanied by two guards in Siranum colors. They didn’t show any surprise at our appearance.

When she saw me looking, she bowed deeply. “Your Highness. It is good to see you again. I hope all is well?”

“Likewise. Yes, it is, for the most part.”

She turned to my companions and greeted them quickly, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it.

I frowned. “Why did you call us here? Bad news?”

“For the most part, things have gone well. But there is … one issue. I assume you know Elis went to join me in order to help our efforts here?”

“Yes. Where is he?”

She clearly took a deep breath. “They’ve taken Elis.”

I stared at her, then closed my eyes for a moment. Beside me, Elia sucked in air audibly. Lei stepped closer and took her hand, and I rested my hand on her shoulder briefly as well.

Oh, crap. I should have known things were going too well.