Rohmhelt took a deep breath to suppress his rage. The report from Marshal Agrehn and his subordinates relating to an attempt on his brother's life in Methrangia was the very first he had heard of such a plot. Empress Evinda sat by his side, her motions suspiciously still. So precarious had their position become that they were forced to hold court in a small inn at a town called Minohrt and the distance between everyone present was uncomfortably close.

"Marshal Agrehn, you've been evasive about this so I'll ask you directly. From where did this plot originate?" Rohmhelt inquired. "Don't waste any more time. Tell me."

Agrehn folded his hands behind his back and straightened his posture.

"I don't know," he answered.

"How is that possible?" Rohmhelt retorted.

"Forgive me, Your Imperial Majesty, but there are loyalists to you all over the empire, even those parts not currently under our control. They seek opportunities to advance your cause."

The Emperor sighed again, only meeting with limited success in suppressing his swelling anger.

"And you say there's no definitive word of whether he and his family are dead, correct?" Rohmhelt asked, his voice squeaking as he muzzled an urge to scream.

Agrehn glanced behind him at several junior commanders who held their heads down slightly, keeping their eyes on the floor.

"No. We don't know."

Rohmhelt tossed his hands skyward and shook his head.

"If my brother were dead, we'd have heard about it. There's not a chance that could be kept secret for long," Rohmhelt mumbled. "Don't misunderstand me. I want him dead, but it has to be done honorably, otherwise we're no better than he is. This madness where we might have killed his wife and son, a newborn... Do you know how ordinary people will see this?"

Evinda sighed to his right and shook her head. Agrehn and the other commanders glanced toward her and then hurriedly back toward Rohmhelt.

"That isn't something I regularly consider, Your Imperial Majesty," Agrehn stolidly responded.

"Let me put it simply for everyone here. The worst thing that happened to our war effort was when the High Angel descended and killed more than a million people in Zarmand at a single stroke," the Emperor bellowed so loudly that his voice cracked at the end. He swallowed to recompose himself. "We all know what that cost us. She thought she was bringing the war to a swift end. I'm sure whoever was behind this thought the same. Both Forynda and you, whichever of you conceived of this madness, simply don't know what you're doing."

At that Evinda's head turned sharply in his direction.

"My dear, if the commanders would excuse us for a moment, I'd like to speak to you alone," she said.

The very fact she asked for such a private discussion was all that he needed to hear to predict what she would say next. Nonetheless, there were appearances to be kept up and he dismissed the commanders. They found a small side room in the inn to add to the secrecy. Evinda stood proudly, her hands folded just in front of her blue and gold dress that contrasted brilliantly with her bright red skin. Even with the building anger he felt, he couldn't help but be struck by her beauty.

"You did this," he said after a tense silence.

"Not exactly," she replied calmly.

"Someone gave this order and I need to know who," Rohmhelt seethed at her. "If it was Agrehn, I need a new marshal. If it was a lower commander, I may execute them. If it was you... I don't know."

Her yes locked onto his and her eyebrows rose high into her forehead.

"I ask you to trust me that I only gave a tacit endorsement of the idea," she said.

"Tacit? You'll have to explain this a bit better because that doesn't make any sense!" he shouted in frustration.

She swallowed and paused for a moment before continuing.

"A plan came to us from a network of spies and resistance fighters led by a Commander Dastov, if you've heard of him."

"Dastov? Yes, my father's former spy chief and we've had him working on Auras and ways of using them," Rohmhelt answered.

"Yes. He was in contact with some elements in Methrangia after we left. They wanted to carry out a campaign against Duronaht and his loyalists," Evinda continued, her voice calm. "He sought instruction as to whether he should order attacks against leaders in your brother's government. You were very busy with other matters at the time and so I thought it was such a straightforward request that I simply told them to proceed. That was all."

He didn't want to believe it could have been as simple as that. Something with such a profound consequence had to have had a more deliberate origin. Yet, his instincts told him to accept that it was truly that banal.

"So... you think those were the orders and they got carried away?" he mumbled. "Or they misled you?"

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

"That's always possible. We have so many people around us with their own motivations and I've never met this Commander Dastov, nor corresponded with him," she said with frustration. "There's one thing we always said back in my homeland in the north. The Empire is simply too big to be governed."

Rohmhelt chuckled at that observation.

"That was father's thought, of course. That's why he divided the Empire, at least temporarily, between me and Duronaht. We see how that went," Rohmhelt tossed his hands up in resignation. "I've never spoken to this Dastov, either. I know my father relied on him intensely for information, but Agrehn reassigned him when all of this happened. I can't even remember who our current spymaster is."

"Functionally it's still Dastov," Evinda said with a pained smile, clearly amused by that fact. "We haven't spent much time making sure we have reliable people in key positions, I've noticed."

"There hasn't been the time," Rohmhelt conceded and sat limply in one of the creaky wooden chairs nearby. "If we ever do get a nice long lull, I might thin out some of the more problematic types. I need to make sure that everything that happens is something I can actually approve of."

Evinda then raised a finger to her lips and batted it back and forth several times while looking at him.

"There's something to what these mages in Methrangia tried to do, though," she spoke in a contemplative mumble. "They must know how difficult our position is. How could they not? Maybe they just didn't think it was possible we could win outright on the battlefield and..."

"Don't make excuses for them!" Rohmhelt angrily cut her off. "We haven't even started our plan to recover. I intend to lure my brother deeper and deeper and deeper in the West and that begins with Eynond. If my strategy starts failing, I'll be the first to admit it, but I see nothing so far that tells me it can't work."

"You do see how they could've thought it was hopeless and needed something drastic, though?" she inquired.

The fact she seemed fixated on this point led him to one obvious conclusion.

"You mean you have your doubts," he riposted. "I know you do. You originally didn't think we should have retreated from Methrangia and I understand why you thought that. I hope you don't still think that, though."

"No, I see you were right about that," she said. "You know I agree now. But even with that battle Cyrona and Simel won for us, it's been a hard stretch."

He rose from the chair and embraced her, his prior irritation fading away as her warm touch calmed him.

"I know," he murmured. "I just want you to understand that killing my brother is pointless if it's not done right. Omonrel, Parlon, and the others would be more than happy to lead the war themselves with him as a martyr." He then pushed away and looked directly into her eyes. "Now, if you can kill one of them, by all means."

She chuckled and wearily rubbed her forehead.

"I'll see if I can do something," she said with a wink.

He smiled and started walking out the door to what he knew would be a tedious meeting with Lohs and his councilors on more mundane matters of state. After such a contentious encounter, however, it was a welcome respite.

~~~

Once Rohmhelt departed, Evinda returned to the camp's periphery just outside of Minohrt. The town itself was tucked into a narrow valley just to the north of the Keldras River, which flowed gently to the town's southeast. Rolling hills marked most of the terrain to Minohrt's northwest along with pockets of dense forests, including one such pocket that surrounded a particularly foul-smelling pond. It was there that she met with Cisord, his daughter Lyfress, and a few dozen others who continued to receive training from the angel Simel in wielding the Auras.

Simel, with his strange metallic eyes, kept much of his focus on the Empress as the training proceeded for hours. She was unnerved by the Mind Angel's accusatory gaze, the purpose of which was finally made clear once the training session ended and the others had departed.

"You are troubled," Simel said. "What is it?"

"Was it that obvious?" Evinda forced a chuckle.

Simel did not reciprocate and instead floated before her silently for several awkward seconds.

"Your husband once felt that he could hide his troubles from me as well. I have seen and felt too many burdened minds to not know one in my presence."

She nodded and breathed deeply.

"Rohmhelt accused me of ordering the attempt on his brother's life," she said quietly, not certain if there were still any close enough to hear.

"And the reason this troubles you is that it is true."

She jolted at Simel's languid assessment.

"How did..." she gasped.

"It was the logical cause of your discomfort," he intoned. "I have no knowledge of the plot itself."

She turned away and looked at the pond's rippling surface as it was disturbed by the constant light and cool autumn breeze.

"What I told him was largely true. I told him that I didn't know exactly what was planned, but... I certainly hoped they would kill his brother and end this war," she said, her voice roiling with conflicting emotions. She still felt rattled by facing the accusation while also swelling with fear and rage as she considered their weak position in the war.

"It is a certainty that, even if they had succeeded, the war would not have ended," Simel grimly commented. "My rebellious brethren would continue the struggle regardless."

"Rohmhelt said exactly that," she sighed. "And he's right. I know that."

"You also must have known that before you endorsed the attempt," Simel said, his voice taking on a more mysterious lilt.

"I did."

"Then why did you do it?"

Evinda turned back around and sheepishly tried to avoid engaging Simel's haunting gaze. She fought against an inclination to continue to hide her fears, but she reasoned that was pointless in the Mind Angel's presence.

"To speak candidly and entirely truthfully, it's the Abyssal Aura," she said. Simel's ordinarily motionless face twisted at the mention. "When I heard what happened between Vorlan and Omonrel and then your encounter with Parlon, I wondered if we were simply outmatched and I became desperate. You've got to understand that the idea even the angels supporting us aren't able to protect us is terrifying."

Regaining his composure, Simel gave a simple affirmative nod to the Empress.

"I will not deny that the Abyssal Aura has introduced a quandary. It is one I had not considered when this crisis began. I now realize I had visions of its influence, but did not appreciate what I saw for what it was," the angel lamented. "That Omonrel and Parlon can so easily wield a power originating from mortals should not surprise us. Their long experience alongside mortals gave them an advantage in learning its depths. And they have no restraint."

"I keep hearing that it comes from mortals. What do you mean by that?" she inquired further.

Simel quickly summoned a ring of varying glowing representations of the Auras from watery blue to electric yellow.

"All of these come originally from the Progenitor's realm. Whatever they are, they existed before even the angels themselves were created and that is a time too long ago for you to comprehend," Simel took on the stern tone of an instructor as he spoke. "Two others, the Abyssal and the Silver Auras, only appeared once mortals were created. Even the collective knowledge of Ceuna is unable to answer why. While it was Nethron who released them and made them accessible to mortals, I knew about them long ago, as did Forynda. We did not understand them and never bothered learning more about them."

Much as the Empress wished to press deeper into the mysterious history of the angels of Ceuna that Simel alluded to, she kept her focus on this one matter.

"And you assumed they'd never be a problem because they'd never be freed?" she said.

"Precisely. None of the Auras were ever to be released. That was an unfortunate reality that Nethron forced upon us. However, Omonrel and Parlon still would have been able to use them against us even if Nethron had never done that," Simel stated with a bitter note. "The Abyssal Aura has been a problem for us precisely because it is not of Ceuna. Omonrel and Parlon know that. I understand why its efficacy against Vorlan, Cyrona, and myself troubles you. It troubles me."

"But, since it was released, it's something we, mortals that is, could use as well, correct? Just as we would any of the other Auras?"

Simel silently stared back at her.

"Yes. It is possible," the angel answered.

"Do you think it would be a mistake for us to pursue it? If the enemy is using it, shouldn't we? Unless of course it's inherently dangerous or evil."

The Mind Angel again stared silently at her for several seconds.

"It is not evil. It is a form of power driven by mortal passion, which is neither good nor evil. It simply exists. How it would be used depends on the motivations of its wielder. Its name has a negative connotation among mortals, but that was an affectation of Nethron's, not something inherent to the Aura."

That answer excited Evinda. It was everything she had hoped for.

"Given that our enemies use it to great effect, surely we can't be so foolish as to just let them have it alone," she declared, almost as though she was giving an imperial edict. "We need to make sure the Abyssal Aura is part of our mages' training along with the others. I trust that you will help us."

"It is a volatile instrument," Simel cautioned, his voice wreathed in concern. "Since I see that it is inevitable you intend to go down that path, I feel a duty to ensure that its perils and promises are properly understood."

She smiled at Simel.

"You have my gratitude," she happily said. "I understand this is dangerous, but it's also necessary."