Yuriko simply blinked at the Third Archon’s statement and chuckled softly. Edison held in his laughter, too. Hysterical laughter, almost. From the looks of his Lordships, they didn’t believe everything he’d reported. But then again, who would? This young woman who was only halfway into her second decade was a war veteran and had more blood in her hands than most field commanders thrice her age. Those long weeks on the Wheelwright had been boring and he’d spent most of that time talking with her.

Most of what they spoke of concerned occult resonance techniques, or Animus techniques as she called them. He learned a lot, even if most of her knowledge required far too much reactive malachite to use. Anyone other than her anyway. Those Plasma Casters were actually the most interesting. It was a direct application of occult resonance in an offensive manner. Myths and stories of mages hurling fire and lightning were just that, myths. No mage could channel that much occult resonance and come out of it unscathed.

But watching them conjure fog on a hot day, by boiling the Kamwick Sea, and then controlling the resulting mists…that was more than frightening and firmly into the realm of myths and legends. And from the stories the marines shared on their arrival…not only did they fight daemons as though they were farmers, they also faced against the Confederate’s infantry and their armoured company, and came out on top. Objectively speaking, the girl was a frightening existence, and given the fact that she’d been in several wars already, he only hoped that combat fatigue didn’t make her snap.

Third Archon Wendell, on the other hand, was as far from a war mage as was possible. Academic curiosity drives him more than anything else, and watching him try to charm secrets out of Yuriko, someone who was a quarter of his age, was amusing and, given how he looked like when he begged, a bit uncomfortable.

Lords Milton, and Jacobson dragged Lord Castleton with them and conversed with Horace and Sheamus. Those two were quite steadfast and not as impulsive as the teens. Unfortunately, he observed that both of them automatically deferred to Yuriko, in any matter that she took an interest in.

Anyway, it was time to rescue the girls from the Archon’s persistent cajolery.

“Hmmm?”

Edison’s ears twitched and the five of them, the Lordships, Archon, and he, instinctively looked out the windows. There was a brief and shrill whistle, followed by a siren call.

“What’s that?” Yuriko asked.

“Air raid siren,” Lord Milton answered stiffly. “Chained to Lindorn. The raid isn’t expected to reach here, but it serves as a warning to the citizens to vacate the streets.” The naval officer got up stiffly and continued. “As much as I’d love to hear more of your journeys, Masters Dorn and Greenfield, I’m afraid we’ll have to schedule it for another time. Please head towards the bunkers and wait for the allclear. Mr. Matthews, a word.”

“Yes, sir,” Edison replied, shrugging to Yuriko in apology.

An aide entered the room, a youngish man who couldn’t help but give the girls a surreptitious eyeful. “This way, please.”

“I’ll see you later, or if not, at the university,” Edison said with a wave as the Outsider party left.

When he turned around, the undersecretaries were already on their way out of the room. Third Archon Wendell walked up to him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him along.

“Now then, Mr. Matthews, I believe you need to tell us every pertinent detail you remember. Ah, on the way to the bunker, of course.”

So they weren’t satisfied with the earlier brief, after all. Edison sighed and hoped he’d actually be given a tasty dinner, hopefully on time, instead of when the old fogies remembered to eat.

_____________

The siren had cut off by the time Yuriko and the others came out of the chamber. They were crossing a garden courtyard with the aide at the time, and were headed to a set of stairs just after the path.

“Does this mean the air raid is done?” Yuriko asked.

The young man shook his head, blushing while he avoided looking at her eyes. Hmmm, that hadn’t happened in a while. Yuriko frowned in thought. Her Mien had been quite passive the entire time she’d been in the Irvalla Region, and frankly, she was quite relieved. Was it now asserting itself through the dearth of ambient Chaos or was the iarvesh level in this place higher?

A brief application of Chaos Sight told her that the ambient Chaos density might be a few points higher here. She wasn’t that certain, however, since the motes of Chaos were still too dispersed to easily see.

She didn’t pull back her aura perception, but she did try to thin it further. She might have lowered her Anima’s density by a fraction, but it wasn’t immediately perceptible. It was much like holding her breath, with the degree depending on how much air was left in her lungs.

The skies were clear. Wispy clouds drifted in the breeze. The courtyard was wide enough that it didn’t cut too much from the view of the sky, and she looked towards the south, where the siren had come from. There seemed to be dots flitting through the clouds in that direction. And when she activated Enhanced Sight and focused, she saw metal contraptions there. They were similar to the thing she saw in the skies back near the portal, except these ones looked…sleeker? More aggressive, probably. The aircraft didn’t look like any of the Chaos ships she’d seen over the years, and there was only a little hint of Animus and Chaos surrounding them. Most of it was centred on the front part of the things, right behind the spinning fans that were responsible for propulsion. She could see the wind flowing over the wings, with the ones going above the things going much faster than underneath. More than a little bit of ambient Chaos surrounded those wings, but there was definitely no runescript in sight. Maybe they were concealed within the chassis?

She focused her enhancement to her ears, but she wasn’t well versed in it, and was instead drowned by the noise and chatter. Worried tones lingered in the air, and the scuffing of shoes against the concrete, practically overwhelmed whatever it was she was trying to hear.

As she returned her enhancement to her eyes, she noticed a different set of aircraft, flying to meet the others. They zoomed towards each other, then bursts of fire near the fans spat out tiny bits of metal. Most of the metal arrows…er, bullets, missed the opposing craft, but many struck the chassis and created tiny holes in the armour. A few of the damaged aircraft veered away, with a couple on both sides began to fall, and their ultimate fates were concealed from her sight by the building.

“Yuri?” Gwendith placed a hand on her shoulder. The others had stopped when she did and looked towards the fighting aircraft.

“Please,” the aide said, “we have to take shelter.”

Yuriko shook her head. “You go ahead. We’ll be fine.” She jumped and landed lightly on the roof. She supported most of her weight with her Anima, not wanting to damage the delicate-looking tiles. She ignored the commotion from below and focused on the aerial battle. She couldn’t help but superimpose her own battles, few of which actually happened in the air. Her Anima could spread out and create wings, and she was reasonably sure she could use her Animakinesis to push against the air in the same way those spinning blades did. As for throwing metal arrows, she could do the same. Probably not with her Animakinesis, though.

The speed at which the aircraft flew was nowhere near what Chaos ships could reach when they travelled the planes. And those guns weren’t nearly as destructive as plasma weaponry, or even the simpler kinetic throwers that some old fashioned ships still had. But there was a charm to their aerial dance that she was drawn to. She felt the urge to take to the skies and duel with those aircraft…

But the illusion of the dance disappeared when some other aircraft, flying high above the fighters, dived almost straight down. A hundred paces above the ground, they dropped something from the bottom of their craft, and a few moments later, they hit the ground. Even from as far away as she stood, the sound of thunder reached her. She could see small clouds of smoke rising from the distance, and she wondered what those things targeted and hit. A few minutes later, the aircraft turned around and flew back to the west, and finally, across the ocean.

In a daze, Yuriko returned to her party. She absently noted the complaints from the aide, as well as from a few of the officials who had been gesticulating fiercely in her direction. She left Gwendith and Sheamus to placate their ruffled feathers, and she only mumbled insincere apologies in turn. Eventually, Edison met them near the reception area, along with the others of their party. Heron and the twins rushed towards her with much relief, and babbled about their experiences in the palace.

Since it was already close to dusk, they were housed in a modest inn. Dinner was a side of beef, slow roasted and basted in an aromatic sauce, along with roasted and mashed potatoes and some stringy greens that were nicely buttered. And the perennial ale. Actually there was a dark kind of porter, as the paler lager. Both were bitter to her tongue and she’d much preferred the red wine that was given to her when she asked for something else. The boys and the marines, as well as the beastkin, enjoyed the ales, however, even going so far as to remove their caps and revealed their canine and feline ears. The other patrons stared at them and murmured something about Aralian beastfolk, which she remembered to be a country far east of the Richmond Confederacy.

The murmuring confirmed to her that there were other beastkin in this region, so Kassy’s and Roland’s family weren’t too odd. Orrin never removed his beret, even though their host for the evening shot him a scandalised look.

Sadly, she wasn’t able to soak in a bathtub. There were warm showers though, so it was passable.

The next morning, they walked towards a locomotive station, and took a short ride northwest. The town of Fordja wasn’t too far from Lindorn’s outskirts. No more than a couple of down longstrides. The Lindorn University was there, as well as many of the headquarters of the Karcellian Mages’ Society.

Edison came with them on the trip, of course, though he said he couldn’t stay long as he already had his next mission lined up.

He led them towards a row of houses a few blocks from the university proper. They were cute one story affairs, made out of bricks and painted in pastel colours. That didn’t change the fact that the houses looked like mirror images of each other.

“Let’s see…” Edison mumbled as he retrieved a set of keys with wooden fobs. The fobs had numbers on them, which matched the bronze symbols on the doors. He distributed a dozen of the keys. “Each one had a couple of bedrooms, at least. The ones on the far end have three. I guess take your pick?”

“Give us one with three bedrooms.” Gwendith said while she had her arm linked with Desire.

“Sure.” The fob had the number 32 on it,

After they settled in, Edison said, “Tomorrow, someone will get you for a tour of the university. I’m afraid this is goodbye for now.” He bowed over Yuriko’s hand, “Until we meet again, and thank you for your tutelage. It was most enlightening.”

“Will you go back to the mainland?” Yuriko asked.

“Hmmm, I can’t answer that, I’m afraid. But we are on the back foot. Norrinth had capitulated to the Richmond Confederacy and have signed a treaty. They are effectively out of the war, and only remnant forces are scattered across the Region. I think there’s a general who fled across the channel and is trying to rally support here.” He shook his head. “The Confederates are building airfields all across northwestern Norrinth, and it looks like they’re looking to invade across the channel. Tough times ahead,” he said regretfully.

“I see,” Yuriko hummed. “There’s still something I’m looking for, and I believe I will find it in the battlefront.”

“Miss Davar…are you looking to…erm, enlist?”

“No,” Yuriko gave him a lidded stare, “it will only limit me. Ah, don’t worry, I won’t act without informing your government. But do tell them of my intentions.”

“Of course,” Edison readily agreed, but he looked quite nervous. “Ah, please help expand the country’s knowledge of the arcane arts first.”

Yuriko snorted. “We’ll see. I’ll trade what knowledge I can, if it’s worth what I find there.”

“Of course.” And with a final wave, Edison left.