“I would respectfully ask you to explain the meaning of your previous statement, honored ihlzheyv,” Zeyviyn said slowly, his words hissing between tightly clenched teeth. Taavreyl, who was beside him, was literally vibrating with rage at what I had just told them. Though I couldn’t see Vaozey clearly because my eyes were locked with Zeyviyn’s, I heard a few quiet chokes of pained, suppressed laughter as she sat still.

“If you would read the packet of information I gave you, you’ll find a full explanation on pages eighteen through twenty,” I replied. Zeyviyn’s eye twitched, and Taavreyl couldn’t bear to contain himself any longer. Bursting to his feet, he snatched his empty cup and threw it at me with as much force as his thin arm could muster. It halted in front of my face, and I levitated it down onto the table beside my hand. At least he didn’t go for the plate, I thought, it still has food on it.

“You jhiyzpeyznehtm ferngiyf daymzteyl mongrel!” he screamed, turning red with fury and nearly spitting far enough to reach me. Evidently, the curses had been in Dahmpiyahn, but I already knew the meanings of two of them due to their similarity to Uwrish.

“Taavreyl!” Zeyviyn shouted, shooting up as well. “Uwmiyrvael!” Without warning, he struck his partner with a punch and knocked him to the ground. Vaozey couldn’t take it anymore and began to snort, raising a hand to her mouth. The pair began yelling back and forth in rapid-fire Dahmpiyahn once Taavreyl got to his feet, exchanging blows and shocking Mawyeyz with some of the words they were using. I couldn’t understand any of it because they were both shouting over each other too much.

“Did you really have to give them a whole notebook?” Vaozey asked, and I considered it. I may have gotten a bit carried away, I admitted to myself. What had initially been intended as a simple primer on genetic theory and its applications to human reproduction had quickly spiraled into a large manual on the basics of cellular biology, patterns of reproduction among plants and animals, instructions on how to create simple tools like microscopes, and guides for things like identification of genetic markers for illness and common changes to plants and animals undergoing domestication. In total, it was around eighty pages, and I had written out two copies, which left me short on sleep.

“I didn’t expect this sort of reaction,” I admitted quietly.

“Me either, but maybe I should have,” Vaozey muttered.

“Are you two planning to fight all day?” I asked, trying to get the attention of the nobles. Neither was paying attention to me, and it annoyed me more than it would have otherwise, so I too stood up. “Enough!” I yelled, and the room was quiet in an instant.

“My apologies, ihlzheyv,” Zeyviyn said, wiping away some blood on his lip. Taavreyl wouldn’t even make eye contact with me until Zeyviyn elbowed him, and he still looked livid.

“Sit,” I ordered, and the two men sat down again, leaving me as the only one standing. “I offered you something that could save untold numbers of your nobility, and this is how you react?”

“It is iyllaethahiyv,” Taavreyl growled. I glared at him, and he looked away.

“I mean no disrespect, but is it possible you are mistaken?” Zeyviyn asked, sounding tense. “This… knowledge you have spoken of is nonsensical to us. Were you not an ihlzheyv, this would be enough to warrant a cessation of diplomacy, and I believe Taavreyl would desire a duel over the insult to our honor.”

“He is no ihlzheyv,” Taavreyl spat. “He is a lihrtaazm who hopes we will muddy our bloodlines and weaken our stock because he envies us. This entire meeting is a farce.” I had been growing more and more annoyed with Taavreyl over the course of the past meetings, and it seemed that he had finally done enough to make my human side demand something be done about it. Hot anger washed away the mental fatigue I was feeling, and I inhaled deeply.

“Do you want to duel?” I asked, staring at him, unblinking. Taavreyl stared back at the space above my head, not saying anything. I knew enough about Dahmpiyahn culture from Yaazmay to know that his gesture was an insult, insinuating that I was below him in status. “Oh, my apologies for not considering your culture,” I growled. “Vaozey, ask him if he wants to duel me.”

“Well, do you?” Vaozey asked, and I could tell by her tone of voice that she was smiling. Taavreyl didn’t dare insult her because of her status and was forced to look down and away.

“No, Vihjhao-” he said.

“Because I would kill you,” I finished for him. “I could kill you in a dozen ways without even picking up a weapon. I could take the water from this cup and use it to kill you before you could even react. Why do you think you have any right to question me?”

“You have made your point clear,” Zeyviyn said.

“No, I don’t think I have,” I snapped. “I have sat here for four days, five including this session, and listened to you people argue and bicker back and forth about every irrelevant issue you could think of. You are wasting my time, and that will end today.”

“You don’t control this meeting,” Shayaajh said from the other side of the table. “There are important issues that-”

“No, you don’t understand,” I interrupted. “This meeting will proceed as I direct from this point forward.”

“Under what authority?” Taavreyl demanded.

“You will comply willingly, or I will use force to compel you,” I shot back. “That is my authority.”

“You can’t-” Dawpvaol began.

“Shut up,” I snapped. “Who will stop me? You? The woman I beat up and stuffed into a chest while unarmed and exhausted when I was one-tenth as strong as I am now, at most?”

“Governor Tawl,” Shayaajh said, gesturing to Mawyeyz. “You can’t possibly think this is acceptable. Ihlzheyv or not, there are certain rules that must be followed.”

“Are there?” I demanded. “Will those rules protect you if I decide to shove my hand through your chest and rip your heart from it? I ask again, who would stop me? Who is the strongest individual in this city besides me?”

“That would be Zownayveht Svaaloyweyl, most likely,” Mawyeyz said. I had half expected the answer, but hearing confirmation was still a little bit surprising.

“Would you stop me from killing these useless idiots?” I asked her, softening my tone slightly to make it clear to everyone that I was in no way angry with her.

“I’d help you do it,” Vaozey snorted.

“So not her,” I said, turning back to Shayaajh and Dawpvaol for a moment before looking at the Dahmpiyahns. “Perhaps you, then?”

“You can’t coerce us with threats,” Zeyviyn warned. “If anything happens to us, it will be war.”

“If you continue to impede me, Uwriy will likely be destroyed anyway,” I shot back. “I am attending these meetings for three reasons. Firstly, it may allow me to increase my odds of successfully killing the Rehvite leadership on Mehtsiyah Island.”

“And you alienate us?” Taavreyl scoffed. “One man, ihlzheyv or not, cannot fight an army of kehpveht level warriors, as this ridiculous cult purports to have.”

“Secondly, I was specifically asked to take actions to aid Uwriy in the civil war,” I continued, ignoring him. “Finally, I wished to avoid unnecessary conflict with the Uwrish government’s forces.”

“Then why would you-” Shayaajh demanded.

“You are making it necessary!” I roared. “This is for your benefit, not mine! I would gladly kill my way out of this city and across this country, and I am quite confident I could do so, it is simply not the optimal way of achieving my goals! Rather, it wouldn’t be optimal if you incompetents could perform your roles correctly!” The room was silent, and I scanned across it multiple times, watching everyone on the left and right of the table shrink under my gaze.

“And how do we benefit?” Zeyviyn asked.

“Besides what I have already given you?” I snapped back.

“This information is of no use to us,” Zeyviyn said.

“It can be applied to crops and animals as well,” I replied. “Surely you may be interested in better farm yields, considering the miserable state of your civilization. Honestly, how you have not already domesticated crops that grow in environments beyond your temperate zone is beyond my understanding.”

“Our crops were given to us by the gods, like our livestock,” Taavreyl retorted, and I suppressed a growl of annoyance.

“And now those gods are giving you more of them, if you can use the modicum of intelligence you still possess after generations of inbreeding to read what I have written for you,” I shot back. “Or have you forgotten that the one whom I serve is Roydlow?” Of course, I didn’t believe the latter part for a second, but if the Dahmpiyahns were going to use their culture as a weapon I was more than happy to do the same.

“A god would never allow such nonsense to be spoken aloud, let alone written,” Taavreyl muttered, and it took a significant effort on my part not to throw his glass back at him.

“Then why didn’t one stop me?” I snarled. A second passed, then two, and there was no response. “I suppose Roydlow must not care then. If he has such a problem with it, he can show up here and do something about it. Otherwise, I don’t want to hear anything more from you unless it’s productive. In fact, if you speak again before I finish saying my piece, I’ll kill you. I’ve been developing some new techniques recently, and I need live test subjects.” If I had gotten a chance to work out how to make stable body surface holograms with light magic, I would have made my eyes glow just to drive the point home, but it wasn’t necessary.

“Speak then,” Shayaajh sighed. “You have taken the floor by force.” Reaching inside my jacket, I removed another notebook and tossed it to the man, who caught it with a confused expression. As he looked inside, his confusion only grew. “What is this?” he asked.

“The same thing I just gave them,” I replied, gesturing to the Dahmpiyahns. “Any information that is going to be divulged by me in these meetings will be shared equally with both parties present because I don’t have the patience to deal with your squabbling over who gets what. If you think that’s as useless as they assume it is, fine, just shut up about it.” I then removed another two sheets of paper and slid one to Shayaajh and Zeyviyn.

“What is… ihlehktrihkahl power?” Zeyviyn asked nervously. “This is a list, clearly, but of what? I do not recognize most of these words.” Of course you don’t you fucking primitive, I seethed, that’s the entire point, which you would know if your brain wasn’t addled by a dozen different genetic illnesses. My emotion was showing on my face, or at least the reactions I was getting suggested that it was, so I decided to take control fully again.

“They are topics that I can give you information about,” I explained, calming myself. “The purpose of the rest of this meeting will be to determine what topics you want me to share with you. I will not help you in this, but I will explain each topic further so that you can comprehend them.” Holding up my hand, I generated an electrical field that briefly arced between my fingers in a constant, crackling stream, drawing everyone’s eyes. “Electrical power is this kind of energy, and that topic would cover how to produce it without magic and various simple applications for it that are achievable with your level of technology.”

“And what’s to stop us from simply asking for everything?” Dawpvaol asked.

“Aside from both parties getting equal access, you will be negotiating with me for each piece once it is prepared, and I will increase the price of each one proportionally to the total number of topics requested,” I replied. “So, we have around three hours left. Determine what topics you want. If you have not chosen by the end of this meeting, I will consider you a lost cause and leave the city. Taavreyl, you may speak again, but only to further the goal of the meeting.”

Three hours wasn’t enough time to go through the whole list of topics, but I allowed everyone to extend their discussions into the next meeting since they managed to avoid fighting once I opened up discussions again. It seems all they need to do their jobs is the threat of violence, I thought with a yawn as Dawpvaol left, leaving the room with just Mawyeyz, Vaozey, and me inside. The lack of sleep from staying up to finish the biology guide combined with the sheer mental stress of having to teach a room full of humans whose technology was barely above simple metallurgy what concepts like calculus and predictive meteorology meant made me feel as though I had just finished fighting to the death. Mawyeyz, too, looked more tired than usual.

“Your methods may be unique, but your results speak for themselves,” he said.

“They’re not going to try to have me assassinated, are they?” I asked.

“Taavreyl might, but you shouldn’t worry,” Mawyeyz said. “If we keep proceeding at this rate, you’ll be out of the city before he can find someone dumb enough to try.”

“Are you really going to give Dahmpiyah everything you said you would?” Vaozey asked with a frown.

“Yes,” I replied. “Is that a problem?”

“It could be,” she said.

“Vaozey, what you’re thinking of will not happen,” Mawyeyz assured her. “After what was given to them today, I doubt they will use any information Yuwniht provides without thoroughly vetting it. They would discard it outright normally, but the temptation and possibility that it might not be false is too high. That means they will need to spend years, maybe even upwards of a decade secretly testing everything and passing it up the chain of nobles, all of whom could reject it for any reason without question, or alter it as they see fit.”

“Hrm,” Vaozey grunted, grinding her teeth.

“If even one-tenth of that knowledge is applied to the benefit of the nobility I would be shocked,” Mawyeyz said. “Dahmpiyah is nothing if not resistant to change.”

“Then why do Zeyviyn and Taavreyl want the information?” I asked. Once the initial shock had worn off, Taavreyl and Zeyviyn were both extremely interested in many of the topics on the list.

“It doesn’t matter if they can use it,” Mawyeyz said. “It will give them status to retrieve it for the nobility. Not as much as they would have gained if we weren’t getting it, but still enough that they may be able to secure better marriage opportunities or a large sum of money. I am sure, once they return, the tale of how they acquired the knowledge will be quite removed from the truth.”

“And Uwriy?” I asked. “Will Pehrihnk use it?” Mawyeyz grinned, then chuckled.

“Even if they don’t, I’ll make sure there are copies of it in Awrehrehzha for loan and purchase,” he replied. “Knowledge is power, after all. With how much you want us to better ourselves, I could almost believe that Rehv sent you.” Well, he certainly didn’t try to prevent me from coming back, I thought.

“Don’t start,” Vaozey hissed.

“My apologies,” Mawyeyz chortled. “The meeting is over anyway, let’s all get some rest.”

By the end of the next session, the topics had been picked, and it ended up taking a week for me to prepare twelve manuals about six topics that both the Dahpiyahn and Uwrish representatives agreed were worth trading for and something they would be alright with their counterparts having access to. By the end of it, I was almost prepared to draw a schematic for a basic typewriter just so that I would never have to write anything in Uwrish again, but it would have taken even more time that I didn’t want to spend. Once I was done, the meeting was called again, and I allowed the parties to view each manual before the negotiating began.

In the end, they only ended up “purchasing” three of the six pairs of books: A manual about all kinds of basic firearm design up to the creation of revolvers and cartridge-based weaponry, a manual about aerodynamics and flight, and finally a manual about basic chemistry. Evidently, their interest in weather, pure mathematics, and particle physics had waned during the production time, but that wasn’t the only factor affecting their decision. I didn’t really have a good picture of how many military resources were available in Awrehrehzha at the start, but by the end, I knew well enough to know they wouldn’t be able to afford my asking price.

In essence, there were enough soldiers to defend the city, but not nearly enough to do so while also mounting any significant attacks. I had initially hoped to get access to a ship and launch an attack on Zihzehshesk with enough soldiers to allow me to easily slip in and kill my targets even if it failed, but there were a number of problems with that plan. Zihzehshesk was quite well-defended by sea, first of all, meaning that it would take much more than one ship to attack them, and Awrehrehzha couldn’t spare even one ship without compromising their own defense. Worse, since the Rehvites hadn’t sent a second wave of magical soldiers to the mainland despite the war going on for over a decade, it was assumed they were massing forces again but refusing to deploy them for some reason, making a conventional attack near-suicidal.

As I looked over the map of Uwriy with the territory lines of each side mapped out, I realized I couldn’t possibly have emerged in a worse location. Even though I was near Methsiyah island in an objective sense, reaching a location that could actually provide me with enough forces to assault it would require crossing nearly half a country’s worth of enemy territory, and even then I would likely need to wait years before Pehrihnk trusted me enough to go along with my plans. I had a strong suspicion that I didn’t have years to wait, and Vaozey agreed with me, so instead we formed a new plan.

Mawyeyz could spare a few dozen Rehvist soldiers who were allied to Uwriy but familiar with how the Rehvite territories worked, Shayaajh and Dawpvaol had physical resources like wagons and gear, and the Dahmpiyahns were practically made out of money, so we would use subterfuge instead. Duwbkaav, the city where Vaozey’s mother had grown up, was currently controlled by Rehvite forces and also did significant sea trade with Mehtsiyah Island’s northmost city: Kuhrk. Ships coming from the direction of Duwbkaav were subject to less scrutiny, and the journey was relatively quick, so our plan was to find a smuggler who would carry us to the island or at least near it, then approach Zihzehshesk by land instead of by water. With any luck, we would be able to get inside the walls of our target city before our cover was blown.

Of course, there were problems, the first being my appearance. Even though it wasn’t well-known that I had a dark complexion, eyes, and hair in Awrehrehzha and other non-Rehvite cities, I would draw large amounts of negative attention in the more ethnically homogeneous Rehvite cities. Additionally, though the reputation of the ‘jhaoyeyl’ had faded somewhat with time, it wasn’t unlikely that someone would realize who I was if I spent too much time in public. Mawyeyz was worried about Rehvites getting a message telling them I was coming as well, and I couldn’t tell him that I was reasonably sure that such a thing wouldn’t happen, so much of our time was spent figuring out how exactly I would escape detection.

Even though the Uwrish apparently knew of a process to bleach hair, they had no chemicals that would be able to whiten skin for any appreciable period of time. Burning myself to appear scarred wouldn’t help either: After the incidents with Vaozey twelve years ago anyone with significant facial burns was under just as much scrutiny as a foreigner, and the practice of giving out marks of ire had only increased in the intervening time. I could mask myself, but it wouldn’t hide my eyes, and it would draw other questions since the practice of masking oneself wasn’t common in most cultures. I managed to figure out how to project skin-surface holograms over a few days at Vaozey’s home, but they glowed conspicuously and I had no way of making them appear more realistic, so they weren’t suitable.

Eventually, it was decided that I would be disguised as a heavily-armored kehpveht with a full helm, and some of our other forces would be dressed identically, including Vaozey who was also very conspicuous. A more average-looking Rehvist soldier would be superficially given command of our group and would do his best to ensure that we never had to remove our helms in public at any time. It still wasn’t a perfect plan, notably it would become more of an issue once we were on Mehtsiyah Island, but it would at least get us there. Apparently, the climate of the island wasn’t unlike Awsriyah, so we would be able to go offroad with little issue. As the plans were finalized, I couldn’t help but think I was forgetting something.

“It somehow slipped my mind in the meetings, but what about ants?” I asked while being sized for my armor. Vaozey, who was being helped by a few of her servants, looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Right, I forgot you missed that part,” she said. “We killed every nest we found from here to Kuhtehsh, so we’ll probably only have to worry about them once we get to Muhryehv. We’ve got a few barrels of Rehvite uniform scent in the back of one of the wagons too, and as far as we know they haven’t changed it.” I guess Mawyeyz got his hands on the stores of it when it took the city, I thought.

“Mister Lihyveyz, stop moving!” Yaazmay ordered. After the initial shock of my presence wore off, she had become much more comfortable around me and dropped much of her formality. I exhaled and held my body still, letting her tighten the leather straps around my head and under my chin to take a measurement. Hopefully this helmet is more comfortable than the last one, I sighed.

“What did you end up doing with the other notebooks you wrote up?” Vaozey asked. “I was so caught up with getting all of our fake identification worked out that I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Gave them to Mawyeyz,” I said once Yaazmay loosened the straps around my chin and moved on to measuring my neck.

“I thought you were trying to be fair,” Vaozey scoffed.

“Superficially, sure,” I shrugged, drawing another angry look from Yaazmay.

“Well you won’t have to deal with it until we come back, anyway,” Vaozey replied. Right, I’ll have to return somewhere after this is done, I realized. It was strange, but I hadn’t thought about exactly what I was supposed to be doing after my mission was complete. Normally a mission involved a return to base for storage, or was one-way like the noypeyyoyjh trip, but this one seemed to be neither. “Don’t tell me you’re worried,” Vaozey snorted.

“No, if they’re bothered by it I’ll just make more copies,” I replied. “Originally I was under the impression that I wasn’t supposed to share and disseminate information your people didn’t already have, but after meeting with… well, after what happened in the noypeyyoyjh I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter at all.”

“Just don’t tell anybody how to make one of those city-wrecking bombs,” Vaozey said.

“You don’t have the materials for it anyway,” I replied. “Nuclear fission weapons require the production of highly-refined fissile material and high explosives to trigger a supercritical state in the-”

“You know none of that means anything to me,” Vaozey interrupted. “I think you do this on purpose just to show off.”

“If I wanted to show off, I’d do this,” I said, holding up my hand and projecting a hologram-like model of a fission bomb detonating and wiping out a village. Vaozey wasn’t overly impressed as she had gotten used to my new abilities already, but the servants were enraptured by the display. “It’s more impressive in person,” I added, “the flash would be enough to blind you, or even cook you if you were close enough, and the wind pressure generated by the blast would make what happened at the noypeyyoyjh look like a gentle breeze.”

“Why does it look like a mushroom?” Yaazmay asked.

“Well, you see, due to how the air…” I began, and by the time I had finished my explanation all of our measurements were done.