Vivi entered the Luminary's palace with nervous steps, mind distracted from what she'd originally come here to accomplish.

Eem was alive. In this very same city, but still captured by Ingfried's guards—the same people that would hunt Vivi if they knew her identity.

And considering she was famous in Shivenar, using her own name, that probably wouldn't take long.

At the very top of the city, Vivi had access to the palace through a hidden entrance to the east of the back-wall. It wasn't a secret crawl space, per se, but a street blocked off from the public for the palace's regular visitors. The street was guarded by half a dozen runesword wielders in shady dark cloaks. According to Coshi, the outfit was deliberately made scary so that the street would appear more mysterious and dangerous to dissuade kids and other idiots from attempting to sneak in.

Upon Vivi's arrival, the cloaked men lowered their heads, letting her pass. The chief guard, whose fancy title Vivi forgot, named Xenor, faced her before the tunnel-like entrance. "Welcome, Runeblessed. Business with the Luminary today?"

Vivi responded with a simple "Yes." She had tried to tell the man to call her by just Vivi, but he always remained stubbornly formal.

"The Luminary is busy with arrangements, but she is always free to meet you."

He opened the doors to the palace, and a maid took his place escorting Vivi inside. The woman had short black hair and long eyelashes, and had also tended to Vivi multiple times now, but the maid had never given her name. The woman's gait was immaculate, and her black dress was as pretty as a princess's, but she was still merely a servant, whose job was to stay quiet and to make sure Vivi didn't do anything stupid inside the palace.

Nobles should just live in smaller houses if cleaning is so difficult that they need this many servants, Vivi believed, but apparently nobody agreed.

Lucas usually arranged meetings at the palace, so that the Luminary would be ready to meet Vivi right away. Showing unannounced, however, a more peculiar scene was ongoing in the foyer. Vivi's servant paused for a moment to decide how she should proceed forward.

Two of Coshi's Lights—what her knights were called—stood at the bottom of the stairs, their puzzled eyes pointing up at the railings of the indoor balcony. A strong ethereal presence could be felt from the direction. Vivi glanced up and saw Coshi, clad in casual baggy trousers, hanging upside down with her legs wrapped around a railing. Wisps of ether flowed around her, outside her body, out through her nose and then in from the mouth.

"That's an advanced channeling technique," Lucius said. "After the third elevation, hunters are expected to control ether outside their body as well as inside."

That looks difficult. Vivi thought. She couldn't imagine how the trick was even supposed to be done.

More importantly, she wondered what exactly the leader of a country was doing in that position with her servants frowning up at her.

Coshi inhaled deeply, and all of the ether was sucked back into her body. The ether formed a coating, making her glow. Her sharp eyes popped open, and she grinned, still upside down. "Evening, Vivian."

"Uhm, evening?" Vivi said.

Coshi unwrapped her legs from the pillar. She landed graciously, though she still looked like a wild cat. The whisker-like stripes only added to the appearance. Those were not make-up, Vivi had learned. In her trousers, Coshi didn't look like she belonged in a palace filled with crystal laminate surgeways at all, yet she was somehow the leader.

She stretched her upper body, without any class at all. "Everyone, you're dismissed. Be prepared for the storm to hit. Vivian, come with me."

Vivi followed her up the stairs into what was called the 'room of insight.' The same room where she'd negotiated the attack into Surchester. The room was exactly like a throne-room, but the throne had been replaced with a cozy hammock, because Shivenar didn't want to present itself as a kingdom.

"Is it really okay for the lady of insight to, um… dress and act like that?" Vivi asked with genuine curiosity. "Your Lights were frowning at you."

"It's not encouraged," Coshi said with a grin. "But I do believe it's beneficial to goof around every now and then. Acting off will remind my followers that they're not working with an omnipotent lord. I like to command my people by slacking. They see how terrible I am at my job, and they know they have no choice but to work hard to make up for my incompetence. Being authoritative gets tiring quickly, you see."

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"And it works?" Vivi asked.

Coshi laughed. "Well enough. Granted, leniency is only offered for as long as I'm irreplaceable. My Lights see me as the strongest fighter as well as the strongest defender of Shivenar's walls. My insight counts when it matters. By being strong, I am allowed slack where others could very well perform my tasks."

Vivi was reminded that her situation was exactly the same. She was allowed to do just about anything she wanted for the simple reason that she was the best runesmith currently in the city. So long as she delivered swords, any request she asked for would be handled.

She summoned her new three-runed shockwave sword from spatial storage. "You requested a critter slayer sword," she said.

Lucius, did you come up with a name for this?

"Yes, of course!" Lucius said in a burst of excitement. "The name is Darkness Slasher!"

Vivi sighed. The asmite greatsword was definitely dark with a shiny glimmering surface. "Lucius named this Darkness Slasher," Vivi said as she handed it to Coshi. "Be careful about testing it. The shockwave runes won't ask for permission to be activated. You can wield it without the shockwaves if you only add ether to the two upper runes."

"The shockwave runes need to be refilled for every attack, correct?" Coshi asked.

"Yes," Vivi said. "The ether you pour in will be shot outward. I recommend filling the shockwave runes while you're swinging to avoid hitting yourself while you lift the weapon."

"Got it," Coshi said. She pushed ether into the mass and sharpness runes, taking test swings with only two runes active. The sword was clearly too heavy and large for Coshi's size, but she wielded it with surprising elegance.

"It might not feel fantastic with just two runes," Vivi said. "The core itself is missing if you don't use the shockwave runes. Only when they're all filled, the sword shows its powers."

"I'm afraid to death of this thing even with two runes," Coshi said. "This is fantastic. Exactly as asked. Thank you."

Vivi's heart let out a little thump. The compliment was genuine. It felt good to receive those. And along with the compliment came five million ether, taking her reserves above forty-three million. Vivi lowered her head.

When she raised it again, Coshi was facing her with an entirely different expression. The smile was gone, closer to a frown. "Vivian," she said.

"Yes?" she said, slightly nervous.

"Lucas must have informed you of the storms brewing outside," Coshi said. "A hundred million ether. That's not a light amount."

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"Bad enough that if not for your swords, I would be contacting the exalted knights right now," she said. "With our old weapons, Anthony and I could clear a storm worth twenty million, perhaps. A hundred million, not a chance. That number is serious enough that reinforcements would need to be called from Ingfried's empire. Two exalted knights should be enough to deal with a hundred million, assuming that ether sticks are used."

Vivi said nothing, uncertain about where Coshi was going.

"Of course, help from the exalted knights would not come for free. They're always happy to clear storms, so long as they can also collect any skills and ether that the storm provides. By admitting the storms to Ingfried, Shivenar slowly bankrupts itself. We can't reinvest into weapons if we don't earn ether from the storms. Yet, if a storm is let loose, and we fail to defeat it, people will die. The city could fall."

She held Vivi's new sword, and for once, the Luminary looked like an actual warrior. "With your assistance, Vivian, with your swords, will Shivenar be strong enough to claim the storms for ourselves?"

"I…" Vivi managed to say. How was she supposed to know? She was confident in her swords, of course, but how would she know if they could defeat a storm of this caliber?

"I believe we are strong enough," Coshi said. "And I'm willing to take the risk. We will fight. And with your swords—"

The door behind them burst open, cutting off Coshi's words. The Luminary furrowed her brows as one of the Lights rushed in with a distraught expression.

"My apologies," the man said. "But this is urgent. Important visitors have shown up."

"More important than Vivian Runeblessed?" Coshi asked.

The Light glanced at Vivi, then said, "More dangerous, at least. Iszul, the fourth exalted knight, is waiting outside. He expects an audience immediately."

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