Blustering, dough-brained twit, Enfri snarled inwardly.

In the middle of a foreign landscape she had never seen the likes of before, and instead of keeping her wits about her, she'd been combing across the muddy ground looking for blossoms and roots. While the most idiotic of all empresses in history was snuffling about like a hog looking for truffles, a force of thirty armed men surprised her as easily as one might startle a dozing megarach.

Fortunately, it seemed that while she'd been oblivious to all things around her, the Pearl aviators weren't similarly caught unawares. As Enfri cooed over new species of flora, Darva the Corsair had been fully aware of the warriors stalking their party through the undergrowth. Communicating with veiled looks and slight gestures, he and the hand knight officers had spread the word amongst the crew. Kolbat had kept a close eye on Enfri as the Corsair countered the stalkers, never giving away that any of them knew of their presence.

Thirty men stepped out from behind the trees and brush they'd used to conceal themselves. Fourteen of them immediately found a readied crossbow pointed at his face. It was about then that Enfri had become aware of the situation.

She looked around her and saw her soldiers aiming weapons at Aleesh. The fourteen of them covered by the crew's crossbows didn't draw their knocked arrows. The other sixteen, however, did.

"Lower weapons, outsiders," commanded one of the Aleesh hunters with a drawn bow. His accent was strange, like nothing Enfri had ever heard before. He enunciated his "R's" strongly, and his vowels were elongated slightly and tended to drift towards "ah" sounds. Then again, he might've been making a point of speaking clearly in the face of intruders.

That's an Aeldic accent, Enfri realized. A tongue accustomed to speaking in the Aeldenn Tones. Either the man was a witch, or... his people spoke the language natively.

The hunter was a tall man, easily the height of an average Altieri. His golden hair was long, lengths of it in braids woven into the parts of his hair worn unbound, and matched by his blond eyebrows. He glared at the armsmen pointing crossbows with piercing, green eyes the color of cut emeralds. His skin was a light umber, lighter even than Enfri's half-Althandi complexion, but most of the men with him had darker skin ranging in tone from deep chestnut to rosewood.

He and the rest of the thirty huntsmen wore short loincloths dyed a mottled pattern of green and brown. Some had leather baldrics, chest guards, or pauldrons to serve as minimal protection. Otherwise, they were in all appearances half-naked with lean muscled bodies. Besides their horn bows, they also carried a good number of long, steel knives and a few swords, the hilts and pommels looking like they were fashioned from bone.

Despite the command for Enfri's party to disarm, no one among the crew moved to stand down.

"Lower your own weapons," Darva replied, speaking for the group. As he did, Kolbat used the attention on him as an opportunity to palm an alchemical spell from her belt. Darva was purposefully making himself appear to be the leader while the crew clustered to shield Enfri, Odjualla, and Landon from the line of fire.

"You will remove yourself from these lands," the hunter said. "Outsiders encroaching upon our territory are given a single warning as a mercy. Know the Reach to be outside your domain."

Enfri frowned. He just lied. Aleesh wouldn't stay hidden for long if they sent folk away to carry tales of brown-skinned warriors with golden hair.

You are correct, my empress, Inwé spoke in her mind. All this appears to be performative for your benefit.

That was all Enfri needed to know. The rest would fall into place on its own. She did, however, take the precaution of downing one of the potions from her bandoleer. An earth ward, tailored to metal. It might not have been enough to stop a speeding arrow completely, but it'd probably deflect it from striking something vital. Once she was marginally protected by her spellcraft, she began pushing her way forward through the crew towards the speaking huntsman.

"You are outnumbered, outsider," he said to Darva. "You cannot stop all of our arrows."

"We can stop fourteen," Darva replied in an even tone. "Leaving you with a choice. Attack and lose at least half your number, or stand down and lose none."

The hunter shook his head. "We do not abide outsiders."

"We're not outsiders," Enfri said, stepping out from the protective ring of crossbows. She walked straight for the speaker, doing her utmost to exude a confidence she was currently lacking. In her mind, she held the image of how Jin would walk in this situation. Determined, as if there was no power in Hell or the Ethereum capable of stopping her. Enfri had always considered this way of walking to be Jin's signature power strut.

She saw the huntsman's bowstring slacken by a hair's breadth as he gaped at her.

Enfri walked right up to him, and she was proud to see that she didn't flinch when he pointed his arrow at her chest. "Fifteen," she said.

The huntsman blinked in confusion.

With a flick of her wrist, Enfri let the white spearhead slice through the bindings covering it. She thrust it forward, the tip stopping a bare inch from his nose. A few strands of his hair began to rise from proximity to the weapon's electrical discharge.

"We can stop fifteen of your archers before they fire," Enfri said with a smile. She pulled the spear back and grounded the butt-end into the dirt, her stance at a parade attention that would have made Ban burst into tears of pride. "But that's not what we're here for. Darva, stand down, my Corsair. These are my people."

Once the crew lowered their crossbows, the other huntsmen came forward as if intending to relieve the crew of the weapons. Enfri stopped them with a gesture.

"Ah, ah. These are my people, too. They may not look like it, but they're Aleesh. By nationality if not by blood."

She could feel all their eyes on her like an itch between her shoulder blades. The one who'd done all the talking up until then was still regarding her as if she were a scale lion in a silk gown. Flummoxed, Enfri would call it. Maybe befuddled was closer to the mark. Though strangely, other than surprise and confusion, Enfri had yet to see him express any sort of strong emotion. Any of the huntsmen, for that matter.

"Introductions are in order," Enfri continued. "I am Enfri the Yora, Dragon Empress of Shan Alee."

The huntsman nodded, as if of all things, he'd expected as much. He appeared to be nothing if not a man able to regather his wits in short order. He inclined his head and placed the fingertips of his right hand lightly upon his chest in what appeared to be some manner of polite gesture. "I am Tola Velahrai Second Summit, Master of Huntsmen. A daughter of Shan Alee may always find refuge within Chaya Domun."

Enfri turned to look over her shoulder when Odjualla gasped in surprise.

"Tola, you have ascended?"

Tola craned his neck to look past Enfri, and his expression at once became one of the deepest shock. He stepped past Enfri as if she were no longer there and met Odjualla as she rushed up to him. They stopped within a pace of each other, and Tola reached forward to take her by the arms.

"I see a girl I once knew in the woman before me," he said in wonderment. "Is this truth or a madness, Ohdri?"

Odjualla's knees looked ready to give out on her. She was breathless. "Nay did I think to ever hear that girl's name again. It is true, mine cousin."

Tola glanced back to Enfri for a moment before looking back at Odjualla. Ohdri, rather? A small grin split his face. "There is Melcian upon your voice."

"To better match our grandfather's dark skin among the outsiders," she replied, and Enfri was startled to hear her accent changing to match Tola's with every word. "A new voice, a new name, a new life awaits ndopu uche."

Tola touched her face as if to test if she were as real as she claimed to be. "You bring her, she who commands the legion of the mighty. That is why you return?"

Enfri was already starting to feel a little put out at being brushed aside so quickly. At what Tola just said, she was about to graduate to indignant. "You already know of me?"

"Yes," Tola said simply. He hadn't torn his eyes from his long lost cousin. "Come, Enfri Theyora First Summit. Chaya Duman anticipates offering you tribute and welcome. We have awaited your coming."

Grandfather? Enfri thought. Papa? Can you tell me just what's going on here?

Neither they or any other emperor responded, and that filled her with anxiety.

What's happening?

Her answer came from a source she hadn't expected, but if she were being honest with herself, one she'd feared. Another Aleesh came out from behind the trees. He was half a foot shorter than any of the huntsmen. His skin was lighter than any of theirs, and his hair had more brown in it. He wore similar clothing, naked from the waist up, except for the wide-brimmed and battered fedora worn at a jaunty angle. A pair of bracers were on both his wrists, each set with a single, large moonstone.

"About time," Cardin said with a smirk. "We were starting to worry you weren't gonna show up."

I'm sorry, Sunny, her father whispered. We wanted to warn you, but...

Enfri couldn't hear the rest of what he said. She was so distracted by Cardin's sudden appearance that she couldn't give Yora the proper attention. The ruffer sauntered towards her. Several of the Pearl aviators must have recognized Cardin from either the Battle of Mount Vorti or of Moran Valley. They tensed with fingers on their crossbow triggers.

The Aleesh huntsmen caught scent of the suddenly dangerous atmosphere. Tola even managed to look away from Odjualla for a few seconds to pay Enfri some mind.

"You are a brave man," Enfri said to Cardin. "Very brave to show your face to me after the things you've done."

Tola's eyes darted between Enfri and Cardin, his brow furrowed.

"Oh?" Cardin laughed. "See, I was of the impression we never met before this."

"We've met," Enfri said, and it was all she could do to stop herself from gnashing her teeth. "You tried blasting me out of the sky in Nadia."

"Seems you should be thanking me that I didn't."

The Pearl aviators let out a collective scoff and a few chuckles. At least two of the crew were having difficulty containing themselves.

"Something amusing?" Cardin asked, turning a little red.

Enfri mirrored his mocking smirk. "Not really. Winds and storms, but I guess delusions are a common problem among you renegades."

Yes, Cardin was definitely turning red.

"Let's not fight," Cardin said a bit snappishly. "There's a long walk yet ahead, unless you get your indigo there to fly us. Thing is, lass, we really expected you sooner. You don't want to be late for your aunt's coronation."

oOo

Enfri wished she could have a moment to slow down and take in the sights of Chaya Domun. Meet her people. Ask them why in the embrace of hellfire they'd let Elise blustering Alinwé pull the wool over their eyes. Hadn't they been able to tell within five minutes exactly the sort of monster she was?

As I was able to? Enfri asked herself. She couldn't exactly scold others and have a leg to stand on. When she first met Elise, she'd been as thoroughly fooled as it was possible to be. Dashar died for that mistake— sort of— Jin had nearly died, and Josy bore horrible emotional scars because of it. No, Enfri couldn't blame anyone for wanting to put their faith in Elise. If anything, the Aleesh of Chaya Domun had been waiting for a bond forger far longer than Enfri had wished for an aunt.

Enfri stalked through the packed dirt streets, blind to the sights of the hidden city around her. Darva and Kolbat flanked her, Kolbat's officers flanked them, and the rest of the crew followed behind with Odjualla and Landon in tow. Cardin was racing to keep up with their group, but Enfri couldn't have cared less if he fell into a bog and never resurfaced. Her attention was reserved for Tola, who led the way.

Few shared the streets with them. Enfri imagined something was keeping the Aleesh of Chaya Duman from going outside, and she doubted it was her. The common squares were deserted. What may have been lively markets on any other day were now bare.

The city was unlike any other Enfri had seen. The structures were all of wood, log cabins with thatched roofs, wicker doors and shutters, and some small amount of brickwork on some of the larger ones. Most strange about the buildings, they sat on poles several feet above the ground, which left a crawl space under each of them that Enfri could have gone into without having to crouch down too far.

Had circumstances been different, had Elise been far away as she should've been, Enfri thought she'd be running into every building she saw and giving every Aleesh she met a massive bear hug. Funny, how psychotic relatives put a damper on her mood.

The Master of Huntsmen kept glancing over his shoulder at Enfri. There was a look in Tola's eyes, one closer to fear than anything else Enfri had seen from him so far. It was almost as if he hadn't considered until this moment that Elise and Enfri were anything but friendly. That idea, seemingly incomprehensible to him, was apparently enough to make even these emotionless huntsmen feel a little apprehensive.

"Are you truly of the first bloodline?" Tola asked in a quiet tone, half under his breath. It may have been that he hadn't intended for Enfri to hear it.

She almost startled when she realized he hadn't been speaking Althandi. His words were in the Aeldenn Tones, and it was one of the minor abilities of her elder magic that granted her the capacity to speak and understand the language.

"It is good you doubt me," Enfri replied. "I wonder, did you have those same doubts with my aunt?"

Tola tried to meet Enfri's gaze, but he seemed unable to maintain eye contact. He gave up and looked forward. "There was no need for doubt. She came with the mighty serving her."

"So? I did, too."

Tola looked back again and wrinkled his nose.

Enfri gestured to Darva. "You could not tell? My Corsair. I forged his bond to my Pearl Knight."

"You allowed a dragon to speak for you." Tola said, disbelieving.

"Should I not have? He is a wiser man than any other who accompanies me. Should I be a fool and disregard his centuries of experience?" She kept her eyes on Tola, which appeared to discomfort him a great deal. "I understand where you may have picked up some ugly notions about how Aleesh and the mighty should interact. Elise's ideals are poison, and she has no business claiming the title she claims. I am the Dragon Empress. Elise is a murderer. Mark my words, Tola Velahrai Second Summit, she will destroy you."

"And you will not?" Tola hissed.

"I will," Enfri said. "If you follow me, I will undo much of what you have built, but I will forge you into something new once I am done."

"Into what?"

"An empire. Shan Alee has already returned. She only awaits her people."

His gaze slid past Enfri to where Odjualla kept pace with the crew, then back to Enfri. "You wish us to leave Chaya Duman?"

"Afraid so. Cathis and Adeyemi know you are out here. Eventually, they will come. Worse than that, the old masters know. You have shifters among your people, so I assume demons are common knowledge?"

Tola stopped short, the other huntsmen looking at him in confusion. There was a fire in his eyes. True anger. Enfri was almost pleased to see that he wasn't completely emotionless.

"Why do you speak such things?" Tola demanded, his voice rising. "The wicked have never darkened our lands before. Why now?"

Cardin finally caught up to them. He looked between Tola and Enfri with a frown on his face. "Something up?" He asked in Althandi. "Hey, boyo, if you plan on knifing her, I'm obliged to stop you. The empress wants her alive."

They both ignored him.

Enfri met Tola's angry eyes without flinching. "Elise found you. She is their instrument, the mad dog they set loose to keep us occupied while they do as they please."

"Deadly accusations," Tola whispered.

"In Elise's defense, I doubt she realizes she is their puppet, but here we are." Enfri gestured towards the path ahead. It ran northwards, away from the lake shore and into the jungle, and culminated at the entrance to a huge lodge. Enfri let the elder magic wane and began speaking in Althandi again. "Can we go on? I need to stop your people from doing something really stupid."

Tola glanced at Cardin, back to Enfri, nodded, then turned to lead the way.

"Now, what were you talking about?" Cardin asked in a low voice, leaning towards her. "Using all those fancy witch words, and all. Not hoping to turn these goodfolk against their empress, are you?"

"Idiot. I'm their empress. Yours, too, and that's the one reason I haven't slapped that silly hat off your head. Don't stand so close to me." She shook her spear in his general direction before storming off after Tola.

Cardin rubbed his chin and whistled appreciatively after her. The itch between Enfri's shoulder blades dropped to her backside, and she had half a mind to spin around and hurl her spear at his leering mug.

"Agree to disagree, then?" Cardin called after her. "Only one empress I plan on bowing to, lass, and she isn't you."

Enfri doubted she'd ever win over the likes of Cardin. Not only was he the worst sort of scoundrel, but Enfri was forced to admit that Elise had already earned the devotion of her knights. Enfri had learned from Krayson and Saveen where they came from, the surviving youths of the Aleesh Elise led into hiding within the Spired City after Ejasta fell.

Yet by the same token, Enfri felt a kinship to Elise's knights. She, like they, hailed from the Ejasta enclave. If not for Fate's whims, she'd have grown up right alongside Cardin and his comrades.

Occupied by those thoughts, Enfri allowed Cardin to walk next to her again.

"You know Elise well?" she asked him.

"Now you want to talk?"

"Come off it. It's a simple enough question." Enfri frowned and looked ahead. "Maybe I just want to know if she's always been a monster."

Cardin snorted. "You got some funny ideas about her."

"Justified ones, or didn't she tell you how she betrayed me the very day she met me? I trusted her, and she used me."

"Look, lass, I'm not gonna pretend Elise is the sweetest lady on the skybridge, but she's always done right by me and mine."

Enfri scoffed. "Can't say the same. Not by a league. Every time I've been unlucky enough to cross paths with her, she's taken something precious from me. She took my Huntress. She still has my Ascendent. She's killed and tried to kill people I was responsible for." Enfri glared sidelong at Cardin. "Seems to me she treats you better than she treats family. You must be honored."

Cardin had a strangely contemplative expression. "That's what bothers you? More than at what she's done, you're sore at her for not being the aunty you think you deserve?"

That stung closer to the mark than Enfri would've liked to admit. "I have more reasons to be furious at her than I can list. Ecclesia, Kimpo, Westrun, the Sanguine Tower, Mount Vorti, Moran Valley, and I've been hearing we have you lot to thank for the sacking of Oceania. Are there any kingdoms you haven't murdered your way across?"

Cardin scowled. "I'm sure there are, but not once we're done."

"You actually enjoy being no better than marauders?"

"They have it coming," Cardin snapped. "Or have you forgotten what the Althandi do when they find Aleesh? I suppose you would have, seeing as you spend more time with daan than with your own people."

"Daan," Enfri hissed. "Slaves, you mean. Is that what Elise wants to go back to? Why bother learning from our mistakes when we can just make the same ones all over again?"

"The only mistake was leaving any Althandi filth breathing in the first place."

Enfri looked away from him and glowered. "Saveen was right. There's no hope for you."

"You don't know the first thing about me!" Cardin shouted, his sudden rise of volume drawing every eye.

Finally breaking through Cardin's facade helped Enfri maintain her own. She replied in a calm and even tone. "The first thing about you is that you're consumed by anger. That, I don't fault you for. The second thing is that you've let that anger drive you to commit atrocities. That, I can and will fault you for. Now shut up, Moonstone Knight. I've nothing further to say to you."

Cardin exhaled through gritted teeth before he got that contemplative look again. He eyed Enfri as if seeing something new. "Winds take me. You are her niece, after all."

There were few things he could've said that she'd take more offense to than that.

"The eyes are different," Cardin continued, "but you got her mouth. Her nose, too. Don't glare at me like that, it's a compliment. Yeah, you're definitely an Alinwé."

"I'm a Yora," Enfri said sullenly.

Cardin nodded, and more strangely, his tone softened. "Took your father's name. No, I can respect that. You have to honor the fallen."

Enfri might've demanded to know what he was playing at, acting like he cared, but they arrived at their destination. Tola motioned for her to wait a moment as he climbed a short flight of steps to the door. Enfri couldn't see past him to tell what he did, but it looked like he just placed his palm against the doorframe for a moment before stepping back. Spellcraft of some kind? A mechanism she couldn't see? Whichever it was, Enfri didn't have to wait long before the lodge door cracked open and Tola exchanged a few terse words with the person on the other side.

After the door closed again, Tola looked back at Enfri, his expression troubled. "Your purpose... it is unnecessary."

"What do you mean?" Enfri asked.

Tola opened his mouth to answer but was unable to find the words. Fortunately, someone came out through the lodge's door to give Enfri an answer.

"He means," said the kindly voice of an aged man, "there shall be no coronation today. I am afraid the decision was unwelcome in the ears of the elder claimant, but the old forms must be heeded."

If Enfri hadn't been as pleased as she was to hear someone finally saying something sensible, she might've let out a startled gasp at the appearance of the speaker. Instead, she stood still, shocked into silence. He was tall, but she'd come to expect that here. What was unexpected was that he was completely hairless, had black eyes, and had his musculature visible due to what could only be described as a lack of skin.

Sinew and muscle were bared to the open air, his head crowned by the pale dome of his skull. A nearly lipless mouth exposed sharp teeth fixed into a permanent grin. An aura surrounded him, like a black vapor that followed him like a cloud and rose from the depths of the heavy robe that enveloped him from collar to kneecaps. About his throat, a collar of seven needle-like spikes were driven into his flesh as if they were beaten in by a hammer.

Enfri felt her eyes widen by degrees each moment she stared at him. Her shock only increased when Tola, the other huntsmen, and even Odjualla all dropped to one knee and bowed their heads in reverence. Even Cardin, though he seemed to do so only because it was the thing to do, not out of any honest respect.

"You would be... Old Mogga?" Enfri asked. "The skindancer Founder?"

Tola scowled and shot her a look.

For his part, the skindancer didn't seem at all offended. The flesh above his brow loosened, and Enfri imagined that had he had skin, it would've been an amused expression. "So I am called when others believe me outside of hearing," he said.

Enfri glanced back to Odjualla, who was blushing furiously as she kept her eyes on the ground in front of her. After looking back to Mogga, Enfri offered a curtsy. "Forgive me. I don't know the proper address."

Mogga inclined his head. "'Founder' appears to be what our people favor, but a newcomer to our lands need not stand on ceremony."

"Honored Founder," Cardin interrupted. "What do you mean there won't be a coronation?"

"Just as it was spoken, young Moonstone," Mogga replied in a slow and even-toned cadence. "No longer is there but one claimant to the title of Dragon Empress, but two. I and the elders of Chaya Domun were pleased in your mistress' decision to reveal the existence of her niece, that she also claims to rule Shan Alee. Pleased, but I fear the elder claimant was less so for our decision to hear the validity of both claims before coming to a decision."

Cardin rose to his feet. "You can't do that!"

Tola and the huntsmen snapped upright, staring at Cardin impassively while their hands touched the bone hilts of their weapons in open threat.

"I believe that we most certainly can," Mogga replied, still in a kindly voice. "This is the future of our people that is to be decided. The Aleesh were never ones to come to action lightly, or rashly. Save once, but that was long before your time, young Moonstone."

Cardin snarled and stomped off. Enfri watched after him, taking note of the path he took. Wherever he was going, Enfri could only assume that Elise wouldn't be far from there.

Mogga descended the stairs to the lodge, drawing Enfri's attention back to him.

"Thank you, Founder," Enfri said. "I promise you, whatever it is my aunt wants with your people, it can't be good."

"I have found," he said in his slow, deliberate mode of speech, "that words such as good and evil are far more subjective than we tend to believe. Just as you may admit that all you seek from Chaya Domun may not be seen as good for us, so too you must see that hers are not wholly ill-meant."

Enfri glanced at Kolbat and Darva before replying. "I'm sorry, Founder, but I don't think that's true. Elise only wants you to stroke her own vanity. She cares more about her being empress than she does about protecting our people."

"By your words, you must believe your own motivations of a higher nature."

"I do," Enfri said fervently. "Ever since I learned of this place, I've wanted to find you. Whether you choose to follow my Shan Alee or not, I want to keep danger as far from you as I can. You're the last of my people. That means so much more to me than by what titles you call me by."

Mogga nodded. "This is not my decision to make, young claimant. I count myself among the Founders of this haven, but I do not rule here. The elders will hear you, as they will hear the other claimant. The elders will decide upon which, or neither, Chaya Domun will place their faith on. But, I must warn you, many within this city already name your aunt Dragon Empress. She was the first to find us, and the nature of humanity is such that they are prone to place greater importance upon they who were first rather than they who may be best."

Worry churned in Enfri's stomach like an aching nausea. "Then... I have my work cut out for me. I'll change their minds."

Mogga smiled, a bizarre expression on a face that had only thin flaps to serve as lips. It was more than a little frightening, but Enfri also found it to be unexpectedly warm. "Your acceptance of this judgement already does you credit within my estimations, young claimant. I have come to expect fire from the blood of Inwé, and that is an essence of nature that often burns indiscriminate."

Within Enfri's mind, she heard a derisive laugh. Fool.

Grandfather?

There was no reply. Enfri felt her blood go cold.

Sunny, I'm sorry I...

Papa!

Mogga took a step back, startled by the sudden expression of terror that came onto Enfri's face. Darva and Kolbat caught Enfri's arms when she began to sink to her knees. Tola and the huntsmen wore looks that approached concern. Odjualla and Landon rushed to her side, calling out to her, but Enfri couldn't hear them.

All she heard was the mocking laughter, born from hundreds of ghostly voices, that returned to her mind. This was too soon. She was warned, but no amount of foreknowledge would ever have been enough. Her time with the brighter souls of her elder blood was too short. One voice, triumphant, rose above all the others.

Still you struggle against your betters. I had hoped you would accept the truth in our absence, but it appears that I've once again overestimated you, child.

"Shoen," Enfri whispered, tears falling. "Please, no."

Mogga drew back from her, unease in his wide-eyed expression. He gestured Tola to his side. "To your mother's," he said quickly, abandoning his slow cadence for one with more urgency. "I ask her to provide quarter to the younger claimant and her retinue."

Tola nodded and began speaking in a clipped voice to Darva and Kolbat. Enfri felt herself being pulled to her feet, but her legs had begun to feel like dead weight underneath her. She moved under her own power, but she was too horrified to respond to the gentle questions Odjualla posed to her. Enfri let herself be guided as she fought to hold the voices at bay.

Elsewhere within Chaya Domun, from the direction she'd last seen Cardin heading, Enfri heard a woman's voice crying out with joy.