Planet Lyral was blue, wet, and freezing cold. Vance was confronted with all three of these facts as he stepped out of the ship onto what Arwin had called a landing bay. He was instantly hit in a face with a gust of bracing cold wind. The air was dense with water, but it didn't feel humid, more like a fog, or the moments before it starts to rain.

"You ok?" Glass stepped up from behind Vance, having left the ship shortly after he did.

Vance nodded. "Yeah." His gaze wandered as he took in his surroundings. They seemed to be in a giant hole in the ground, with walls made of water and glass, like a fancy fountain Vance had seen at an airport one time (he was pretty sure they were called water walls?). Above them was crystal clear, almost white sky, and on the horizon, the peaks of unearthly skyscrapers.

When Vance lowered his gaze, he spotted a small group of people approaching them. As they got closer, Vance soon realized how nonhuman these people were. Instead of being made of organic flesh or even solid rock like the castvernon, the people approaching them seemed to be entirely made of water. It was like they were just vaguely human-shaped blobs of liquid, but blobs of liquid that could move. They glided over the polished floor, and as they got closer, Vance realized their eyes were completely blank, just glowing and blue.

Zy leaned into Vance and spoke in a hushed tone. "Hey, these your guys?"

Vance shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this before."

As soon as the group of the water people arrived in front of the ship the leader (or at least the one in front) spoke. "You must be Castvernon Shuttle A14-C. Welcome to planet Lyral."

Arwin spoke up, her voice stern. "Thank you for having us. I'm Captain Arwin Emer, and this is my crew." She gestured to Vance and the rest of the group.

The leader scanned the group. Vance tensed when he met the alien's cold, blank gaze.

"It's a pleasure to have you." The leader turned back to Arwin, their voice calm and emotionless. "While I'm sure you'd like to skip the formalities and get straight to business, The Triumvirate is busy at the moment. We can set you up in one of our guest suites and notify you of when they'll be able to speak to you."

Arwin nodded. "That is quite alright. We wouldn't want to bother them."

The leader nodded. "Very well, follow me and we'll get you situated in the guest suite." With that, the leader and the rest of the water people turned around, beckoning the group to follow.

As the group walked through the hangar bay back to where the water people came from, Arwin struck up a conversation with the leader of the group. Vance absentmindedly listened to them as they walked.

"Excuse me, I never got your name." Arwin asked.

"You can call me Kairon." The leader responded.

The group reached a circle hovering about a foot off the ground. As soon as the entire party was on it, the circle floated upwards in a straight line. It was an elevator. A space elevator. There were space elevators back at the base, but they were all like normal elevators. This one was somehow more alien, Vance thought.

As the lift reached the top of the hangar bay, more of the city became visible. It was both majestic and haunting. The buildings were a soft greyish-blue on the white canvas of the sky. As Vance looked around, he realized the city was in fact, built on top of a vast ocean. Returning his gaze to the city, Vance noticed that in the center of the city was a striking, tall spire that pierced through the heavens. Every other building seemed to point towards that one, with the progression of the shortest to tallest buildings leading to it. It was almost like the city was designed to look like a false mountain, with the spire in the center being its peak.

Once the group reached the top of the hangar bay and stepped off the elevator, Kairon turned to face the group. "Welcome to Lyral City, the home and capital of The Republic of The Lisoire." They gestured to the city behind them. "Now, if you'll follow me to the skiff, we can get you to the guest suites."

Kairon gestured to a vehicle on their left. It was shaped like a boat, but hovered a few feet above the ground. It was large, definitely large enough to seat everyone in the group.

As Vance approached and boarded the skiff he discovered that the inside of the boat was completely filled with water. Instead of the normal seats a transportation vehicle would have, the skiff had small benches a few inches under the water line. Vance grimaced and climbed inside.

Zy entered the skiff and sat down next to Vance, he gathered his jacket around him. "Pretty weird, huh? Like a reverse boat." Zy laughed, and Vance nodded, wishing he had a coat like Zy did. Lyral was a very cold place, and sitting in a pool of water didn't help.

Kairon boarded the skiff after the group did, the water of their body merging with that of the skiff. The rest of his party stood at each corner of the skiff, like guards watching over the group of passengers. Vance looked around the group. Everyone seemed to be tense except Kairon, who seemed oblivious of the others' discomfort.

A few moments later, the skiff started to move forward, speeding through the city about as fast as a car back on earth. Vance found himself holding on to the bench for life. Strangely, the water around him didn't seem to move.

As the skiff moved through the city, Kairon spoke, sounding almost like a tour guide. "Here in Lyral City, we pride ourselves in our leaders, the Great Triumvirate. Their wisdom guides our every move, our every choice. You're quite lucky to be able to meet them."

"Hmph." Zy commented quietly. "They can't be that great. All world leaders are the same- either greedy and selfish, too immature to lead, or completely disillusioned with power."

Vance nodded in response, watching Arwin and Kairon talk.

"So Lisoire is the species name?" Arwin asked.

Kairon nodded. "It is. You're a castvernon, correct?"

Arwin tensed but nodded. "I am. Why?"

Kairon clasped their hands together. "Splendid! It's been a while since we've heard from the castvernon, we used to be allies a while ago."

"Strange. I was pretty high ranking, and I never heard about anything like that. Rachard, do you know anything about this?"

Arwin (and Vance) turned to face Rachard, who was sitting somewhat awkwardly on the other side of the skiff. These seats were clearly not made for someone of her height.

"Uhhh... I don't think so." Rachrd paused, looking like she was trying to remember events from a long time ago. "Course I was pretty low rank. I can't really remember us having any allies back before the war."

"Oh! I'd doubt you'd know about it," Kairon piped in, "Our nations' alliance was broken long before the little... errr... conflict you castvernon were involved in."

The skiff fell into an awkward silence, the only sound that of the wind passing by. Vance had heard Arwin and Rachard casually bring up The Castvernon War, when he asked Glass about it she had informed him it was, "A big war that happened between the castvernon and some other galactic power they were mad at," and that, "Arwin and Chard both fought in it and it left them pretty scarred because the castvernon are utter shit at taking care of their soldiers' mental health, Arwin won't tell us about any of her experiences but Rachard's war stories are always a blast if you're bored."

After spending a few moments trying to determine how close they were to the center of the city, Vance's thoughts were interrupted by Kairon's cheerful, calm voice and the skiff suddenly coming to an abrupt halt.

"Ah, we're finally hear!" Kairon exclaimed as Vance turned to look at the building they had stopped at. (It was pretty tall, meaning they were close to the center of the city, but virtually indistinguishable from every other structure in the city). "Welcome to the guest suites!"