We arrived at the empty city with it covered in darkness. The visiting Sahevin had made a mess of the land above, managing to block most of the light that once filtered through.

Not a great start.

Arizar snapped her fingers and a glowing orb of soft light floated into the air above us. As it ascended, it broke apart into several additional motes.

Tamrie let out a gasp as she took in the cavernous expanse as Arizar’s lights continued to rise, each mote drifting further, illuminating more and more of the depths.

I’d forgotten that she hadn’t visited. It was a pretty impressive site, even if it had nothing on Spellford.

“It is rather impressive,” Arizar said, mirroring my thoughts with a nod. “We’ll need to do something about those pests above. Bad for the health, I’d imagine. And I’d hate to have them get into the water supply. The smell alone. Of course, we might be able to begin limited relocation before then. And… hmm… It should be rather easy to add gondola canals though I’ll have to modify the obstructions the previous residents installed.”

“You want to put in canals? Why not just use streets?”

Arizar turned towards me, slowly arching an eyebrow at me. That was the extent of her explanation as she strode away.

“It’s a Spellford thing,” Tamrie said, patting my arm.

I chuckled softly, following them as we moved deeper into the huge complex. I’d seen the maps Selvi’s Tethered had made but I hadn’t explored much of the city myself.

It was much more impressive in person.

Especially the junction chambers.

Each was large enough they could’ve held the entire population of Cape Aeternia in the central area. And most of the available area was on the sides, where the stepped buildings rose above us.

“It really was meant for moving water at one point,” Arizar said, stopping and looking upward. “All supported with pure mass. Amazing that it remains level.”

I couldn’t spot what she was specifically looking at to draw her conclusions.

“Why’s that?” Tamrie asked, apparently not spotting it either.

“This entire place is designed to be half full at its lowest,” Arizar said, gesturing upward towards the highest step. “What they would’ve need all that water for… wouldn’t it have been simpler to use a lake? I doubt they were so large they needed an indoor pool of this size.”

“Sometimes you build things cause you can, not because it’s the better idea,” I said, still struggling to see what she’d seen that led her to her conclusion.

“A point I would say should not extend to something as large as a city, yet…”

“Yet Spellford,” Tamrie said, nodding.

Arizar’s cheeks flushed, nodding. “Yet Spellford.”

“Yeah, in that context, this is a lot more practical,” I agreed.

For some reason that earned me a glare from both of them.

“What?”

Tamrie chuckled, and a second later, Arizar giggled alongside her.

“Whatever,” I grumbled.

Was pretty sure I’d accidentally insulted Spellford, but one thing I was learning was that pattern recognition didn’t automatically make me better at understanding others. In fact, it sometimes felt like I had a harder time understanding folk since my latest mental Ascension.

“Don’t ‘spose it was a city for dragons,” Tamrie suggested, head on a pivot as we moved deeper. “They’d be big enough to need one, more’n like.”

“Despite the legends, most dragons don’t actually demonstrate intelligence, other than a primitive animal cunning,” Arizar said, kneeling down to look through a partially overgrown entrance. “Heard they make excellent pets, if you have the patience and will to train them.”

“Do you… want to train a dragon?”

“I… yes, yes, I think I would quite enjoy that. I believe I shall add that to my Djinn-list,” Arizar said, a smile tugging at her lips as she led us deeper.

“Djinn list?” I asked, offering Tamrie my hand.

“Tis a list of things you’d do if’n you ever reached Djinn-soul,” Tamrie replied, accepting my hand and holding her skirt up with her other as she stepped over a series of roots growing over the stone.

Arizar nodded, coming to a stop in front of another building. “I must admit, I wouldn’t know how to start.”

“Well, I’ll let you know if I ever come across a guide on how to train a dragon,” I said, unable to keep from chuckling.

Tamrie laughed along, despite not getting the reference, as did Arizar a second later.

Our exploration of the city continued for another half hour. We investigated several of the buildings, and Arizar hummed thoughtfully to herself throughout.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

When we left, she thanked us both, then went off to recruit some help.

I’d been certain I would return to some emergency since I’d allowed myself to indulge in something as simple as casual exploration. Yet Vendil only had three minor incidents to report to me by the time we got back.

Well, he said they were minor, but the last one seemed more important than ‘minor’.

“What do you mean they were attacked by a giant eagle?” I asked, staring at the dwarf.

He looked down at his notes, as if the clarification lay there. Maybe it did.

“That’s all they reported. They returned early from their scouting mission due to being attacked by a giant eagle,” Vendil replied, tugging at his beard. “I believe Captain Selvi has the full report.”

“Well, guess I’d better go talk to her. Come on,” I said, waving him after me. As we walked, he ran me through several other minor matters, none of which really needed my attention. But Tamrie had insisted I stay involved in decision making so I was aware of things that were going on.

Never would’ve guessed we were holding carving contests of our own if not for being asked to confirm the prizes, so she kinda had a point.

Selvi was parked on the peak of Mount Aeternia, a spot I hadn’t visited much lately. After the Howling Defier had been scuttled by a greedy warlord, the peak had been repurposed as the headquarters for her scouts. I’d even redone Balthum’s former secret chamber into an office and several bunks.

“Ah, Percival,” Selvi said, looking up from a desk covered in maps. “Was just about to send someone to find you. The fraying clans are closing in on the Frost Riven. Less than a week before the clans’ advance forces reach their lands.”

“Is that related to this giant eagle attack?”

“Giant eagle attack?” Selvi asked, glancing at Vendil who paged through his notes before handing her a page.

“We decided not to call them attacks. No one gets hurt and nothing gets damaged. They just flare their wings and take wide swipes with those fraying giant talons,” Selvi said with a shrug. “They don’t like us keeping an eye on them but way I see it, they’re just puffing their chests like a cliff-snake.”

“If they weren’t coming to invade us, I’d totally understand,” I said, my attention shifting to her maps. “Do we know where they’re going to hit her territory?”

Selvi nodded, gesturing me forward. “There’s really only so many places they can. But if they’re really coming for us, then they might just try to knock a mountain down and march through here.”

She pointed to the northwestern corner of our territory, where a mostly impassable series of mountainous ridges cut off Cape Aeternia from the mainland.

“We have outposts in the mountains?” I asked, noting several new notations.

“Just good landing spots to make emergency repairs to the gliders,” Selvi said. “Though, I wouldn’t complain if we had a Waygate out there with a nice solid fort built around it.”

“Not quite at the point of adding our own,” I said, though I paced off a point on the map. “There’s one here we’re looking to repair but it’s in the bottom of the canyon. Not exactly the sort of altitude you’re looking for.”

Selvi frowned, the scars pulling it into a darker expression than it would’ve been. “Yeah, I already wrote that one off when my scouts found it. Was hoping you’d figure out how to shift them.”

“It… might be possible,” I said, looking down. There hadn’t been much need to shift the Waygates at first. And then we’d needed to ensure the network stayed stable.

The fact it’d be an interesting challenge for Bevel and I to work out meant we’d at least be making an attempt. “No promises, but I’ll go over it with Bevel.”

“Strange to think the wood rat’s a mage now,” Selvi said, leaning against the desk, looking me over. “You’ve been good for her.”

“She’s been good for me,” I said, shrugging.

“That’s the fraying truth,” Selvi said, packing up the maps. “You let me know about that Waygate. We’ll keep our eyes open and wings wide.”

With that, I made my way to find Bevel, who’d been planning to spend the afternoon with Inertia. Instead of taking the Waygate, since I was already at the peak, I stepped over to the edge, about to step off.

Despite knowing my flight muscle would keep me safe, I still found myself hesitating. The peak wasn’t on the level of other heights.

It really did feel like the top of the world.

Shaking off the feeling, I backed up then charged forward throwing myself off without pulling on my new invisible muscle. Instead, air rushed past and I simply enjoyed the experience of freefall for several seconds as I drifted away from the mountain.

It gave me a clear view of the progress that had spread out around Tetherfall. Despite the rugged terrain, it was surprisingly symmetrical. There were bridges everywhere, with equipment and machines filling the spaces both above and within the gaps. In fact, there was a lot more machinery hidden away than I’d realized.

The flat spaces were reserved for the finished projects while it looked like the gorges and canyons were being put to use as protected work areas.

There were thousands of people moving about. It was an honestly staggering amount. We must’ve enlisted half the refugees in supporting our industrial efforts.

Inertia wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Nor did I spot either of her assistants. Not that I could recognize them amongst the rest unless they were giving orders.

By the time I landed, I’d at least guessed Inertia’s location based purely on the number of people moving in and out of the building. The first workshop had its doors thrown open wide and inside were dozens of setups for making new tools.

Towards the back was a dedicated area for prototyping, and that was where Inertia was working. No sign of Bevel but I decided to see what Inertia was up to anyway.

Turned out it was a harness for a combat suit.

I’d shown her Conflict’s designs and she’d simply scoffed out a wave of steam. Given her reaction I’d thought she hadn’t thought anything of them.

Apparently, I’d been right. But only in that she thought she could do better.

When she noticed me, she let out a long hiss of steam. “Perry.”

“Hey Inertia. Came to grab Bevel,” I said even as I stepped closer. The harness was made out of the fine wire mesh she’d originally come up with to replace Fang’s bone tires. “Thought you didn’t like armor.”

She let out a whistle-hiss of laughter, then grabbed a few pages of drawings off her bench, handing them to me.

“Anti-squish augmented suit,” I read off, chuckling softly. Then I continued reading, my brow furrowing. “You really think we can do this with just a few enchanted tools?”

Inertia nodded, lifting one jagged metal finger up and pointing at a line near the top of the drawing.

“Lightweight armor for the gliding Tethered,” I said, raising my eyebrows further. Then I flipped through, realizing she had at least half a dozen different designs she was testing. The heavy stuff required enchantments to function but it also wouldn’t kill the wearer if the enchantments failed. An underlying principle we’d been trying to stick to, considering how many times we’d had enchantments fail on us.

“These look good. Are you leaving space for optional… ah, yep, there it is,” I said, inspecting the actual prototype for places where we could add enchantments. Just cause we wanted the base to work without them, that didn’t mean going without. “That seems designed for custom enchanting work.”

Inertia nodded, tapping the armor with the back of her hand, a clang filling the room. Yet the armor was unscuffed.

“Anything you need?” I asked, thinking back to Conflict’s offer. It was looking more and more like the best option was a combination of laying rails and getting a bunch of fire materials. Turned out fire materials were worth five times as much as the next cheapest this far east.

Inertia nodded, gesturing me over to another bench. On it she had another set of designs. These ones were for… a simple balloon?

As I looked closer, I shook my head. No. They weren’t just balloons.

They were sentry balloons.

Sentry balloons that would let us see the entirety of Cape Aeternia in real time.