by Sarah Lin
"No, not around here." Nauda hesitated, but nodded to herself as if coming to a conclusion, then spoke with more confidence. "I was born in a distant community. There, we have a word... I think it would sound like 'prideful humility' to you. You have noticed that some Tatians can go quite far in attempting to be more hospitable and humble than one another, yes?"
"Oh, I've noticed."
"Prideful humility is like a game being played with that tradition. I don't think your 'sarcasm' word is quite right. Sometimes it is mocking the other person if they are being excessively humble. At other times, it is using false humility to show them their foolishness." Nauda let out a surprisingly heavy sigh. "But it doesn't seem to be a tradition here, and I fear I have been taken at face value. No one realized until you spoke up."
"I noticed, Nauda." Fiyu drew back when they both immediately turned to her and continued slowly. "I did not understand the deeper meaning you explained. But when you spoke that way, I heard a different... inflection? Do you understand that word? It was not used like in any Ichili language, but I heard the difference and came to understand."
"Huh. Then that makes two of you, but the rest has been wasted."
Theo had been tearing through some meat while they spoke, but now swallowed and chuckled. "You're way too subtle. Your words might sound absurd to you, but there are others who act that humble completely sincerely. The sarcasm I know can be subtle, but it doesn't have to be."
Nauda leaned her head on one hand, regarding him thoughtfully. "I suppose you might be right. It was fun when no one understood at first, but it's gotten old."
For a time they said nothing, returning to eating, yet the atmosphere wasn't awkward. Theo wished that he could feel more comfortable with them, yet he found himself thinking about everything he didn't know. Nauda was clearly keeping secrets, potentially very serious ones. Fiyu might appear earnest, but he didn't know her true goals, and in Ichil, one did whatever was necessary.
"I... would like to tell you both something." Nauda set down her utensils and regarded them with grim intensity. "You might not know, but everyone else does: I am not from this part of Tatian. In a sense, I will never be fully embraced, not even if I married a local and lived my entire life among them."
"Tatian villagers have always seemed welcoming to me," Theo said. "Am I missing the nuances?"
"Yes. There is one form of hospitality for guests, and another hospitality for family. The latter is sometimes less warm, but it is more important." Nauda reached up and began anxiously playing with a lock of her hair, apparently without even realizing that she was doing so. "Living here is... a death by a thousand warm embraces. That is why I need this. It isn't just a school or a competition to me."
Fiyu bobbed her head sympathetically. "I have understood that you had something at stake. What do you need?"
"At first, I volunteered because not many wanted to work with foreigners, and I thought it might help them accept me. But I also need the sublime materials, because I have no family to grant me any. If this doesn't work... no one here is turned out on the street, but I will be carried further and further away from my goals."
"What do you mean about this not working?" Theo asked. "You need to win every contest?"
She took a deep breath, again meeting their eyes one at a time. "This information was not supposed to be shared yet, but I'll tell you. They plan to reduce the number of students after this contest. The worst teams will be sent on assignment to hunt demons, which might be good experience, but they will no longer be given sublime materials. I cannot allow that to happen."
"But we're not in any danger of that happening, are we?"
"No, but the contests will grow more difficult. By the end of the year, I need to have acquired everything I need, and hopefully reached Archcrafter. If not... well, it will be difficult. It would be wrong to ask you to take this seriously, because you already have, so... thank you for fighting for me."
"You are welcome, Nauda." Fiyu reached out and very briefly patted Nauda's arm, as if testing a hot stove. The Tatian woman gave a broad smile and wiped at her eyes.
Somehow in all their talking, they had finished off most of the food. Fiyu inquired if they needed to eat everything for soulhome purposes, and when told not, gathered some of it together in a bundle for Javes. She'd done a better job of thanking him than Theo, who had mainly just noted his existence.
But he couldn't think about their other team member at the moment, not with more serious thoughts gnawing at him. It would be so easy to just sit in the comfortable environment and enjoy the tail end of the meal. Telling them more wouldn't actually bring them closer together, and it could even cause problems. For him or for them. Yet he still found himself speaking up.
"You aren't going to have a full year."
His stark statement cut through everything else and Nauda immediately looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"One of the other students here, the one named Magnafor, isn't interested in being handed any prizes, he wants to steal every sublime material in the Landguard vault. Nanjuma said it isn't possible, but I think that he'll be able to do it. I'd stop him if I could, but I don't know how or when... and to be honest, I need those sublime materials too."
Only silence in response, so he plunged forward.
"My name isn't Jake, and I've been here once before. In the Nine, I mean. But someone tried to kill me and they thought they succeeded. Now that I'm back, I'm sure I'll run into the same people and they'll try to kill me again. Even the demon attacks may be related to me coming through, I'm not sure. So I just wanted to warn you that you shouldn't plan on having a full year to prepare."
For a time they said nothing, and he didn't like Nauda's flat smile. Fiyu, however, eventually tilted her head to the side to regard him. "Then what is your name, not-Jake?"
"Theo. Please don't use it around anyone else, just in case... I don't know exactly who killed me last time, but they might find out somehow."
Nauda sat forward, false smile receding into a hard mask. "You want to steal everything from the Landguard vaults?"
"Well..." Now that he said it, he wished that he hadn't, but it would certainly be the most beneficial path. "I don't want anyone to get hurt in the process, not like Magnafor. I know that might not be what you want to hear, but the truth is that I'd take them if I could."
"Oh, I don't care." Nauda sat back with a slight smile. "I don't want anyone here to come to harm, but I don't care about their Landguard relics. No doubt some of the sublime materials would be useful to me too."
Both Theo's eyebrows shot up, despite himself. "Did I just gain accomplices?"
"You might regret it, because I'm going to shoot down any plan that I think won't work. But if things are really as bad as you say, then getting out with a vault of sublime materials might be the best plan. Just... don't lie to us anymore, okay?"
He nodded, prompting a bright smile from Fiyu. "It is good to know your relative name, Theo. But I will use your travel name with others."
Then he'd told the truth and it hadn't blown up in his face. Yet as Theo sat at the table, finishing the last scraps, they settled uncomfortably in his stomach. Last time, everything and everyone had been taken from him. This time, he was afraid that any connections were only potential weaknesses.
Chapter 26
After the feast, the three of them began to soulcraft together more frequently, making heavy use of Nauda's telescope. Though Fiyu still kept the majority of her soulhome shrouded in shadow, she seemed much more comfortable inviting them inside, even showing him the chamber that generated the dark cantae that had surrounded her hand.
The chamber was connected to the room of burning light that generated her explosive bursts, but the light was filtered through heavy plates of dark glass and ice. On the other side, the light gleamed dark and sinister. Compared to her bursts, which focused on heavy firepower, the dark aura was an extremely sharp edge. He didn't see any possible way t
o make the technique less lethal, even with all his experience.
That didn't mean that he couldn't help her at all, though. Since her primary weakness was lack of stamina, he helped her redesign one of her empty chambers to store cantae more effectively. Her relative's blueprint suggested that it would later be used for a support chamber that would improve her burst skill, but since she lacked the sublime materials to soulcraft further, she could at least use it for cantae.
Nauda was a bit more difficult to help. Now that she was more open with them, he saw that her final chamber contained endless inscriptions that were related to a sort of trap-laying skill. Also, a finely-soulcrafted chest that allegedly contained Archcrafter materials she had inherited. Since Nauda clearly didn't want to talk about them, he didn't press further, but that allowed him to guess why she was pushing so hard to ascend.
Her construction on the roof was a good start, but it wasn't going to pierce the clouds, not in the near future. Instead, they discussed potential counters to the technique that had allowed the armament in the last match to drain her. It was some sort of flaw in the binding skill she used, but a knotty one to sort out. With all three of them putting their minds to it, they came up with a few solutions, none of them easy.
In the end, the only immediate suggestion he could offer was building a smaller tower alongside her central square soulhome. Not building a soulhome as a single unit had disadvantages, but it wasn't fundamentally flawed, and it allowed her to soulcraft herself without compromising her progress toward ascending.
Of course, he spent the most time in his own soulhome, finishing the work on his gravitational field chamber and doing as much as he could on his enhancement rooms. His storage chamber became complete enough to let him shrug off unfocused cantae bolts, while his feast chamber strengthened him much more than would be expected for a first tier soulcrafter. Nauda seemed slightly intimidated by how much he added, but he could only see the distance between what he'd done and the new blueprint growing concrete in his mind.
With only a week, that was all they could do. Theo felt as though, after so much had changed between them, they should have changed more as well, but they had only the tools remaining to them. Soon enough, it was time for their third match.
~ ~ ~
With no suspicious illnesses and their opponent's leader not participating, it would actually be their first match of the tournament with even numbers: nine against nine. For the first time they had also arrived before the other team, gathering on their side while awaiting Archcrafter Nogibe's group.
"The biggest problems are fairly clear," Nauda was saying. "Navim is the most obvious, simply because he can ignore so many attacks, even some cantae. Theo, can you lift him?" There was something odd about the way she spoke about Navim, but Theo ignored it, because the answer was clear.
"It isn't a matter of lifting. I can make him weightless like anyone else." He considered that Navim still had inertia, but thought that he could either use the Mundhin's momentum against him or manage to push him out of the ring. "You want to hold me in reserve for him?"
"The problem is that they might be anticipating that and send him out against someone else. We need to be flexible or we won't win this."
"Seems clear enough. What about the other problems?"
"Do you see the Farmguard in back? She's from a southern community that has more difficulty with demon attacks, so she has experience and a tested soulhome. Then the Fithan man not far from her... he's a pure ranged fighter, almost like Fiyu." Nauda bit her lip and lowered her voice, eyes flickering behind them. "But the biggest problem might be our other members. I couldn't get much information about the rest of Nogibe's family, but they won't be weak. I don't know how well the others will compete."
Theo glanced back over the group, making eye contact with Javes but still not knowing the others very well. Normally he wouldn't care, but Nauda had been grim about needing to win this competition, so he wanted to find some way to shift the contest in their favor. Unfortunately, the best he might be able to do was win them a single match.
Only Kuber was missing... no, he was approaching now. His eyes had lit up in a different way and he clutched his family's heirloom armament in both hands, as if afraid someone would take it from him. Yet his soulhome didn't seem to have improved... if anything, it had simplified. When he arrived, he brushed past Fiyu - who gave a yelp of consternation - and sat down beside Nauda.
"This time, I can help carry us." Kuber didn't explain why, but the way his knuckles were white around the wooden stick suggested an answer. "If you need someone for a short, explosive match, consider me family."
Though Nauda hesitated, her eyes following the same patterns that Theo's had, in the end she nodded. After Kuber arrived, Nogibe's team soon finished assembling.
That day the instructors were late, but Nanjuma was ready with the bell and most of the audience had arrived. There were more than average, since this was one of the first matches of the third round, and the first to be truly anticipated. Theo's team had fought more unusual matches than any other, while Nogibe's had the best record, with only three losses total.
After today, that number would definitely increase. But as Theo looked over the sturdy soulhomes of the enemy group, he wasn't confident about an overall victory. Maybe it was more important to focus solely on winning his own fight.
"And now, let us finally begin!" Nanjuma smiled broadly at both sides. "The match between Nauda's family and Archcrafter Nogibe's family... Nogibe will begin by selecting one of his students."
Instead of leading with any of their strongest, they sent out a young man covered head to toe in inscribed wooden plates. Armaments of some kind, but Theo was skeptical that they could be that powerful and they didn't look like effective armor physically. Nauda peered at him, then scowled and rubbed her eyes.
"The armaments prevent me from checking his soulhome. Anyone else?"
"I think this is a trap." Fiyu spoke extremely softly, but with confidence. "He wants to appear more dangerous than he is. It is a bluff."
"Then they probably want to lure one of us out, to waste our strength..." Nauda trailed off, considering their options. Before they came to any conclusion, Javes clapped his hands on his knees and levered himself to his feet.
"I'll try to handle it. I know I can't fight their best, so this might be my only chance to help."
When Nauda gave her approval, he walked out into the arena. The bell rang and the opposing fighter immediately began to hum, cantae flowing through the armaments in intricate patterns. Yet for all the light, Theo didn't feel any particular intensity of power.
Javes stepped forward, experimentally jabbing at his opponent's shoulder. The blow struck, but glanced off harmlessly. Though the armored warrior attempted to strike back, he wasn't particularly fast, and all the wooden plates slowed him down, so Javes easily ducked aside. They began trading blows, neither of them particularly effective, and neither looking like they would tire soon.
Since it was likely to go on for a while, Theo turned his attention to Kuber. "Are you going to use your family's armament? Unless you found a way to use it in a weaker form, I don't see how."
To his surprise, Kuber didn't answer, merely shifting his grip and avoiding eye contact.
"I've seen you spending time with Magnafor."
That forced Kuber's attention and he shifted away uncomfortably before speaking. "You told me it was impossible, but... you were wrong. Magnafor showed me how to use the armament."
"Out of the goodness of his heart, was it?" Theo leaned in closer, eyes narrow. "Just what did he demand in return?"
"N-nothing. Well, not to use it against his team. After what he gave me... I had to agree."
Giving an opponent a powerful ability in return for a single forfeited match? Theo couldn't help but be skeptical that Magnafor would make such a bad deal, even before he decided whether or not Kuber's words rang inauthentic. He wanted to push further, but what bothered him mo
re was that he didn't understand how it was possible. Kuber hadn't ascended to Archcrafter, and there shouldn't be a way to support such a powerful armament with a first tier soulhome.
Before he could decide what to ask next, the match ended with a whimper: the exhausted fighters ended up wrestling with one another until they both collapsed. Still within the ring, but Nanjuma stepped forward and created a wall of green fire to separate them.
"Both sides have fought well, and any victory now would be mere luck." Nanjuma picked each man up with one hand. "We'll call this a draw!"
That was new, but probably the best they could have hoped for. Theo made sure to give Javes an approving look for holding out for so long, but his attention turned entirely to the next match. Would Archcrafter Nogibe have prepared specific counters to them, or would he be looking for good matches? The armament trick suggested that he was crafty, but...
"Put me in." Kuber nearly vibrated in his seat, cantae flowing through his armament. "Nauda, let me fight. I'll win for you, I guarantee it."
"Kuber..." Nauda watched him silently, but she seemed to have made a similar calculation as Theo, because she eventually nodded. "Show us what you can do, then."
Instantly Kuber leapt up and rushed to the ring. Though he seemed manic while moving, when he arrived, his body stilled as he clasped the inscribed rod with both hands. It really did seem as though he was capable of using an Archcrafter armament.
After only a brief pause, Nogibe made a small gesture. Navim rumbled to his feet and lurched toward the arena, leading to several gasps from the audience... but not Kuber. Eventually the two faced each other across the ring, which seemed much smaller with Navim's bulky stones occupying it.
Even before the bell rang, Kuber gripped the heirloom tighter and began to flow cantae. Navim waited until the signal, then hefted a cudgel-like limb of dark stone and swept it into his opponent's chest.
