Irwin watched from the side as thirteen Blademother and one Bladematriarch were talking rapidly amongst themselves on the deck of Tiscian’s battered warship. Due to the sound-blocking rune, he couldn’t hear what they said, but he could see from their expressions that not all of them were as happy with his request as the others.
Not that most people would have noticed, but Irwin had spent so much time around Ignitzians that he could easily pick up on them.
“You would think that us saving them just now would count for something,” Greldo muttered, sitting on the deck beside him, casually leaning against Coal.
“It does,” Irwin said, watching a clear divide appear within the group of arguing Ignitzians.
He had a good idea what the argument was about, and he probably should have expected his almost escape the previous time he’d been here to have some consequences.
I just don’t think her opinions will count for much, Irwin thought as he let his eyes focus on the Bladematriarch.
He didn’t recall her name, just that Tiscian and Scintilla had talked about her and something about a blood feud going on between them. The reason they had left as quickly as they had many years ago was that Tiscian had said that she wouldn’t have left Scintilla or their children leave.
Currently, her eyes were narrow, as she scowled at Tiscian, the soulforce that oozed from her six soulcards enough to cause a few of the two-soulcarded Blademothers to sway slightly.
“How strong is she?” Greldo whispered, probably in response to the pressure.
“Six soulcarded,” Irwin replied, examining the pressure a bit more. “But none seem to deal with soulforce increases or soulscape improvements.”
“Meaning?” Greldo replied.
“That her pressure is about what you would expect from someone with middling diamond cards,” Irwin said softly, examining the Bladematriarch. “She is probably a very strong sword fighter, great with fire, but-”
“Nothing special,” Greldo said, snickering softly. “You seriously just called a six-soulcarded warrior nothing special, didn’t you?”
Irwin shrugged, examining the Blademothers around the Bladematriarch. There weren’t any other six, or even five-carded warriors there, though he did note that Tiscian now had three soulcards, up from the two she’d had when he had last seen her.
‘Kid, don’t forget that some might be hiding their soulforce pressure, while a few, like that one left of Tiscian, have the pressure of a three-carded, but only two soulcards. Her second soulcard likely has an increase in soulforce.’
‘I know,’ Irwin replied, watching the argument increase in intensity. Lines were slowly drawn, and it became clear that of the Blademothers present, most clearly didn’t agree with whatever their Bladematriarch was saying. Most were physically moving beside or behind Tiscian while only three Blademothers remained with the Bladematriarch. Examining those three, Irwin was pretty sure they were family, as their hair had the same fiery and smoky patterns and their faces had a similar sharp jaw-line as the Bladematriarch’s.
‘Kid, let’s hope she’s not rustbrained like the previous one,’ Ambraz grunted.
‘She probably isn’t, but I don’t think she likes us,’ Irwin said.
It was almost as if the Bladematriarch heard them as she snapped something and brought her hand down in a cutting motion as if to stop the conversation. Then she looked up, her eyes locking with his.
A sound of something sharp tapping something hard came from ahead, and the group of Blademothers turned to face him. Tiscian nodded, though she was swaying slightly, likely because she’d been the one most of the Bladematriarch’s pressure had been focused on.
I’m going to have to fill her soullake and get her a fourth heartcard before leaving, Irwin decided.
“Finally,” Greldo muttered as he got up, cracking his neck.
The Bladematriarch didn’t even look at him, her eyes locked to Irwin’s.
“Cardsmith Irwin, would you mind talking with us?” she asked, her voice calm and holding none of the annoyance Irwin was pretty sure it had held moments before.
“Of course,” Irwin said, walking forward until he towered over the Ignitzians.
“You’ve put me in a bit of a problematic spot,” the Bladematriarch said, crossing her arms and glaring up at him.
Her eyes were pools of silvery flame, as bright as any he had seen, while her flaming hair was partially the color of darkened soot, showing her age was far higher than her smooth face would suggest. Six soulcards and a heartcard, one step from the technical maximum generally known, but nothing special beyond that.
A tiny part of Irwin was surprised at how his understanding of reality had changed. Long ago, a single card had been impressive, a heartcard a marvel, and a soulcard something that others had. Six soulcarded had been the stuff of stories, and back then, he’d not even realized just how much difference could exist between two cards at the same rank. Now he knew that a truly good ruby rank card would benefit someone more than a diamond rank one, while slotting only cards with specific abilities without having some that focused on soulforce and soulcard augmentation would limit a person’s potential and power.
I think if one of the Crathan’s with a full set of five ruby-rank cards was here, their maximum pressure would stun everyone present, he thought while the Bladematriarch continued talking.
“The last time you were here, you left with one of my Blademaidens and her Embers without asking permission… Or should I say, you knew you wouldn’t get permission and fled while we were busy taking care of my predecessor, the previous Bladematriarch of Obsidian,” the Bladematriarch said slowly. “This means you are on the Ashlist and should be captured when found on or near any Ignitzian world. However…”
She sighed, rubbing her head in annoyance while Irwin saw a smirk flicker across Tiscian’s face before vanishing as fast as it had come.
“However, you also just showed up and saved more Blademaidens and ships than I want to imagine, seemingly annihilated the enemy ships without leaving as much as a trace, and destroyed those three Oculithar before their presence could draw more. Now, some of my sisters want me to reward you for this, but our laws state that faults must always be accounted for before any rewards can be given. The problem with the latter… is that the pressure you just exerted is so far beyond what I can output that I fear if I were to try and hold you accountable for your faults, I would simply be unable to do so if you were to resist.”
Irwin stared at her, showing no reaction but agreeing with her. If she actually did want to dish out some punishment, she would find he wasn’t going to accept that. Besides not agreeing with her reasoning, even if he did, he had more important things to do than work in some mines or whatever the punishment would constitute.
“I thought as much,” the Bladematriarch said, exhaling two thin trickles of smoke through her nose. “Tiscian says you are looking for very specific cards and need to talk with the Fiz’rin?”
Irwin nodded, getting a feeling he knew where this was heading.
“Normally, as a reward for saving us, I would have helped you by allowing you to pick some cards from our ancient vaults. To balance these two things out, I’ll withdraw that reward and just say… thank you for saving so many of my Blademaidens. Now, unless you are going to remain here and help with the defense…?” She let the question linger for a few moments, but Irwin didn’t react, and her eyes hardened. “Fine. I’m going to assume that Scintilla Smokeblade and her Embers are not with you, because that would just make this issue bigger. However, if you speak with her, tell her she’s no longer welcome on Igniz while the Claimareh Line has anything to say about it.”
Irwin just shrugged at that, not sure such a threat would mean anything if she likely wouldn’t even recognize Scintilla if she saw her, let alone being unable to enforce the threat.
“Fine,” the Bladematriarch said, turning to the Blademothers. “I am going to head back onworld to contact the other Bladematriarchs. Our fleet has suffered too many losses, and they will need to send reinforcements if they don’t want to have to defend our world from within.”
A few of the Blademothers nodded, and the Bladematriarch turned to Irwin again.
“Cardsmith Irwin, I’ll leave you to the Smokeblades, with a final request. We have barely any news from the rest of the branch. I can understand you not being interested in helping me, but for the other Blademaidens, I would ask that you share whatever you know.”
She didn’t wait for a response but turned and walked a few steps away, followed by the other three members of her family. A flare-up of soulforce coincided with a burst of dark ash that rippled from one of the three, and a moment later, they all vanished, leaving Irwin and Greldo together with the nine remaining Blademothers.
“By all the lava of Brin, she talks too much,” one of the Blademothers said, her shoulders slumping.
“Someone should remind her she shouldn’t use her soulcard pressure to try and dominate a situation,” another grunted, smirking as she looked at Irwin. “Especially as the smith seems completely unbothered by it, and it's only annoying us. Just because she can’t use that blade to save her life doesn't mean she can compensate like that. No wonder she doesn’t adhere to the old ways.”
Tiscian ignored them as she walked up to Irwin.
“I am sorry about that, and Pierscit didn’t speak for all of us,” she said, getting a few shouts of paroval from behind her. “She used some ancient technicality just now, and the only reason we didn’t stop her was that the alternative was worse. It took a while to even get her to allow this, as she’d actually thought she would be strong enough to enforce her will.”
“Which would have looked like what exactly?” Greldo asked as he scratched his dark stubble.
One of the Blademothers walked forward, grinning at Greldo while trickles of smoke leaked up from her one remaining eye. “She would have tried to capture both of you, force you on the world, and probably sentence you to sharing your heat with her and some others.”
“I… what? What is wrong with-” Greldo snapped his mouth shut before he could finish a sentence that Irwin knew would probably likely cause them more trouble than it was worth.
Tiscian looked at his friend, then sighed.
“Things have changed since you left. The Claimareh family now has two Bladematriarchs, and they have been trying to force what they believe is the best path for our species on the rest of us.”
“They are dead in the head,” one of the Blademothers snapped angrily. “As if a war against these Chained coldborn isn’t bad enough!”
She stepped beside Tiscian, tugging on her single long ponytail, causing tufts of smoke to billow out.
Irwin hummed. “So, they are doing what? Forcing the sharing of heat?”
“Yes, but it's not as bad as what you think,” Tiscian said, sighing. “It doesn’t involve much physicality. They use some runes to draw out your heat and then just feed it to whoever they think fits best.”
“How about we not talk about these disgusting and sad practices?” the blademother with the ponytail exclaimed, tugging harder. “Instead, why don’t we show some actual courtesy to the ones who saved us? Let me be the first to-”
“No, no,” the one-eyed Blademother said, interrupting her. “You don’t get to be the first. Have some decency. The smith is heat-bonded to one of Tiscian’s children. Let her be the first!”
Tiscian smiled as she looked at the other Blademothers before turning to Irwin.
“What my friends are trying to say is that, although you might not be able to pick a card from the Bladematriarch’s vaults, our families all have vaults easily as old,” she said. “If you explain what you need, we will gift you a card of each.”
‘Oh, kid, this is awesome! These ancient Ignitian families are known to collect cards almost as much as Brazardian and those other rustbuckets!’
Irwin ignored Ambraz’s excitement as he bowed his hand.
“That would be great, but I fear I might not be able to explain exactly what I need. Is it possible for me to look at your faults myself?”
“What? No?!”
“Sure.”
“You can.”
A torrent of responses blended together, and a moment later, the Blademothers were looking amongst each other in surprise.
The one-eyed Blademother barked a laugh. “Well, I guess you can look at some of them, and you will have to do your best explaining what you need to a few others. Still, if you find what you need in one of our vaults, that will help us understand what you are looking for.”
I wonder about that, Irwin thought.
Still, he kept his considerations to himself as he followed Tiscian’s lead.
A few hours and a trip through the exit portal corridor later, he was walking away from the now heavily fortified fortress that surrounded the exit portal. Compared to a few years ago, it was swarming with soldiers, and they had gone through dozens of killbox rooms just to reach the exit. Now they were walking towards the distant sloop area, which had been moved away from the Exit Portal fortress to prevent anyone who managed to get through from a quick escape.
“I’m always so happy to be back here!”
Irwin glanced at one of the two Blademothers who had accompanied him and Tiscian back to Igniz. The one who spoke had been Blademother Edricila Flowigniter, constantly tugging her long braid as if she enjoyed creating smoke around herself, while her one-eyed friend, who crooned in agreement, had introduced herself as Hewincan Twinblade.
Glad I don’t have to call them that, Irwin thought as he recalled Ambraz’s muffled snort when they had told him to just call them Edri and Hewi.
“Now, I need to head back home and arrange for more soldiers to be sent to the Harbor,” Hewi said, as she nodded at Tiscian. “After you are done, bring the smith to my estate, and I’ll get him a proper reward.”
She smiled at Irwin before turning to a distant sloop and changing into a plume of dark smoke that moved forward like lightning.
“So dramatic,” Edri said. “But she’s not wrong. I will also need to take care of business. Even with that friend of yours and his beautiful dark ship, I don’t feel safe leaving things to chance. Find me when you are ready.”
She didn’t say anything else as she pulled her ponytail taut, causing it to swirl further than it had before. It continued as it wrapped around her like a tentacle made of smoke and fiery black hair. A moment later, there was a flash, and she was gone.
“Excuse my friends,” Tiscian said as she beckoned Irwin to continue after her. “We have all been under a lot of pressure since the war started. Our families were all relocated away from Obsidian and back to our old family estates, while at the same time, we were required to provide the largest number of Blademaidens and ships. I hope now that half the fleet is gone, the Bladematriarchs will finally see reason and force the other families to send their fleet.”
“What is up with all these leaders that just do whatever?” Ambraz grunted. “Don’t they understand what is going on?”
“They do,” Tiscian said, as they walked towards a sloop with a young Blademaiden that was already preparing for their arrival. “But they are set in their ways. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen how when people get older, they become harder in accepting change?”
“Oh, don’t remind me,” Ambraz grunted.
Tiscian nodded, probably remembering that Ambraz was the Progeny of Brazardian.
“It’s why I’ve been trying to make them realize we should go back to the old ways,” she continued. “Long ago, we had a Council of Blademothers instead of just the Bladematriarchs of the different countries deciding for all of us. Sadly, it’s not a popular concept, and all those who agree have been relegated to less important places, or even away from Igniz.”
Irwin hummed thoughtfully as he walked with her.
“What if you were to get a fourth complete soulcard and another heartcard?” he asked.
Tiscian’s step faltered, but she quickly caught herself, continuing as if nothing had happened.
“It would help, but without a five-carded, my faction isn’t strong enough,” she said, seemingly ignoring how he was even suggesting she did that.
Before Irwin could continue, she glanced at him, eyes narrowed.
“Talking about soulcard numbers. You said Scintilla is doing fine, together with the Embers… But how many soulcards does she have now? You must have six now, from your mere pressure. How did you gain those so fast? Did you find a time dilation world strong enough? Does she also have five or more?”
Irwin managed to keep his face under control, wondering how to answer this.
“I don’t have six cards,” he began, causing Tiscian’s eyes to narrow.
“So, you have seven, like some of the legends say is possible?”
Irwin blinked in surprise before realizing he should have known that the Ignitzian had at least some knowledge of Ammolite-ranked cards.
“I don’t,” he said, right as they reached the sloop. “Perhaps we should continue this after we arrive?”
Tiscian was staring at him in mild disbelief, then nodded, boarding the sloop.
“You are right,” she said as she sat down beside the Blademaiden. “Bring us back home.”
“Yes, Blademother!”
Irwin leaned back in the chair while the sloop began shivering and humming. The Blademaiden let out a confused grunt as her fingers flicked across the control crystals. A moment later, the sloop lifted off, though slower than Irwin had expected.
Tiscian turned back to look at him, eyebrows raised.
“Exactly how heavy did you become? This sloop is able to lift a fully geared squad of ten…”
Before Irwin could respond, Ambraz began laughing uproariously.
“Way heavier than that,” the Ganvil managed in between his laughter.
Irwin sighed and just shrugged at Tiscian, who held his gaze for a moment before turning around. Irwin watched her for a moment before leaning back. He focused for a moment and created an Aura Clone inside his soulscape to inform Scintilla of what had happened.
While that part of him was busy, he looked out into the distance.
I wonder if Scintilla will really be able to resist taking a look, he wondered.
The rest of the trip was mostly quiet, with Irwin looking at the beautiful, multi-layered city of Obsidian until it vanished into the distance before turning his attention to the landscape. It faintly reminded him of his own Soulscape, with volcanic mountains everywhere, but where his soulscape also had his vast soulforce sea and multiple other areas, Igniz was only volcanoes, lava, and massive sprawling forests of Embertrees. Uncountable numbers of fire elementals walked and flew around below and in the distance, while giant flying fire-elementals flew like birds through the puffy dark clouds that floated above. Streams of lava and pyroflux flowed everywhere, splitting the land up into a patchwork of dark rock, vibrant red and yellow bushes, and the occasional smaller lake.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Tiscian said, after a few hours.
Irwin looked up to see her staring at a distant volcano, its slope covered in trees that were dark red at the base and more yellow halfway up before giving way to a tip that spewed a constant stream of yellowish gas into the air.
“It is,” Irwin said as he looked at a herd of charbull-like creatures roam across a stretch of yellowish grass.
I still haven’t gotten around to getting a Charbull soulforce construct, he thought.
“What are those?” he asked, pointing at the creatures.
“Those? Ashbison,” Tiscian said. “Their meat is incredible. Not as spicy as some, but with more flavor than you can imagine. Sadly, they were almost hunted into extinction long ago, so now we have strict regulations on who can hunt them, and how many.”
Irwin nodded slowly. “Do you have any on your lands?”
“I do, and if we have time, we could go to hunt one,” Tiscian said. “Why?”
“Could I get two living ones? A male and a female?”
Tiscian snorted, then laughed softly. “Well, you wouldn’t need two of those, because they are like Ignitzian. They create young by sharing heat, but unlike us, they can only do so with those of their own kind. It’s what makes them so rare.”
“Then one will do,” Irwin said. “If that’s okay?”
Tiscian nodded. “It is fine. I have the feeling that before you leave, I’ll likely be greatly in debt to you, so a single Ashbison is of little import.”
Irwin didn’t respond. Though he knew she was probably right, he wondered how she had decided that. Just from his question about her soulcards?
A few hours later, the distant Smokeblade Estate came into view, and Irwin saw that it had changed little since they had last been there. He did notice a wide river of Pyroflux flowing nearby, and he hummed thoughtfully.
‘Kid, you can’t drain too much of that. If you want enough to create some rivers and lakes in your soulscape, you would need a whole sea of the stuff, and you know where one is. Remember?’
Irwin did remember, and he nodded slowly.
‘Right, we will get it from Smelter later.’
The sloop landed in the familiar courtyard, though even with his memories condensed, he felt like it had been ages since he’d been here the first time.
“Thank you, go and rest,” Tiscian said to the Blademaiden before walking towards the sprawling building.
Irwin followed her into it, and into the large central room with the low couches and the tables. Like the first time, bowls of fruit stood on some, while pitchers of steaming drink stood on others.
“Have a seat,” Tiscian said, as she sat down on a large chair, rubbing her eyes for a moment.
As soon as Irwin sat down on a couch, Tiscian looked at him, eyes sharp.
“Now, what happened to Scintilla?” she asked. “And don’t tell me it's nothing. It is clear that something happened from how little detail you provided before the others came and interrupted us.”
Irwin stared at her while quickly forwarding the question to Scintilla.
-- Irwin’s Soulscape --
“Ugh, she’s always too perceptive for her own good,” Scintilla muttered, staring at Irwin’s blue Aura Clone.
“Fine, just tell her the truth. I’m afraid she might be a bit angry, but…” she shrugged as she smiled at him.
Irwin blinked at her, then rolled his eyes, and she felt a bit bad. She’d hoped her Heatmother wouldn’t notice anything, and she wondered how Irwin had said things for her to be triggered.
A minute later, Irwin’s Aura Clone grimaced.
“She demands that you come out now… If you don’t, she is going to find a ship and search for Eluathar until she finds it.”
“She what?” Scintilla exclaimed, staring into the bluish fire eyes in disbelief. “Tell her she’s being a fool and I don’t believe her.”
“She said you would say that, and that you should remember what happened when your oldest sister set out with… a Niox?” Irwin eyed her curiously at the last part.
Scintilla stared at him, suddenly recalling that story, something she’d not thought about since she was small.
She raised her hand, staring at the metallic, golden bronze skin. It felt real and sturdy, and she didn’t regret her choice, but…
She will do it, she realized as she recalled her sister's story. It had seemed so funny back then.
“Fine,” she muttered, looking at Irwin as she got up. “Just make sure to be ready to pull me into your soulscape if she loses it.”
“I don’t think she will,” Irwin said, seeming distracted, waving his hand as if to signal for her to ready.
The world around her swirled, and a moment later she stood in the chamber she knew so well, in the place she’d grown up. The ambiance, the sound, and even the heat wrapped around her in a way she’d secretly feared wouldn’t happen because of her new body.
A soft hiss made her focus on the person standing in front of her, and she locked eyes with her mother.
She’s so small, she thought, before her mind caught up. It wasn’t her mother that had shrunk, it was she that had grown. She’d known it, but until now she’d not realized the full extent of it.
Her heatmother’s mouth opened, then closed, as her eyes moved across her. Scintilla didn’t know what to do or say, so she just stayed still, unsure what would happen. She had done things in her life that Tiscian hadn’t condoned before, some mistakes, or deliberate, but none with as far-reaching consequences as this.
“At least you aren’t as bulky as he is,” Tiscian finally said, shaking her head. “And you are still pretty, though in a more aggressive way.”
Scintilla blinked, then blinked again, her mind seizing until she finally managed a few words.
“That’s all?” she muttered.
“What? What else did you expect? Should I shout? Attack you for going against one of our oldest customs?” Tiscian snapped. “It’s a custom, not a rule, and you've broken plenty already. Why should I be surprised you broke this one as well? You always were headstrong.”
Scintilla stared at her mother, feeling one of the oddities of her new body happen, something she’d still not fully learn to deal with. A faint watery liquid leaked out of her eyes, and she quickly wiped it away.
“Oh! You can cry?! How is that? Tell me,” Tiscian exclaimed, looking forward with pure interest in her eyes.
“Annoying,” Scintilla snapped, casting Irwin a glare for grinning softly.
“How about you two chat a bit. I’ll go and explore,” he said, smiling at her before nodding at her heatmother and walking away.
Traitor, she thought as he walked away, leaving her with leaking eyes and a heatmother that was trying to touch them curiously.