My flight through the city could scarcely have provided a clearer illustration of the impact the Order's successful expedition had produced.
Two weeks had passed since its return, yet the discovery remained the dominant topic of conversation on everyone's lips.
Everywhere I flew close to populated places, fragments of discussions touching on all manner of topics directly connected to it drifted into my [Awareness].
The lost atmospheric research station.
The ancient technology within.
The recruitment drives.
The construction efforts.
The metal being hauled.
If anything, the excitement appeared to be intensifying rather than fading.
And I believed I could understand why after giving it some thought.
It was because the Order's expedition's success had ceased to be news and started becoming reality.
Workers were being hired.
Caravans were being assembled.
Coins were being redirected.
Organizations that had shown little interest in the expedition months ago were most certainly suddenly scrambling to secure a stake in whatever opportunities the discovery might produce.
Some likely sought profit.
Some doubtlessly sought influence.
Some definitely sought access to the station itself.
Others merely sought to avoid being left behind.
All in all, interests throughout the city were shifting, and the effects were clearly visible to someone who learned about the ever-shifting web of interests that bound Civilization.
That I considered myself detached from such matters was of no relevance, really.
The mood had changed.
Where before there had been stagnation, routine, and the quiet certainty that tomorrow would resemble yesterday...
There was now something of a palpable sense of movement in the air.
It was as though everyone had collectively recognized the emergence of a new frontier and were rushing to reposition themselves before the rest arrived at the same conclusion and caught up.
In a strange way, looking back on the foundation of how everything unfolded, while the Order's expedition had not directly reshaped the interests of the major factions, it ultimately accomplished just that by capturing the interest of enough individuals for the effect to propagate upward.
And now that the resulting momentum had been given enough time to spread throughout the city, the first tangible manifestations of this shift were now clear for all to see.
Slowing my flying speed just a bit and taking some unnecessary detours where I could, the transformation only became more obvious, giving me plenty of practical sociological observations to dwell on later.
Eventually sighting the singular wall surrounding the enclave that was the Fairy House, I stopped dawdling and moved on from the fascinating sight of people being provided a [Purpose] and how that genuinely caused them to act like they were filled with [Determination].
I would get back to it and the betterment opportunities it offered to Solaena's [Faith] later.
Darting through the first fairy-sized entrance I located, it hardly took me a minute to reach the castle and make my way to the dining hall.
There, I found twenty or so fairies eating in relative [Chaos], who then informed me of the fact that Stavros was temporarily away.
Perfect.
"Mind if I ask you all some completely non-intimate questions about your respective Paths? What you regret choosing, what you're glad you pursued, and how you managed to sabotage your own futures?"
I immediately set down my backpack, removed my helmet, and unsheathed my weapon of choice for this sort of investigative engagement.
A book and a pen
The sight of it drew no small amount of concern from everyone present.
Such was the terrifying might of a Seeker weapon wielded by a being socially recognized as a curious baby.
"Can you stop looking at us like we're corpses waiting to be dissected? It's unsettling."
"Yeah, scary. You freak."
"Please, I just want to eat in peace, then I'm gone."
"My Path is worthless, so there really isn't any point in asking me anything... right?"
Evidently, their first instinct was rejection.
A reasonable instinct, perhaps.
Unfortunately for them, this time, I couldn't accept being denied.
My Path was too important.
"Four questions, four answers. Neither too much nor too little. That is all I ask for," I clarified.
They paused, though their collective scrutiny remained as intense as before.
"I am even willing to lower that requirement to two if you pledge your [Faith] to me."
Their suspicions immediately lowered once I threw in some humor
"What do you think is her primary motivation? Converting us or asking questions?"
"No way her freaky mind only planned for that."
"She'll probably turn the whole thing around by proclaiming it as a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"That's what people say before doing something terrible."
While they were analyzing my intentions, I allowed my eyes to wander around, seeking the most [Ideal] target to get things rolling.
Ultimately, I found it.
"Kianor, as a legendary explorer whose accomplishments have illuminated countless horizons, whose triumphs and setbacks alike have been forged into experience of immeasurable value, and whose Path possesses a degree of practical validation few can claim to rival..."
I stayed my tongue for a moment, allowing the more-or-less deserved praise to settle.
Then I proceeded in the most dramatic fashion [Guided] knew of.
"...I ask you these four questions."
With a textbook bow of both head and torso, accompanied by an elegant flourish of the hand, I presented my four questions.
"What decision along the Path you took to make it here do you regret most, and what lesson did its consequences impart?"
"What choice contributed the most to your success, whether directly or indirectly?"
"In hindsight, which of your decisions proved to be absolutely essential to your Path, irrespective of how insignificant it may have appeared at the time?"
"And if all your accomplishments, failures, and accumulated experience were stripped away, forcing you to rebuild your Path from the beginning... what philosophy would guide your steps?"
◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇
"What decision along the Path you took to make it here do you regret most, and what lesson did its consequences impart?" I repeated for the... thirty-fifth time?
"Specializing too early," Keeva answered, though I could have answered that for her.
Still, I wrote the answer down.
"And the lesson?"
"I found something I was good at and built my entire Path around it. It worked for a while. Then circumstances changed, and I discovered I had spent years becoming excellent at something nobody needed anymore."
I noted that down as well, not making a single comment or exposing my inner thoughts, then moved on to the next question.
"What choice contributed the most to your success, whether directly or indirectly?"
"Seeking people more competent than me."
I looked up from my notebook, physically exhibiting the feeble rise of my interest.
"Did you do that directly or indirectly?" I inquired.
"Most of my successes came from opportunities, warnings, or knowledge I would never have acquired on my own, so... indirectly, I guess?"
Interesting.
I recorded that with a special symbol next to it.
"In hindsight, which of your decisions proved to be absolutely essential to your Path, irrespective of how insignificant it may have appeared at the time?"
Despite having had hours to dwell on her answer, Keeva had the audacity to look thoughtful after I asked her that question.
"Learning to write."
When she uttered her answer, however, the audacity I perceived seconds ago transformed into something much more fascinating.
Conviction.
So I waited.
"Everyone laughs when I bring it up, but I'm actually serious."
"I'm not laughing," I perfectly acted upon [Guided]'s instructions to encourage her to go on.
"When I was younger, I treated records as a waste of time. Later, I discovered that memory is a terrible place to store important information."
I didn't write down anything; I simply continued to stare expectantly at her.
"So I set out to find a way to get myself something of an eidetic memory, and that's how I formed the [Reminiscence] Aspect, which completely accidentally ended up working wonders with my [Grace] Origin Aspect and opened my Path to becoming a relic conservator."
A bit inadequate compared to my expectations, but I even wrote down jokes, so I jotted it down without giving my disappointment away and moved on.
"If all your accomplishments, failures, and accumulated experience were stripped away, forcing you to rebuild your Path from the beginning, what philosophy would guide your steps?"
This time, Keeva answered instantly, "Do not commit to a future before understanding what alternatives exist."
What a marvelous opinion for an Origin Essence Entity to have.
"Looking back, most of my regrets came from making permanent decisions with temporary knowledge. So I would look much further ahead to..."
A shame I already sincerely agreed with it and was presently taking measures to apply it to my Path in its most [Ideal] form.
What did she think I was investigating by asking so many questions about Origin Paths?
Still, redundant or not, I respectfully added her answer to the page without bringing any of my opinions up.
"Thank you for your time, Keeva. Your answers can only further my Path. And should you ever find yourself compelled to proudly proclaim your [Faith] in me and my future greatness, do not hesitate."
"Give it another century, and I'll reconsider. I've got boots older than you, after all."
"Those boots must be extraordinary for you to invoke them in a discussion concerning my inevitable greatness."
"They've trodden three Realms, endured through forty years of wear and tear, survived my travel across four Stratas, and probably cost more than the entirety of your possessions."
"I see."
"They're also better traveled than you."
"A compelling argument. I shall refrain from competing until I have accumulated additional credentials."
When Keeva finally departed the room I had repurposed into an interview chamber, she did so wearing a smile.
As for whether that outcome had been the product of my own impeccable wit or of [Guided]'s meticulous orchestration of the interaction...
I couldn't be bothered to determine which was more responsible than the other.
I simply chose to view this ambiguity as evidence of progress.
After all, if I could no longer distinguish where my own social aptitude ended and [Guided]'s recommendations began, then I was presumably becoming increasingly proficient at social interactions.
Progress.
The only thing that mattered, whether it manifested as practical advancement or existed solely within my thoughts and the [Insight]s glimpsed therein.
Putting down my noticeably diminished graphite pen, I observed how many pages of my notebook had been filled.
Lots.
Question after question.
Origin Path after Origin Path.
Keeva had been but the last fairy available or [Will]ing to answer my odd questions, and her answers, while short, had filled a whole page with words waiting to be reviewed.
The last couple of hours had been productive, if nothing else.
I doubted—good doubts, not bad doubts—I obtained any sort of revolutionary [Knowledge].
I similarly doubted I would uncover some hidden [Truth] about Paths.
But I at least confirmed what I set out to confirm by visiting the Fairy House.
In theory, Origin Essence Entities' Paths were dictated by their Origin Aspects, be it in alignment or rejection.
In reality, the matter was considerably less absolute.
One's Origin Aspect provided direction, certainly.
It influenced preferences, opportunities, and tendencies.
In my case, it even arguably nudged things.
Yet, one's Path remained an accumulation of decisions.
Hundreds, when one stood at their humblest.
Thousands, by the time one stepped out of their emergence phase.
Hence, no matter the theory, in practice, every choice slowly reflected one's inner desires and propensities.
In doing so, every Origin Essence Entity ultimately retained far more agency over the course of their Paths than conventional theory implied.
As for determining whether those decisions had ultimately made them successful or regretful, or how far one's Origin Aspect had contributed to one's success...
That line of inquiry had proven far less useful.
Successes were inconsistent.
Regrets were contradictory.
The same choice one fairy celebrated ended up being another's greatest mistake.
There was little immediate apparent wisdom to extract from such discrepant data.
In any case, with so many having completely voluntarily provided me with their answers, insisting further served little purpose, so I closed my notebook, picked up my stuff, and vacated the room.
It was time to start seeking a different kind of answer.
Ones regarding the Everwell Sector migration.
◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇
"I was wondering when you would turn up."
One moment, I was pondering and deciphering the various [Truth]s held within my fellow fairies' words; the next, Stavros manifested right next to me, his head projecting a distinct shadow over the pages of my book.
Well, that was as good a timing as any.
"I greet you with respect, elder Stavros." I looked up, went through the required etiquette, then asked the most important question right away, staring straight in his jet black iris, "Is the migration cancelled?"
Rather than answering immediately, Stavros sat down where he stood and held my gaze.
"Do you want the short version or the long version?"
His answer made it clear that the answer was neither a simple yes nor a simple no.
"The version that offers me the most [Insight]s," I answered.
"The step-by-step version it is."
"Step-by-step it is." He nodded, not even appearing to consider placating me on account of my youth.
"Let us begin with the most important change in the Fairy House's circumstances. From there, I'll leave you to work through the decisions those changes warranted."
He paused, blinked once...
"We've struck it rich," he stated, emphasizing every word.
"Well?" Then he looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for? That's all the information you need. 'We've struck it rich.' Haven't you started studying economics yet?"
Barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes at this pointless provocation, I reconstructed the various observations I had accumulated during my conversations with the other fairies and swiftly assembled what appeared to be the most probable explanation.
"The Fairy House liquidated all its holdings in preparation for its upcoming exit from the Red Sand Sector," I started.
"You sold your properties and converted as many assets as possible into portable resources whose core purpose was to retain value even after being transported to the Everwell Sector."
"Then the... let's call it power restructuration, happened, and the resulting redistribution of interests likely caused property values to collapse while simultaneously increasing the value of strategic resources."
I paused to neatly organize the ensuing sequence of events.
"Ordinarily, that would merely mean that you sold early, and there would be no reason to rethink the decision to leave the Sector."
"But then the Order's expedition succeeded, which for me occurred two weeks ago, but as fairies from the Fairy House were part of the Order's expedition, you could have known that ahead of time."
"The discovery and state of the atmospheric research station likely altered your long-term expectations regarding the Sector's future development."
"Which means the assets you sold are now expected to become significantly more valuable in the future than they were when you liquidated them, all while being significantly cheaper to re-acquire right now."
I tilted my head.
"But that sort of scenario can only take place if the decision is made to re-invest all the portable assets the Fairy House acquired, in which case there is no more point to carrying out the migration," I concluded.
That was it.
Necessarily, there must be details I failed to account for.
I was many things, and aspired to be even more, but someone possessing the lived experience required to effortlessly navigate every economic, political, and strategic perspective relevant to such a situation was not one of them.
Yet.
Still, I remained confident in my conclusion.
The exact sequence of causes and consequences might differ from my reconstruction, but the underlying incentive structure almost certainly did not.
Having thus identified what I believed to be the core of the issue, I looked askance at Stavros.
As the individual I understood to be presently responsible for the Fairy House due to all the others having already vacated the Red Sand Sector, the burden of deciding what course best served the faction ultimately rested with him.
And I was curious to learn whether my reasoning survived contact with reality.
Because that's what it was all about, in the end.
It wasn't about me.
It wasn't about Stavros.
It wasn't about any individual fairy.
It was about the faction known as the Fairy House, its history, its designs, its place in Civilization.
"So? How right am I? How much of the Fairy House's change of plans is due to the sudden appearance of an opportunity to acquire worthless coins so many are inexplicably passionate about?" I queried dispassionately.
"Well." Stavros leaned back slightly.
"While it fills me with a certain amount of [Pride] that you count yourself part of the remarkably small class of people qualified to call coins worthless, I suspect your persistent disregard for money will eventually prove detrimental."
"But before I start vainly addressing that, let me dissect your analysis."
I nodded.
"First, your reasoning is largely correct. The Fairy House has indeed been presented with a significant opportunity to generate wealth."
"Of course, I am restraining myself by calling it merely significant, but we'll come back to that once we get to the two critical factors you summarily missed on."
"Second, your conclusions regarding what you called the 'long-term expectations regarding the Sector's future development' are also broadly accurate."
"The only substantial disagreement I have with you there would likely stem from the magnitude of the opportunity represented by the discovery of a largely intact atmospheric research station."
"Not that you could have known about the station network map we found inside," he offhandedly remarked.
"Third, you correctly identified part of the reasoning behind the decision regarding the Everwell migration."
Part.
Not all.
I remained silent and waited for him to pursue.
"However," Stavros continued after observing me not exploding in outrage at having been called out, "you have still overlooked two critical factors."
His gaze lingered on me for a moment.
"One belongs to the domain of faction economics, and you can guess what it's about now that I provided you with the intel concerning the station network map."
"The other has nothing to do with economics whatsoever, and I doubt you can even fathom its existence, so I'll give it to you straight."
He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes threateningly.
"The journey to the Everwell Sector is not only long, it's also fucking dangerous," he said, his soft yet firm tone leaving no room for disagreement.
"And I dare you to tell me otherwise," he added as though it was an afterthought before waiting for me to challenge him.
[Guided] had no answer.
Neither did I.
It was increasingly looking like my escort for the Everwell Sector had effectively been cancelled.
"So... the migration?" I inquired just to be certain.
"Not happening," Stavros didn't mince his words.
Taking in his words, his tone, and their deeper implications, I went through a hundred potential answers before settling on the most suitable one given the conclusion I reached.
"Can I ask for a loan to pay for a local powerhouse to escort me to the Everwell Sector?"
"Well, well, well." A grin immediately overtook his face. "See? You're finally getting it a bit. Wealth moves hearts and minds, and the [Worthy] and powerhouses are no exception."
"I just said it to embody my [Will]ingness to recognize coins as occasionally useful. I'm evidently aware that you have no intentions for me to remain in what you so accurately called a 'Nexus-forsaken Sector'," I added in a flat tone.
"And that's why you make for a perfect future member of the Creed," he uttered words that straightforwardly exposed his hidden agenda.
Not that I could care less about it.
"So, back to the matter of getting you out of this Nexus-forsaken, desolate, backwater, barren, forgotten, and resource-starved Sector," he said, his tone having shifted to a more intense one.
That was more like it.
"Most significant change, you'll have to synthesize the [Secrecy] Aspect before I allow you to go."
"So you manage your overdevelopment and keep close to me so that I can supervise your... [Cultivation] properly."
"While you're there, I'll also use this opportunity to show you firsthand what faction politics and faction economics are like."
"As for how you'll get to the Everwell Sector, just leave that to me. If you're even sixteen times less [Worthy] than I think you are, you should be on your way within the year."
"So, anything you're dissatisfied with?"
His tone left little room for disagreement.
Conveniently, I didn't have any.
Synthesizing the [Secrecy] Aspect was something I had to do one day, so it was only a matter of shifting its priority.
As for the opportunity to witness faction-level politics, economics, and decision-making firsthand...
I would pay coins for that.
And to make my approval clear, there really was only one thing left for me to do.
Bringing my knees, hands, head, and wings to the ground, I executed a textbook bow of the highest order of respect.
"I offer my sincerest gratitude to you, elder Stavros, for everything you are granting me, and I shall endeavor to remember your favor for the entirety of my Path."