"This humble novice begs your wisdom, great master."

  Theo smirked, but when he answered his voice was flat. "This altar is barely passable, you could almost certainly find better materials. Your walls are all blank... carving symbols or covering them with another material may not transform your strength, but it enhances the power of the central material. At least s-"

  "The blood isn't enough?" Nauda had known exactly what she was asking for and still had to choke down irritation. "That comes from a sublime beast, and it was so potent it would have eaten through my walls before!"

  He actually stopped, an uncharacteristic look in his eyes as he examined her walls. "That's actually not bad, but it's not sufficient. You don't have any furnishings or other supportive materials... this chamber is in no shape for ascension."

  "And you have room to talk? You ascended to Archcrafter with some of your chambers empty. Have you been resenting us the entire time for the lost strength?"

  "It's always more complicated than that." Theo drifted closer to one of the walls, running his hand over it. "You made the right choice putting up the blood as soon as possible. You could find something for your other rooms, say a sublime paint. It's common enough in Fithe. If you coat every room perfectly and then ascend, those materials will become stronger. But if you ascend and then use those coatings, it simply won't compare. With your new cantae, you might be able to find a stronger material for the walls, but the adequate ones would be much rarer, and they might not match your blueprint. The more shortcuts you take, the more rigid your possible future designs become."

  For the first time, all his optimization talk made a bit more sense to her, all her irritation vanishing. "Is that how people hit their limits? Their ways of soulcrafting become more and more limited until their soulhome isn't strong enough to ascend again?"

  "That's one of the ways, yes."

  "But you didn't answer my question. And I did want an answer."

  "About my ascension?" Theo was silent for a time, and if he had smiled at her, she wouldn't have believed it. When he spoke, his spirit stared out past her soul. "I don't think it will hurt me in the end, but I'm not sure. I should be able to make up some of the loss at Ruler. From my earlier experience, the one that you can't ever make up is the ascension to Authority."

  "Because it's more difficult than the others? I thought that Stronghold was even harder."

  "It is, but it's not the same. Reaching Authority is a... phase shift, you could say. The strength it grants your soulhome can't be replaced, even if you search out incredibly rare sublime materials. A botched ascension to Ruler, you might be able to fix with ten years of remodeling. But Authority... well, you've seen how many people reach that tier and get stuck."

  She had assumed it was something like that, but Nauda actually found the explanation a bit reassuring. She might have stumbled her way this far, but she would have a second chance. Reaching Ruler would let her fully use all her resources and stay alive. That would be enough to finally get her blueprint in order, then she could ascend to Authority and be able to start her real work.

  Though she already had her conclusion, Nauda didn't find herself wanting to shoo Theo away. Instead she made her way down one of the open gaps... she really needed to work on ladders at some point. When she reached her feasting table, she gestured over it.

  "What about the Nine Worlds Feast? Does that need to be absolutely perfect before then?"

  "Soulcrafting is never that simple," Theo said as he examined the food. "Hard materials like stones, you want to settle early. But food that's perishable in real life... never changing your feasting chamber can actually lead to stagnation. It all follows a realistic logic... plants, for example, need resources to continue growing but can catch up to you over time."

  "Huh." Nauda glanced over the surgestalk vines, briefly second-guessing her decision. "Does that mean that a soulhome constructed entirely of plants would be ideal?"

  "That wouldn't be a very durable structure, and not all sublime plants are created equal. Never mind that... have you been supplementing what the Authorities give us? I don't recognize some of these foods."

  "I've been busy. The feast is supposed to match us, right? I've bought a few new things at the markets, and paid a soulcrafter chef to prepare some of the food more to my taste. I may not know the finer points of high tier soulcrafting, but I'm pretty confident in sublime food."

  "Yeah, this is well done." Theo glanced up with an odd smile, difficult to read on his wispy spirit. "I could nitpick that your table is a bit basic and the room contains too many different objects, but it's a solid feast. That explains your physical strength."

  "That's only the beginning, if the ascension goes the way I want." Nauda smiled at him, but it suddenly wasn't enough. She released her technique and they returned to the real world, where she squeezed his knee and smiled for real. "Thank you, Theo. I want to be ready to take on the Chasm with you."

  He chuckled. "If we manage that, we'll be set f-"

  "Give Senka yummies now! Now, now, now!" Though she should have been entirely pinned in place, Senka flailed wildly and seemed to be getting closer to them by sheer orneriness. Theo sighed and got to his feet slowly.

  "I'm guessing you're going to try it soon. Do you want company? Non-Senka company?"

  "Why say Senka's name? Why? Why?"

  Doing her best to block out the nonsense, Nauda tried to think about what she truly wanted. The idea of having Fiyu there alongside her appealed, but given all the thoughts swirling through her mind... "Thank you, Theo, but no. I guess I'll just ask for last second advice about the ascension itself."

  "Hmm." Theo put a hand over Senka's mouth, and though she seemed to be trying to bite it, he managed to keep her silent. "I saw that you'd put petals from our Aathal trip all over the top. To defend against the pressure?"

  "Not just that. I'm told that Tatian ascensions involve some sort of intense rain, so the petals should help shed it."

  "Good thought. Then I probably only have one word of advice: make an umbrella."

  While he departed, thankfully taking Senka with him, Nauda considered his advice. It was obvious, now that she thought about it. She had been most worried about the spiritual rain beating down over her soulhome, but it would be striking her as well. Rain might seem trivial, but given the difficulty of ascending, it never hurt to be careful.

  So, as she checked over her entire blueprint one last time, Nauda assembled a few materials. Not just random objects, but sublime materials that meant something to her. She fashioned a stick out of hearthtree wood from Tatian, reinforced it with Fithan stone, and managed to bind several layers of petals into the canopy. It wasn't an elegant umbrella, but it resonated with her soul.

  That accomplished, Nauda took a moment to rest, letting her spirit relax and her soulhome fill. When she finally returned to her roof, the time felt right.

  When she began climbing up the side of the surgestalk, she was surprised how easy it was. With the thick vines firm in both hands, the pressure from above didn't feel nearly so oppressive. She carried her umbrella stuck in her belt, slightly awkward but not getting in the way given the ease of climbing.

  Once she climbed a full body length above her soulhome, the sky began to push back harder. Each time she reached up it was a struggle and her cantae began to drain as she tried to break through. Yet this still wasn't overly challenging... she'd already endured one ascension, she could grit her teeth and force her way through this one.

  Nauda raised a hand and pushed her will skyward, piercing the barrier... and that was when the rain struck her like a hammer.

  The drops plunged out of the empty sky overhead, skipping from a drizzle to a wall. Nauda was drenched in an instant, the raindrops growing larger and battering at her spirit. She lost her grip from the impact and slid down nearly a pace before catching herself.

  Her instincts to reach for her staff to defend herself made Nauda grab the umbrella instead. It didn't rise smoothly, but she managed to get the canopy between herself and the brutal rain. As soon as she earned a moment of relief, she realized that her head was ringing and her spirit felt bruised. The Aathali petals seemed to be repelling the rain, but the drops continued to buffet it.

  Unable to help herself, Nauda looked back down over her soulhome. She was surprised to see that the rain was tearing through the surgestalk vines, drops impacting in tiny explosions. If the vines hadn't been so thick, the drops would have been pummeling her roof instead. Fortunately, all of the petals endured much more effectively, preventing the water from causing damage inside.

  If Nauda had needed to claw her way up through the stinging rain, it would have been a miserable ordeal. Given a moment's respite by Theo's umbrella, she was able to catch her breath and brace herself. When the umbrella started to tear apart, Nauda cast it aside and clawed her way up with all her strength.

  The rain still smashed into her, but Nauda snarled and kept climbing hand over hand. The pressure increased, and by the time she reached the limits of the sky, she was roaring so loud it overwhelmed the downpour, but she threw everything she had against the barrier.

  When it finally broke, Nauda was shocked at the rush of relief. Not just cantae flowing through her like air, it was as if she'd taken a drink of the most refreshing water in all the worlds. The cantae flooded from the sky more intensely than before, more like liquid than air. It filled her soul, sinking deep into everything that she had built and everything that she was, filling her with new strength.

  Eventually the flow of strength lowered her to the grass outside her soulhome. Though the remnants of the surgestalk lay in ragged pieces, her soulhome was surprisingly untouched. Instead of having endured a brutal storm, everything glistened like dew in the morning.

  Nauda laughed out loud and rushed to the pile of bricks she'd been preparing for her third floor. Yes, they had been suffused by the rush of cantae as well, stronger than they had been before. But when she tried to pick one up to begin work, her head spun and she dropped it as she realized just how exhausted her spirit was.

  Receding to the real world, Nauda flopped onto her back and just lay there for a while. Her body surged with new strength, her mind just hadn't caught up. Eager as she was to begin work on her third floor, she wouldn't advance further by just throwing herself into the problem. No, she needed to work smarter.

  Fortunately, soulcrafting wasn't the only path she had ahead of her. Nauda hopped to her feet and went to collect all of the Arbaian gemstones she had been storing. It was time to commission her first Ruler armament.

  Chapter 13

  Despite the impending deadline, Fiyu found herself often pleased with her work. As she carried bricks from her central workstations to her barrier wall, she often did so with a skip in her step. Actually quite immoderate, if it hadn't been within her soul. There might be threats in the future, but she believed that she would be as prepared as she could be.

  Her barrier wall now extended all the way around her soulhome, and she had been able to spend significant time polishing it. The enemy Ruler who had been able to pierce her stealth before would now have a more difficult time, or so she hoped. Originally she had been planning to add a ridge to the top of the wall, but Friend Nauda pushing to ascend and succeeding had led Fiyu to change her priorities. She would not waste time on a capping ridge that would need to be removed later, not when she had more productive if more unorthodox soulcrafting to complete.

  If she had kept to her original design, she would have already completed the wall, but instead she built a much larger gatehouse just opposite her soulhome's door. Friend Theo had assisted her with the initial blueprint and then she had modified it to be a better match. At times she felt that others believed she simply followed her relative's instructions like an obedient child, but she had been taught the principles of soulcrafting. Relative Guchiro would be proud of her.

  The gatehouse was actually formed of two towers three times the thickness of the rest of her wall, straining the limits of her soul at the edges while also pushing higher. Though the section in between them was also heavily reinforced, the towers were the essential part: she had carved each one to the same shape as her Soulsilver Bracers.

  Fiyu carefully lifted the bricks in one arm as she made her way up her ladder to the top of the bridge between the towers. It was the only section that still required fundamental work, and she hoped to finish soon. Of course, the towers needed considerably more polish and carving, both in general and because she intended to carve the same intricate patterns as covered her bracers.

  The carving had been a somewhat new experience for her, as her spiritual skills had focused more on polishing and glass-blowing. Friend Theo had been very helpful in offering suggestions, though he was not able to assist directly until that day because Friend Nauda had required assistance.

  When she needed a moment to relax her spirit, Fiyu receded from her soulhome to confirm that Friend Theo still sat beside her. She had been fully aware of his presence, of course, it was simply good to confirm. Even in the midst of soulcrafting, his hazy body managed to glance at her, but she only smiled at him and returned.

  Currently, the door in the center of the gatehouse was a weakness, preventing the barrier wall from attaining its true potential. The ideal door would have been another arch of the extremely rare sublime material that her relative had given her, but Fiyu was unable to find more of that. Instead she was working on carving a door from Aathali wood, which would at least allow for smooth control of cantae.

  As she set herself to the simple work of laying the final bricks, Fiyu allowed her mind to wander to Friend Theo's work. She had been assisting him with the fine-tuning of his sensory chamber. He had built upon an extremely appropriate sublime material and designed the rest of his chamber around it. Truly, Friend Theo was doing quite well, already as competent as Ichili children. The powerful cantae flow of his blueprint gave him immense range and potential, it was just a matter of his mind and soul adjusting to the new sense as he fine-tuned the chamber.

  Usually they spent long periods soulcrafting quietly, interspersed by brief conversation. Before the next of them, they were interrupted by a new presence appearing. Fiyu brought all her cantae to bear, even though she recognized one of the Blacksilver Authorities.

  "Let's not waste time." Associate Karchibol frowned down at them. "If you want that Ichil trip of yours, it has to be now. Dhan and Janne need the weirkey nearly as much as I do."

  Though Fiyu was glad that her request had been answered, she would have preferred one of the other Authorities. Associate Janne had fought alongside her, and Associate Dhan was at least a familiar face. Neither meant they could be fully trusted, but they were preferable to the man who acted like an elder relative when he was still nearly a stranger.

  "You're going deep into Ichil?" Friend Theo asked. "Depending on the location, I might want to go along."

  Associate Karchibol waved a hand. "It makes no difference to me, so long as you don't waste time. We need to go now."

  "I'll require a short time to assemble resources and-"

  "Not good enough. I'll do what Blacksilver has agreed upon, but I still don't like taking Archcrafters to their deaths in the Chasm."

  The tension in Friend Theo's neck made it obvious that he was irritated, no doubt that a "mere Authority" was insulting him. Fiyu hastened to speak before she would need to interrupt them. "Excuse me, but I have a solution." She reached into her cloak and revealed her prepared sack. "I have exchanged some of my money for craftgems, as well as universally useful Ichili materials. I have a sufficient quantity for my ally as well, so we may depart now."

  Anger breaking, Karchibol turned toward her with a frown. "You're just carrying that with you?"

  "It is important to be prepared." This was really no more than basic precautions, though those seemed less common on Fithe. In any case, Karchibol was appeased and gestured for them to move close for the transfer. The black Ichili weirkey already glinted in his hand.

  When they both came to stand beside him, Karchibol reached to grip them both. Fiyu suffered his touch, but reached back to grip Friend Theo's coat. Her sense of touch had been twisting lately, the presence of allies both comforting and discomforting... and then all other thoughts were washed away as the terrible light between worlds consumed them.

  It faded to reveal a blessed darkness, not absolute but still comforting. When she turned toward the only source of light, she soon found the walls of Bleaklight City. She was taller than she had been when Relative Guchiro first took her there, but it appeared exactly the same to her purest senses: the thick outer wall, the intricate spiraling plazas arching overhead, the tangled streets in the heart. Unlike some cities, both walls and streets were lit with gas lanterns. They had been shockingly bright when she first saw them and she now realized they were likely dim and unstable to others.

  "They don't know much about other worlds here," Associate Karchibol said, "so you'll have to get him in. I have my own business to take care of elsewhere. You have until the dust has passed through, then return here. Do not keep me waiting."

  His ambiguous statement was explained when he thrust an object toward her, though Friend Theo intercepted it for her sake. It appeared to be a glass sphere filled with a storm, and as Associate Karchibol rose into the sky and vanished, Fiyu examined what he had left behind.

  Clever glasswork divided the sphere into two halves, one of which contained a miniature dust storm and the other nearly empty except for a few grains. Though Friend Theo puzzled over it a moment, presumably with his sense of gravity, Fiyu understood immediately. The empty half of the sphere was a vacuum, and there was a slight flaw in the glass between them, so the dust would slowly be drawn from one side to the other until the pressure equalized.

  "It looks like this will run for several hours," Friend Theo said, "but that's an estimate. I'm not sure whether or not we can afford to split up, or whether we can afford not to."

 

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