Syleena walked along the shore of a small lake in the third layer.
She looked at her hands absently as her mind drifted.
Everything so far had gone according to plan. She had established connections within the fifth layer, and there was even a leading figure in the sixth who had shown interest in becoming her patron.
Rank four had also started to feel closer. True to everything she had learned about mind pathway, it was one of the few pathways that began difficult and grew noticeably easier the higher you climbed.
Syleena paused to let a duck cross the path before continuing.
"Lady Violet said I needed to understand the fundamentals to advance to rank four." She murmured to herself. "But what does that actually mean?"
For better or worse, fundamentals had always felt harder for her than complexities.
She glanced over her shoulder.
After losing the backing that came with noble status, she could no longer afford to maintain the twenty extra motes she had owned. She had been forced to sell most of them off, leaving gaps she hadn't anticipated. Information pathway being one of the more significant ones.
"Syleena."
Her legs stopped and her head snapped forward.
"Kael."
He stood with his hands pocketed, the noble performance he had maintained for months completely absent, replaced by the same ice cold eyes and indifferent expression she remembered from Velthoria.
"Did you sell me out?"
He raised a piece of wood as he said it.
"No."
Kael let out a thoughtful hum and flicked the splinter into the water.
The assassination hadn't been as much an attempt on his life as it had been a message. The way it was constructed suggested they wanted him to know they could get to him, that they knew something, rather than that they genuinely intended to finish it. If they had wanted him dead they would have sent someone more capable. The man with the stakes had been nothing more than a disposable outcast handed a piece of useful wood.
He had known Syleena wasn't behind it. There was simply no reason for her to move against him yet. But the fact remained that she was the only person still alive besides himself who had entered Hollow Mountain.
"Do you recognise this?" He dropped the silver coin into her hand. "I'm willing to trade information for information."
He walked her through the assassination attempt and his working theories. When he finished she turned the coin over once and handed it back.
"I don't recognise it."
After a moment of silence Syleena offered something in return.
According to her there was a hierarchy within Sole more structured and more advanced than anything in any other city on the western continent.
Mortals at the bottom, Luminaires above them. That much was obvious. But beyond that Kael had only ever had qualified guesses. Syleena confirmed what lay further up.
High society consisted of eight leading parties governing Sole and the western continent as a whole. Trade, Economy, Luminaire, Mortal, International, Guard, Layers, and Refinement party of High Society. Each one overseeing its respective domain. Augustus, for example, had almost certainly come from the Refinement party.
She didn't go into detail on each one. But she explained that beneath the main parties sat a lower tier of high society literally named Lower High Society, a gateway layer where capable Luminaires could earn entry by demonstrating sufficient value. For those who couldn't advance further in rank, this was often the only path into the upper layers that remained available to them.
This was where Syleena currently sat.
She didn't elaborate on what she had done to get there. But the head of the Trade party had taken personal interest in her, which said enough on its own.
"I have another deal."
Syleena looked at him.
"I'll be traveling north for a few months." Kael said. "During that time I need someone to oversee both the mote shop and the clinic. I can pay."
"You were a mercenary in Farkath, weren't you?" Syleena said crossing her arms. "I'll accept on one condition. Kill someone for me."
Kael lifted his chin slightly.
"Every party has placed an information pathway Luminaire in each Lower High Society faction, both as an informant and as an overseer. Kill this one and I'll take care of your businesses while you're gone."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
He could already see the shape of her logic. She was withholding something. The information pathway Luminaire was probably more of a problem for her than she wanted to admit. With someone like that constantly present, everything became harder. Kael could confirm that through his own experience. Syleena had the perfect soul-bound motes for political manoeuvring, but an information pathway Luminaire in permanent proximity would notice the moment anything shifted, regardless of how well she concealed it.
"Won't they just replace him with someone new?"
Syleena gave him a sharp look.
Whatever she was planning apparently didn't require more than a moment's disruption.
"Fine, but it'll have to wait a while."
"That's fine."
Kael's eyes moved from Syleena's passing figure to the moon.
'North, huh…'
Ideally, he would have preferred to stay in Sole for a while longer. He could, but there wasn't a better opportunity than now to go. He had already gotten attention from high society, so in some months time if everything goes right, he wouldn't be able to move so anonymously anymore.
Kael waited for a duck to waddle across the path before starting towards the clinic.
—
Luke looked devastated when Kael mentioned he would need to leave again.
"But there's so much happening. And the assassination attempt—"
Kael stopped him.
"Don't worry. I've arranged for someone capable to look after things while I'm gone."
Luke didn't answer. There was something in his expression that he wasn't saying.
Just as Kael was about to leave his voice reached him.
"Mister." Luke hesitated. "Sylvia's parents said they won't let her come back unless they speak with you first."
Kael stopped. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I'll pay them a visit before I leave tomorrow."
He sighed and left.
Luke hadn't done a good job hiding how much it meant to him.
The sun hung high when Kael stepped onto a porch in the second layer. A dark green family house with white painted exterior corners. Definitely upper class for mortals.
After two short knocks, a middle aged man opened the door.
"Can I help you?"
Kael gave a courteous nod.
"I'm Valerian Eireindaile. I'm also Sylvia's employer. You wanted to speak with me."
The man's expression shifted. Perhaps he had expected someone older. Perhaps it was simply the way a noble Luminaire was standing on his porch asking to be let in.
"I— come in."
He stepped aside.
Kael sat in the living room with a steaming cup of coffee. Sylvia's parents sat across from him with Sylvia between them.
"First, I want to formally apologise." Kael bowed his head. "I was careless. I should have contacted you the moment Sylvia was hurt. That failure was mine."
Her parents were clearly full of things they wanted to say and equally clearly afraid to say them.
"Please." Kael said, bowing again. "Sylvia is not only exceptional at her work, she's so lovely to have around. If there's anything I can do to earn your trust back, name it. My family backing isn't what it once was, but I am more than capable of providing for her safety."
Sylvia went slightly flustered hearing herself praised so openly.
Her mother let out a quiet sigh. "We can see you treat her well. But you have to understand, Mister Eireindaile. She's our daughter."
"I understand that completely. Which is why I'm so ashamed it happened. But Lady Alesto, I promise on my family name, no harm will come to Sylvia again. Or to Luke, whom she seems rather fond of."
Sylvia's eyes went wide. Her golden hair swayed as her head snapped from Kael to her mother to her father and back again. She pulled her shirt up over her face and drew her knees to her chest.
Both her parents looked stunned. They had never seen her react like that.
Then a small chuckle from her mother, followed by a sigh.
"Sylvia. Do you still want to work for Mister Eireindaile?"
Sylvia pulled the shirt from her face, traces of the blush still visible.
"Yes."
Both parents nodded and turned to Kael.
"Then it's settled. Sylvia may continue working for you. But you must promise nothing like that happens again."
"You have my word."
Kael chatted with the family a few more minutes before excusing himself.
He rolled his shoulder as he walked back down the street.
Dealing with people was taxing. By far the most taxing thing he did. He always had a clear sense of their intentions and their emotions, but that was precisely the problem. Knowing what someone felt didn't tell you how they would act on it. Logic had a tendency to dissolve the moment emotions became the primary force in the room.