Elder Cultivator

As usual, the mess that Devon had left behind had to be cleaned up by Aerona. She smiled at that thought, because of course they had very different skillsets. It would have been rather impossible for Aerona to convince anyone to surrender no matter how she tried to persuade them. That she was certain of, as she was now observing how tightly indoctrinated they were.

In a way, it was unfortunate that the Holy Stars wasn't a terrible hellscape. It made her job harder for their people to have some justification to follow along with their creed. It was difficult to shake their devotion to their more powerful cultivators. Perhaps if she was a Unity cultivator…

No, she shouldn't let her cultivation limit her in that way. This wasn't something that required force, but finesse.

What should she say to them? What was the goal? Weakening their top cultivators was one of them, but for Aerona that would be the side effect of pulling them away. Ultimately, she wanted to convince them that it wasn't reasonable to simply attack people and steal their resources. And to do that, she had to convince people they were at fault.

To that end, Aerona was working on the most difficult case. Chiara was an angel of the Burning Hearts and she was filled with wrath. It wasn't the sort that was beneficial for the fire cultivator, either. Figuring out what was at the core of the issue took weeks, which was an eternity by Aerona's standards- usually she could get people to open up to her in an instant.

"He's dead," Chiara declared. "He's dead and you killed him."

Aerona wanted to say that she didn't kill anyone. However, that wasn't the sort of response that would be helpful in the current circumstance. It wasn't even really a personal attack. Besides, it was more likely that she was referring to the Lower Realms Alliance as a whole.

"Who?" Aerona asked. If it was one of the others who had come with her, most of them weren't dead.

The woman spat his name at Aerona. "Naldo."

That name wasn't in their database. There had been a few stubborn individuals, but they had names for all the important people. And most likely, Chiara would be thinking of someone like that, as she was an angel. But it wasn't necessarily the case. "Tell me about him."

"Why? So you can sully his name?"

If the woman was freed from her shackles, Aerona had no doubt that she would sacrifice herself in an instant to kill Aerona- merely because she represented the Lower Realms Alliance. "Was he with you?"

"No."

"How do you know we killed Naldo?"

"His destination was within your territory. He never returned."

Something about that… they knew the Alliance claimed that territory. That might not have been the case with Klar, but there was obvious human habitation around Maheg. Aerona tried to get access to some recordings, eventually pulling up an image. "Him?"

"... How?"

Aerona shrugged, "Recording the image of an individual is relatively simple. Artists have done it since time immemorial, but this one was produced using special techniques that accurately replicate a specific moment." He was the first angel they had seen from the Burning Hearts. He was also very much dead, though they had no body. "My condolences. I doubt it will provide you any comfort to hear that it was necessary to protect our territory."

"What would you do if we killed your husband?" Chiara glared, her voice filled with vitriol.

Something terrible. Aerona had limits she had set for herself, manipulating people. She couldn't seek martial retribution, but she could do far worse. Devon wasn't an invader, but again that would be no good for Chiara to hear. "Seek revenge. I understand why you are here. But I do not understand why he was there."

Chiara looked genuinely confused. "He had to lead the forces."

"At the command of your deities?" Aerona tried not to let too much of her lack of respect for them flow through- but she certainly wouldn't feign positive respect. "To what end? He came here to provoke a response?"

"No! He was to seek out systems with viable resources."

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"Why there? It was quite far from anything close to your territory."

Chiara was uncertain. She tried to not appear that way. "I imagine they felt a powerful energy signature and investigated it."

"From several hundred lightyears distant? You have that capability?"

Chiara didn't even pretend. "No. When they got close. Probably."

"When did you know that the system was occupied?"

"I'm not sure." Chiara was answering questions, now. She didn't find any reason to believe this was a security threat. Aerona did her best to make her comfortable. "Probably after… nobody reported back."

Aerona shook her head. "That's not what I meant. When did you find out?"

"About the same time. Once the declaration was made of their deaths." Her anger flared once more, but Chiara was having trouble directing it at Aerona. It would be better if she didn't direct it at the Alliance either, but things had to be taken one step at a time.

"Was that before or after Daria set out?"

"Before, obviously."

Obviously. When no word at all had come back from Maheg. Which meant that someone had to have known the system was occupied before then. Aerona would likely share that revelation with Chiara in the future, but she wasn't ready yet. She wasn't ready for most things.

-----

One thing Aerona did frequently was bring their captives out to see the world. The Alliance was confident that, even if their prosperity turned out to be no greater than the Holy Stars, it wasn't any less either. The eyes of their people might be biased towards home, of course, but ultimately seeing that the Alliance was fine where they were should be a starting point to bring mutual understanding.

Many things were being learned about the Holy Stars through the captives, though not all of it was revelatory. The basic structure was fairly clear from the first encounters, including a disdain for outsiders. But yet, many of them would not openly admit that disdain, especially when in a compromised position.

Chiara did her best to act unimpressed. "These people are weird."

Ten minutes later, someone who hadn't been near her comment said that she was the weird one. When she asked if she was being spied on, Aerona had to explain hiveminds.

"Your people are all… of one thought?"

Aerona smiled. "Some of us, yes. But it is not quite the same as it might sound at first. Each is still an individual. The connection allows them to understand each other more deeply, bypassing many of the problems humans have with communication. Things obvious to some of us are not always obvious to others. I am sure you have had certain interactions that just didn't go as they should have."

"... Are you part of the hivemind?" Chiara clutched her arm. "Am I?"

Aerona shook her head. "I am not. I just trained as a social cultivator. We would not force anyone to join. No, they couldn't. It would go against everything they stand for, to no benefit."

Chiara was silent for a few moments. "I want to see his body."

Aerona didn't know how Chiara had gone between topics, but of course the transition was perfectly natural for the woman herself. "His body was immolated."

"Ah," Chiara hung her head. "That… is not unheard of. Especially for the Burning Hearts. Then… I wish to see where he died."

She thought she wanted to see who killed Naldo. It was something Aerona had to consider carefully. "It will take some time to arrange. It is not nearby."

Chiara looked somewhat surprised. Did they not have maps?

"The Lower Realms Alliance is not small. How much did your one scouting mission observe? You should know there have been many others as well."

Chiara nodded. She wasn't a fool. She just hadn't asked enough questions.

-----

It was truly not a small deal to bring Chiara to Maheg. The totality of the circumstances involved with transporting a dangerous individual so far, and one with particular negative associations with the area, took Aerona some time to work out. She didn't lie and say she could guarantee the results would be positive, but she at least expected them to be. It was possible to be wrong.

Ultimately, Maheg was ready for more than a single Enrichment equivalent threat. The system was one of the first that had been fortified against further attacks, and of course the star was quite powerful even without involving humans. The full extent of that power had never been tested- not even against that assault. The Alliance knew that Maheg had great power, but they were quite content with it being used for small scale tasks like gardening.

They didn't need Maheg to act as a combatant or superweapon, though within the system they were confident Maheg would continue to provide protection for those who dwelled there. They wouldn't be provoking extra threats just to test the limits of Maheg's abilities, as that wasn't something one did to their allies.

Chiara was in a better state of mind to observe her surroundings. After her initial capture she had been furious and not really paying attention. Now, she clearly was surprised at the ship that carried her. Aerona watched as she tried to check out each and every little thing- with her eyes, because her energy was still sealed. Unshackling someone to build trust was only useful if you believed they wouldn't immediately try to kill you. Aerona was currently confident that was still Chiara's state.

"There are formations combined with purely mechanical and physical processes," Aerona explained. "That's why you don't sense as much natural energy as you expect."

Chiara did her best to pretend she already knew that. It wasn't convincing, since she couldn't even explain what anything was beyond the obvious structural components of the ship. Aerona didn't bother to call her out on it, because it was just her way of maintaining some level of pride. Perhaps she shouldn't, but forcing her pride to break wouldn't produce good results.

Aerona took Chiara to a few planets in the system, though neither said much of anything. The captive woman was clearly brooding. "Where did he die?" she asked. The unspoken question was, "Who killed him?"

"The battle occurred in space," Aerona explained. "Knowing the answer to the second won't do you any good."

Chiara looked around suspiciously. "I don't sense anyone here strong enough that I couldn't kill them. Or do you have a false Divinity somewhere else?"

Aerona sighed. "None of us have ever claimed divinity. That was all your people."

Chiara was barely paying attention, as she was tilting her head back and forth. Aerona wasn't quite certain what she was trying to do. Was she listening for something? Maybe she was just trying to get her energy senses to work, but she was quite solidly sealed.

Then Aerona noticed Maheg's curiosity. She extended some of her energy to hold off a probing strand. Maheg understood energy sign, it just had to be extremely exaggerated. "You should not make contact with her."

Even without any contact, Chiara trembled. She looked up into the sky. Standard cultivator tempering should at least protect her eyes from a short period of directly looking at a star. "That was… a Divinity!" She threw herself to the floor facefirst, covering her head. It didn't appear as if the posture was meant to be defensive, but she couldn't freely move her arms for whatever she wanted. "That is how Naldo died. How foolish I have been! I apologize to the Divinity!"

This… was not what Aerona wanted to happen. That would just be going from one problematic state to another. Aerona had to be firm. "Maheg is not one of your divinities. Nor any kind. Just a powerful cultivator. As a star, Maheg doesn't follow traditional phases… but could certainly be compared to Unity in total power. Unity cultivators are those like Devon, who you have already encountered."

Chiara shook her head. "It's… different." But even Aerona could tell Chiara wasn't sure if she believed that.

Aerona wasn't certain what provoked that particular reaction. Perhaps it was simply Maheg's size. Normally, Unity cultivators restrained their power to make people comfortable. Maheg too, though the star had been reaching out and thus a bit more obvious than normal. Enough for a sensitive cultivator to feel with only passive senses.

Aerona would deal with this. Maheg shouldn't want worship, and it likely wouldn't be good for Chiara either. But ultimately, she'd have to see how the situation unfolded.