Grand Saint Alloy

“What did you do?” Eve asked, her tone accusing.

“Nothing bad, we just wanted to get some information to you, and maybe some gifts,” Tristan answered holding up his hands like he was warding off a beast.

Luke was petting his golize like it was a cat and smirking at their interaction. Tristan did not know what he was thinking but was sure that it would be offensive if verbalized. Bruce and Lesley were standing behind Eve dressed in the golden paraphernalia of the elite guards and Janis stood off to the side.

“What information do you have?” Eve asked.

“Well, for starters, the Lord of the Underworld barely won. Most of those fancy explosions came from Hadrid, as did the ball of silver fire. Vulcan says that it is a type of essence called dissonance, which is extremely volatile if handled incorrectly,” Tristan answered trying to spit out all the relevant points as fast as possible, “Oh we also looted all the dead mercenaries, and Luke got a pet.”

Eve could only shake her head, “I thought we told everyone to stay away from the city.”

“You really expect me to believe that anything productive is going on in there?” Tristan pointed to the steward's office, “It's morning, the entire army is going to have to wait just because its leaders need their sleep.”

She winced at that. The only one who wouldn’t need rest was Kerri, and that was because he fell asleep halfway through. Still, the knowledge that Hadrid had put up a good fight was good news. Vulcan being able to identify the dissonance was an issue, as it was unverifiable in the Caldera. They just had no way to test it and very few people would take a lamp post’s word as an authority on anything.

“I want a private meeting with you, Bruce, and Siren,” Tristan said.

That statement took her by surprise, “Why?”

“I need to get you all to tier four, and Siren on his way to five,” Tristan said nonchalantly like it was not an achievement the Caldera Elders had been trying to figure out, “The only reason we even came here was because it is where the Lake Caldera steward sleeps, and he will know where everyone else is, I didn’t expect everyone to still be awake.”

Bruce looked surprised, though he should not have been. Eve had been curious as to the method Luke and Tristan were using to advance. There weren’t any metal artifacts below tier six, so how did he gather a supply large enough to grow his kern to tier three? Luke had a different issue, there weren’t enough artifacts above tier three to get him to tier five, yet they had both managed. It was almost as if taking reckless risks came with a tangible boost in power. The fact that both a metal and air kern were able to use the method meant that it was not locked to a specific essence type.

“How do you propose we accomplish that?” Eve asked.

Tristan shook his head, “No, I will offer it only when Siren is available, I would not be surprised if there was a substantial section of the leadership who would be adverse to him gaining more power.”

Eve sighed, “I’ll set up a time, within the next few days.”

Tristan glanced at Luke, something unsaid passing between them, he turned back, “That's great, We’ll be going to find Conni.”

They picked up the wagon, a wagon filled with hundreds of artificial artifacts, and started walking off. Eve could not just let them walk off with weaponry like that. They would be much better used in the hands of the warriors than by some miners.

“Wait, leave the artifacts,” Eve said.

She heard Luke mutter something, which she was sure was, “Everyone’s a Frank today.”

“No,” Tristan said back, “I told you, Siren first. Until then, these are ours.”

Then they kept marching off. It looked ridiculous, them hauling off a wagon like it was a crate. Eve sighed, she was glad she was not an Elder yet, otherwise, she would have to worry about all the issues they caused.

“Should we stop them?” Janis asked.

Bruce snorted, “You’re funny. There is no reason to steal something when we will eventually end up with it through a simple application of patience.”

There were many times that Eve was jealous of Bruce and Lesley’s business background. It helped them find the shortest route to getting their desired outcome. Janis however, was indignant at the condescending nature of the response. His failure to properly stop an assassin had not won him any points with Bruce.

Eve cut off the offended response from Janis, “We need to go and end this meeting, the faster we can get Siren to meet him, the better.”

Janis nodded, “As you wish, Lady Eve,” He escorted them back into the steward’s office, “The other guards will have also noticed what was in that wagon, do you need us to subdue them?”

“No, most of those warriors recently returned from the plains. They won’t do anything stupid, I hope,” Eve answered, as she rendered the room, which was still filled with arguing.

It was still Elder Lake yelling. Eve wondered how the man’s voice could be used so harshly, yet never go hoarse. Now it was something about Siren lacking the authority to order Eve around. He hadn’t ordered her, he had given advice in the form of a statement. Good advice in hindsight, as Luke would have probably kicked the doors down likely using the excuse that he was using his hands to hold the cart. A fight would ensue, the leadership would suffer an embarrassing defeat, and Siren would have come out of it looking even better as the only person with common sense in the group. It was not as if the returning warriors had not warned the leadership about Luke.

“Was there a messenger?” Elder Lake asked in a condescending tone.

“Yes,” Eve said, “I have some good news about the battle across the lake.”

She explained the situation to the best of her ability. Granted that was not much, as Tristan had only given her about two sentences to work with, half of it was taken up by alchemist jargon and Luke’s pet. Unfortunately, Elder Lake did not focus on the fact that the Lord of the Underworld’s power base was weakened, he focused on the cart of artifacts.

“We need to go get them, maybe throw them in prison,” Elder Lake said, slamming a fist on the table.

“I second that,” Kerri said, his voice still laden with sleepiness, “Why are we getting the silver devil?”

“We are not,” Eve said, she felt a small plan forming, but it all hinged on what Tristan and Luke were cooking, “Siren, they asked to meet with you. I don’t know what they wanted to talk about, but I think it had something to do with making more tier fours.“

Siren’s eyes widened an expression that looked foreign on his perpetually calm face. Eve realized, Siren knew, he might have even been covering for them. After recovering his expression, he nodded and stood. He bowed to Elder Lake, then Eve before making his way to the door.

“Where do you think you’re going!” Elder Lake yelled, “You don’t have permission to leave.”

“I do not serve you,” Siren said calmly, “I serve the Caldera, and I believe a better use of my time has just presented itself.”

Elder Lake opened his mouth to keep yelling, but he was cut off by an exhausted sigh. Commander Blacklake stood as well, “Thank the mute gods, I will take this excuse to leave. Elder Lake, have a good night and I hope you can find a good psychologist to help with that temper before you ruin your reputation.”

Both of the men walked out of the room, to the apoplectic rage of Elder Lake. Eve knew that statement was a challenge from Blacklake. It was easy to forget that underneath the fancy uniform and blunt speech, he was an assassin, propagandist, and inquisitor. He had seen Elder Lake and found him wanting, a prospect that was only a problem for the Elder because the people’s hopes were divided between him and the savior of the Stone Caldera.

“And you’re alright with this,” Elder Lake growled.

Eve raised an eyebrow, “Do you expect me to stop them?”

“He will set himself up as king of the Caldera if he is not stopped,” Elder Lake said, disbelief in his voice.

Maybe that was true. Maybe it was Siren’s master plan. The issue was, that Eve could not say he would do a worse job than the previous set of elders.

“Would that be so bad?” Eve asked, getting shocked expressions from everyone. She was the only person left in the room, aside from Cole, who knew Siren’s character. Not due to a lack of opportunity, there were four hundred witnesses of his conduct, and they had almost twelve hours of meetings to confirm it.

“What about your position, Eve? You will be the next Elder if nothing changes,” Elder Lake asked.

“What about my position?” Kerri muttered.

Eve sighed, “Nothing except death due to us offending two of our greatest assets, threatening to incarcerate two others, and alienating our entire fighting force. Are you not aware of what the people are saying, the temple is using Siren’s deeds and his dark kern to draw a link between him and the grand ancestor.”

The local Temple Guider nodded her head, “It's true, we haven’t said anything concrete, but made the connections to build the morale of our congregants.”

“Do you think he would make a bad king?” Eve asked.

“Yes,” the Guider said, “He is a soldier, and he does not donate to the temple. I do not believe it is something to worry about, he does not care for political power.”

Eve was surprised the temple was able to keep track of donations. Most parses looked identical after all. She was not surprised that the temple was unconcerned about Siren’s ambition. Siren had made no secret about his belief that the path to power was paved with service and the service he provided was violence.

Elder Lake slumped into his chair and rubbed his eyes. Now that the emotions were simmering down he just felt tired, “Have we really been so bad?” He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the table, “Not alone, but as a group, yes. Please find me tomorrow or the day after, I might need to make apologies.”

Eve could not tell if he was truly sorry or if he was swallowing his pride to keep his position. Either way, the stupidly long meeting ended, allowing them to get to bed. Everyone but Eve and Bruce. Tristan had specifically asked for them, and it was something important.