Heinz ca back in the late afternoon.
He had finished three of the five things on Carmilla’s made-up list, which Rick thought was better than the average. He also had a receipt from a bakery that, according to Carmilla, did not exist at the address she had given him.
However, Heinz had sohow found it anyway through a way of navigating that didn’t make sense to anyone else.
A small dog also followed him.
The people who worked in the house were calm and professional with the dog, as if they had worked for interesting bosses before. Heinz said that the dog had looked lost, and he had tried to bring it back, but the dog kept following him, so he didn’t want to be rude.
There wasn’t much editorial comnt on this explanation.
He found Zephyra in the front hallway and gave her a flower that had been damaged from being carried around all day while he ran errands. He was proud of himself for rembering to do sothing nice for her even though he had also accidentally gotten an animal.
Zephyra stared at the flower. Then to Heinz.
"You lost three things from the list and ca back with a dog."
Heinz said, "The dog looked lost."
"Heinz."
"I gave him back."
"Did you bring him back to the right place?"
Heinz really thought about this. "He looked happy," he finally said.
The flower was taken by Zephyra. She looked at it for a mont while holding it, then quickly put it in the small cup of water on the hallway table, as if she had done it before and would do it again.
Rick, who was watching from the hallway entrance, kept his face blank.
Sebastian appeared at his shoulder, where only Rick could see him, and said, "What a fascinating specin that man is to marry and even have a baby with the coldest major power there is."
"Right...? I’ve been asking that shit all the ti to myself, and it seems like there’s sothing I need to know between them..."
Rick thought to himself that he really couldn’t explain it.
Zephyra, who had cataloged developntal milestones to within six weeks and had figured out a political cover-up from a burn pattern in a dark room, had married this man and kept a cup in the hallway for flowers that ca slightly damaged.
Sebastian said, "Sotis you can’t see how a relationship works from the outside... and you just have to go with what works."
Rick gave him a look, and he felt annoyed seeing that Sebastian appeared a little innocent.
"I don’t want to fuck things up with Zephyra because it’s hard to be close to her, you know? Even I didn’t get any affinity notification from her."
"But... I will still admit that getting Nerissa’s heart is harder than this; I’ll just have to work my way up as I always do."
...
The group t in the main common room that evening to talk about Natasha’s second look at the burned archive room. She had gone back during the day with more ti and better equipnt.
She carefully and thoroughly laid it out on the table. The fire’s pre-coalition thod ca from a magical archive that was about 200 years older than the current Mage Council.
Few people could use that level of historical magic. That list had Fredrich on it, and three of his senior council mbers and two mages who weren’t even in Valdris were also there.
"Narrow... but not narrow enough to accuse," Natasha said.
"No," Rick agreed. "But it’s sothing."
He was about to say more when he felt the bond with Liora pulse through his chest. He felt the sa way when she contacted him through the connection: aware and intentional, not scared.
He paid attention to it. What ca back wasn’t words, but a feeling and a picture.
It was the bond’s way of communicating when words weren’t possible. She was okay, and it seems like she had discovered sothing.
It was significant. By tomorrow night, she would be in Valdris.
He told the group. The news that she was on her way made the room feel a little better.
Zephyra, who had been reading in the corner with Sophia sleeping in the carrier next to her chair, said, "The faith network interference and the archive fire."
Everyone stared at her.
"Both are going after information systems," she said. "The faith network channels how people receive divine communication, what beliefs get reinforced, and what warnings get transmitted."
"The archive controlled the official record of policy origin..."
"Both attacks are precise, and they are targeted at what people know and what gets docunted." She looked at Rick. "Controlling information is necessary for whatever is being built or hidden."
"These events are not random."
There was no noise in the room.
Rick said, "The sa architect."
"The sa thod." Zephyra said, "The sa person may or may not be involved, but the strategic logic is the sa."
No one had anything useful to say, so the night ended like most nights do when the thinking is done and all that’s left to do is wait for the next piece to arrive.
...
There was no light or noise in Rick’s room. He was really tired, but it wasn’t because of anything physical.
It was more because of the kind of thinking that never stopped. He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling without sleeping.
Sebastian appeared at the end of the bed. He didn’t even say the preamble tonight.
He said, "You wanted to know whose bond I was monitoring."
"Yes."
"I need to make it clear what the system ans by ’bond’ in this case. Not spirit bond, not romantic... The system can see patterns of repeated oath-level commitnts between people."
"A promise that creates an ongoing obligation is made privately, with intent, and involves sothing exchanged." He adjusted his monocle. "The kind of promise people make when they want sothing to last."
Rick was being patient, hearing all his explanation, and slowly gaining so respect for Sebastian when he’s that serious.
"There are two signatures... One is Fredrich Thornfield’s." Sebastian stopped. "One is partially hidden."
"It’s an ancient magic, predating the coalition, and the sa age as the archive penetration technique."
Rick got out of the bed.
"So it’s the sa source as the fire...?"
"Correct, the sa age of magic." Sebastian nodded. "I can’t say more because whoever is hiding the signature is very good at it and has been doing it for a long ti."
"But the way the hiding is done is consistent with pre-coalition technique."
Rick said, "So Fredrich has an oath-bond, a standing private obligation, to soone with magic that is older than the Mage Council."
"Soone has destroyed the records that would reveal the origins of those policy motions." Soone who has been hidden long enough that the hiding itself is old."
"The system sees that, and... you get to decide what it ans."
"Oh, fuck sideways. Is it the fucking Archon again?" Rick facepald.
Sebastian was careful about this. "The Archon’s corruption signature is unique, and I would know about it..."
"However, this instance is distinct... it is ancient in a way that differs from what we typically encounter."
"It’s not corrupted; it’s just hidden. It’s been carefully hidden and worked on for a long ti." He looked at Rick with the sa look he had when he wanted to make sure he got his point across. "Soone who has avoided being found for a very long ti and has been successful."
The room was quiet, and it felt heavy.
Rick heard the front door of the mansion open from downstairs. His bond with Carmilla pulsed right away, and the Unbreakable Bond knew that she had felt it too and was already on the move.
After half a second, Liora’s voice ca from the hallway. She sounded worn out, like soone who had been traveling quickly and thinking hard at the sa ti.
But underneath the tiredness was sothing important and awake.
"Rick...!" She shouted, loud enough for him to hear but not terrified. "Everyone...! I need to tell you what I found in the faith network!"
"I need to do it now, before it waits any longer."
Rick was already up.
"Spill it."
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