I think I am here.

Rob paused. “But... they kill people, don’t they?” he asked. “They attack us all the time. Surely that’s a sickness, right?” But James’ words made sense, and they only added to the gnawing feeling he had, the one that told him that the Voidbringers were people, and that it was just as much the Radiants’ fault as it was the Voidbringers that this war continued. He remembered Shana’s words. Change the board. Disturb all of it so that no one even wants to fight anymore. He looked back at James. The Bondsmith was smart, that was for sure. Rob had expected everyone to see the Voidbringers as he did: monsters needing slaying. But James saw them as something else, something natural. He could see different perspectives, and that was a quality Rob respected. “Would you say, then...” Rob said carefully. “That as natural beings, they deserve to live just as much as we do? If there was a group of Radiants targeting and hunting Voidbringers like they hunt us, for example, would they be villains in your eyes?” He tried hard not to mention the other Seattle Radiants he and Shana had found out about, the ones that had sent letters to Doc and who were aggressive in their methods, instead posing the question as a hypothetical.

The two set off. Through the experience he’d had in the bounty business, Nekri had found that it paid to know the local roads. While the commercial route would have taken upwards of three days, the path they took now cut straight through thick marshlands — but they’d be at Dox-Marina by sundown. “So,” he called out while they rode, avoiding branches that were too low. “Who is this woman you’re looking for anyway? Lover?”

“Sure!” Nekri said with sudden cheerfulness, happy the deal had gone well. He walked out of the tavern and gestured Jared follow him to the stables. “We’ll need to be quick,” he said, bringing out two horses and hopping onto one. It didn’t look too happy, but when he changed to look like the stablehand it calmed right down. Nekri looked to Jared. “There’s two roads to Dox-Marina, a commercial one and one that’s... a little rough, but it’ll get us there faster. I suggest the second one.” Nekri smiled. He might have gotten something out of this town after all.

“I’ll need more than the word of a desperate man,” Nekri said, then paused in thought. “How about this?” he proposed, moving from the wall and walking towards the door, an illusion of a hat forming above his head. “We’ll do an exchange. I help you, and along the way you tell me everything there is to know about that funny voice of yours — and what I can do with it. Deal?”

“Not so quick,” Nekri said, leaning against a wall and making the illusion of her face disappear with a snap of his fingers. “Who’s the ‘we’ in this?” he asked, grinning. “I’d suggest you check Dox-Marina yourself, but... oh that’s right, you don’t know where that is.” Nekri shrugged, feigning helplessness. “And it seems like your magic is dwindling, too. Whatever will you do?” The grin vanished. “If I’m helping you, I want something in return.”

“No, but I don’t need to, see?” Nekri tilted his head up and recalled the photo Jared had shown him, waving a hand and manifesting it in illusion-form in front of them. “See, if she wanted to hide, looking’ at her eyes and hair, the best place to blend in would probably be Dox-Marina, south of here. Judging by the people in the background, it could also be one of the surrounding towns.” He looked up and smiled at Jared. “See? That’s what you get when you ally with a bounty hunter who’s also a local.”

“It feels weird,” Nekri said, then shrugged again. “I’m not too good at descriptions.” The sudden inquiry into himself and what he could do made Nekri frown. He looked to Jared firmly, an illusion colourful smoke swirling around him. “But enough about me, I doubt my voice is important anyhow. The only reason I came up here was because I thought you might offer me money to track that lady in the photograph. See, I’m not good at descriptions, but I am good at hunting.”

Blue focused on his papers and sat in the seat he’d been assigned, spreading them across the table. He eyed the three new people who’d entered but didn’t move to greet them. They were Zarokhavan. That scared him, especially with the knight so nearby. Mainland Zarokhavan come in two types, he remembered his brother telling him. You have the poor sods being manipulated, and then you have the happy, maniacal sods manipulating them. If you ever see a Zarokhavan who looks like they’re nice, think again. There’s a reason their colony doesn’t speak to them anymore.

Nekri paused, thinking it over. “Then... maybe I have it, then.” He shrugged, looking towards Jared. He laughed. “Seems as though I didn’t need to learn it, though. Just hearing you was enough.”

“According to most people’s understanding of the world,” Nekri said, switching to a different voice. “Summoning a blade from thin air and being able to toss people people aside with wind shouldn’t be possible either.” He tilted his head to the side. “Well, the only reason my illusions work so well is because nobody thinks it’s possible. If you went to someone and told them you saw a shape-changing man I’m sure they’d lock you in an asylum over believing you.”

Uh huh, Nekri said, nodding. He smiled, raising his palm and conjuring a miniature illusion of Jared himself on it, standing tall. I’m Jared! the small illusion-Jared said in Jared’s voice. I’m being chased by a woman. Wow, who knew an illusionist could make illusions?

Surprise filled Rob when James flinched back after touching the sphere, seeming rattled. His eyes lay wide on the sphere and Rob listened to his words his words intently. “Alive?” he asked, holding the dark sphere up to his eye. Whatever was inside, it twisted and turned in hypnotic patterns, like smoke. It seemed harmless enough... but James’ reaction seemed like genuine panic. “Shana suggested I destroy it,” Rob said. “But I thought it might help us understand the Voidbringers. Help us develop a cure.” Besides, the sphere was his. He clenched his fist around it, feeling its cold pulse in his hand. Though his face remained the same, his thoughts started to take different avenues. He and Shana had discovered Doc couldn’t be trusted. James was another Bondsmith, could he be trusted? Was he just trying to take it from Rob? Have it for himself? Rob shook his head slightly, looking up to James. “What do you think?” @Wyndlerunner

After a moment James opened the door, and Rob felt immediately guilty for disturbing him. Maybe he shouldn’t have come here. After all, James wasn’t a stranger, but that didn’t mean he and Rob interacted much. Still, he was the only real Bondsmith other than Doc, and Rob supposed after the office break-in Doc wouldn’t be too inclined to talk to him. He kept his expression still through all of this, not letting even a single second of emotion through, as he sometimes did with Shana. “Sorry for the disturbance. I... wanted to get your opinion on something.” Fishing a hand into his pocket, he paused for a moment, before going through with it and bringing out the odd sphere that he’d recovered from one of the lead Voidbringers, the one that seemed to whisper to him. He held it up to James. “It’s... weird. And seems to react to my emotions.” He shrugged. “I thought maybe with you being a Bondsmith, you might know what it is.”

The tri-border building was grand in every sense of the word. Marble rose from the ground in ornate columns, reaching far into the sky. Intricate brickwork filled the spaces between them, forming three rounded walls and a sense of flowing architecture. The bricks left plenty of space for a massive stained-glass window on each of the three sides, each representing one of the superpowers that ruled the world. The steps leading to the building were long and lined with token soldiers from each nation. Indeed, as Blue walked up to the entrance he noted that he could see the three borders that separated Xalinas, Yhevra and Zarokhava, because a long line of soldiers were present, standing strong. He sighed. Tensions seemed to be high among the nations. There was a short vizier there to greet Blue at the entrance, a ledger in one of their hands and a quill in the other. “Name?” “Bluecross Whittaker.” “Hmm...” the vizier raised an eyebrow. “We have the leader of Colonial Yhevra as a ‘Redstar’.” “That’s my brother. He’s busy leading. I’m the representative.” “Well, go right ahead. You’re early.” Early. The fact seemed obvious enough - the entire main hall seemed almost completely empty. Around the sides of the main tables, administrative agents and scribes all scurried around, but there didn’t seem to be any actual representatives here, not yet. Idly Blue looked up at the glass dome that topped this building, suppressing a look of amazement. The amount of work and money it must have taken to erect this building... it was beyond what Blue could imagine. He wondered whether his colony would ever reach that stage.

Nekri raised an eyebrow. So it wasn’t just him who thought the voice was weird. It was some kind of ‘silence’. He didn’t understand how an odd voice corresponded to silence, but he grinned at Jared all the same. What? He asked, mimicking the voice. It was always easy to mimic voices, it came with practise. Can’t you speak like this for long? That’s odd, you’re the one I managed to mimic it from anyway.

Nekri paused, then scowled at Jared. He shifted his illusions subtly to make his frown run down more of his face than was humanly possible. “What, is this some way of telling me I talk too much? Is that it?”

Nekri tilted his head to the side, observing Jared curiously. He had begun to get worried that the man had no real money of his own to pay Nekri with, but he’d mentioned ‘home’ ... perhaps he had some savings. “I can take you home, alright,” Nekri said. “Wherever that is. But if we happen to go there and it turns out you don’t have any money...” Nekri narrowed his eyes at the man. “... then you won’t just have that woman hunting you down.”

“Ah,” Nekri said, mincing Jared’s normal voice and holding up a finger. “But maybe she doesn’t know about me. You, however, she seemed to recognise you plenty. No one could recognise me even if they wanted to. The illusions help with that.” This Jared was a real bottle of mysteries for sure. Weird voice, weird sword, weird (and powerful!) people chasing after him. Nahri wondered whether all this weirdness would equal more money. He grinned at Jared. “And speaking of my illusions, they might help stop you from being recognised any time soon... for a price, of course.”

Like clockwork, everybody resumed their current roles when the person who’d broken through the door left. Rob watched from the railing as James fixed the door, the pieces magically assembling themselves into place. Rob didn’t find himself as excited as he’d usually be. Instead the new ability was simply a fact of life, a stage in the never-ending loop that was the war. They all organised into pairs. Shana with a newcomer, and Cassie with another one. Only James remained, though he went to his room soon after. Hesitating for a moment, Rob followed him. When he approached James’ room he knocked once on the door, hoped it could be heard. “James?”

Dear brother, Should you get time to read this, my ship has finally docked on the mainland. You were right, even from the docks I can see towering buildings far taller than anything on our colony, and a variety of fashions you’d find impractical. Don’t worry, however, I will need your warning, and not get hypnotised by these eccentricities of the mainland. I will remain focused on our goal. I hope all is well back home and you are eating and resting properly. Don’t work yourself too hard! -Blue Bluecross “Blue” Whittaker finished writing the letter when the anchor of the ship he was riding on finally hit land and he was gestured into solid ground once again. Around him, merchants and soldiers in their usual hustle and bustle began to emerge from the ship to their respective stations, but Blue had another destination he needed to be: the tri-diplomatic agreement of effect-tracking. He didn’t like the name. He thought the ‘tri’ it implied there were only three parties worth caring about, when in reality there were six. He hadn’t caught a supply ship back to Yhevra and ordered a horse-and-carriage to cart him across the country to the tri-border just to be told his opinion was worthless. Honestly speaking, though, it kind of was. Who would listen to a colony in the first place, let alone CY, the notorious colony that was life-support in the first place? Without Yhevra’s supply ships, CY would have perished long ago. And now I have to go against them, he thought, gulping. Now I have to decline their order of effect-tracking, but do it politely. CY isn’t ready to be starved of supplies. Not yet, at least. And concluding the thought, Blue began his trip to the meeting.

Despite the stab wound, Jared seemed to be getting better. Nekri sighed at his denial of a bounty, fixing his appearance to look like the stablehand he’d been disguised as when Jared had first seen. “Usually I’d say you’re lucky a woman is chasing you.” He grinned, then looked out of the window the assassin had left through. “In this case, though... I’d pass.” He paused for a moment, pondering. “Who knows why she’s after you. Maybe it’s something to do with your weird voice. No offence.”

Ceros grits his teeth at the comment of the representative, but hides it by looking out the window at the warships. Such powerful creations, steel creatures of the sea, each a complex mechanism allowing humanity to traverse the oceans where none have sailed before... and Avaraliin found it disappointing. “You have a more powerful ship?” Ceros snapped, an undiplomatic slip of the tongue. He continued to stare outside the window. “Throw out your best ships and not a single one will outspeed, outlast, or outweapon one of ours.”