Chương 222: Plenty of them, in fact.

If Kite thought that he had everyone's attention on him when he entered the broken dome surrounding the Jade-Sky gate, it proved to be a paltry experience compared to the intensity of the looks he was now receiving. Compared to before though, there was less hostility and more pure, naked ambition.

While Kite did make his way directly for his own companions - now joined by Wander as some of the rats had snuck up to sit arrayed upon Dragonfly's shoulders and head - he had only crossed about a third of the stone-laid plaza before the first call broke the silence.

"Pathbreaker!" one well-dressed woman flanked by two burly leonid men called out, making to intercept Kite's path.

"I am called Glimmer in Eyes Maroon, and my house would be honored to extend our invitation for you and your companions to reside with us for this evening! I am sure we have much to dis-""Nonsense! They will be staying with no other than the Eden family! Surely one little exchange in the heat of the earlier moment haven't soured the bond we already have through your intended, who surely has many fond memories of our hospitality-""Bah! Fools, the lot of you!

There is only one place such honored heroes - acknowledged and tasked by such a powerful herald - could reside, and that is with house Cascade-" Opportunity did indeed seem to trump tradition, as was made apparent by the shouting match that erupted among the representatives of the local houses as they all felt how the wind was turning and changed their tune accordingly.

Their various champions did vary a bit more in how they seemed to feel about this development, with some sharing the ambition or greed of their benefactors while others - some of them in sect robes - still regarded Kite with disdain. Fortunately though, the pandemonium that erupted did mean that Kite could actually cross the plaza unmolested as attention wavered more towards the competition.

"Well, it seems that I, at least, find myself in a bit of a bind," Kite remarked as he drew close, using a spirit coin to engage his own privacy screen which extended around the group in a blur.

"Annoying one, what did the thing say?" River asked from the back of the group, eyes thinning in suspicion.

"Surely you are not considering turning away from our actual purpose like that?"

"I~ -""No, I do not. But if the gate has truly been corrupted or subverted somehow, it is most concerning. And I have, as you noticed, met Gleam before. Given her power, I feel that she is a voice to be heeded," he replied, forming a circle with the others as they began to discuss.

"Hey~!"

"Then do so after our work is done," River snapped back, some heat creeping into her otherwise flat tone.

"The message said that there were proper leads pointing here, and I will not squander this opportunity, even if I have to go find them myself and-" The acolyte of Pain was interrupted, however, as one of Wander's bodies leapt from Dragonfly towards her. River easily sidestepped and snatched the little creature from the air, leaving it staring directly into her eyes from a rather close distance.

"Greetings!" the rat called in a squeaky voice, unperturbed by River's grip.

"As you seem to have forgotten, there is an actual, awesome pack of most perceptive rats here who might be able to shed some light on this situation through the powers of her amazing investigations. Oh, and Braid. Braid helped too~." This did give Rived pause, as the acolyte regarded the rat for a moment.

"Then speak, odd one. Don't play your games now," she eventually replied, even though her grip did loosen a little.

"Oh, I will, I will. But I believe that we might wish to relocate. I don't know about you, but those outside seems to have finally managed to grasp that Kite currently isn't talking to any of them about this opportunity which that metal-bug-thing seems to have all but thrown at him.

'Gather ten brave warriors for a quest!' and all that. Hence I suggest we take this conversation elsewhere~," Wander happily pointed out, leading to the rest properly noticing the crowd which had started to close in on them in an odd kind of social struggle where no one openly shoved or manhandled the others even though they were still obviously contending to reach Kite first.

"An excellent idea," Kite agreed, completing his statement with a casting of Leyline warding which completely blocked off where the street opened up into the plaza, further hampering the would-be opportunists.

"Lead the way, Wander. Surely you know which place would be the most suitable." As it turned out, it was one of the nearby mountaintops which got to serve as their impromptu meeting place as the group - with the addition of Braid, whom they had picked up along the way - held council with a spectacular view of the nearby mountains, the city and the lands beneath while bathed in the spring sun.

"I still don't get why we couldn't just have rented the entire bathhouse," Dragonfly complained while trying and failing to find a comfortable spot on her stone-turned-seat at the gently sloping incline.

"If we really set our minds to it, I'm sure we could have set a perimeter which the locals wouldn't dare cross."

"Well, perhaps…~" Wander mused, now in her human form and seated along the rest.

"But then the son of patriarch Cascade would probably have been able to listen in anyway. I may not have been here long, but even I managed to catch that he has some kind of water-sense, able to see and hear through any body of water in the city if he puts his mind to it. A real peeping-tom that one. I sure hope that no one here was planning to actually take a bath in this place. Because if you do - at least without the proper precautions - he will know quite a lot about you.

Well, mostly how you look naked, but people do seem to care a lot about that and- wait, Dragonfly? Why are you looking so flustered all of a sudden~?"

"Nothing. No reason. Now, how about our most important and actual purpose here," Dragonfly replied a bit too quickly, and River slightly rolled her eyes at what she no doubt could pick out from the other woman's aura.

"What have you got for us, Braid?"

"This time, I actually believe that it would be best for Wander to explain herselves, at least the first few hours after our arrival. We happened upon something quite interesting pretty quickly after all, and Wander was the only one who made actual contact," the masked man added, turning to his companion.

"Please try to keep the distractions and side-track to a minimum though."

"Fine, fine. But you'll miss out on which place in the city has the best meat buns though. The answer would surprise you~," Wander replied, even though she straightened in her seat. As was common since silver rank, Wander didn't need to absorb all of her rat bodies to assume her humanoid form, and a few of the critters started scurrying around with pieces of chalk to create a surprisingly decent map of the city as seen from above while she spoke.

"A was only a few hours into properly getting a feel of the place when my bodies started being picked off in this area~," she said, one rat helpfully marking out part of the city's westernmost district.

"At first, I thought it was just by chance, but nooo… Some kind of odd metal beetles seemed to have it out for poor Wander. I was just about to organize a proper, skittering counterattack - with rats doing flips and all kinds of martial arts moves. It would have been great! - when the owner of said beetles and their friends decided to bolt before my incoming might. Ten of them, all silvers from what I could gather even though they used some kind of concealing haze. Six essence-users, but the others…

They felt weird. As in, really weird. Smelled odd too, all metallic yet somehow not~."

"Explain," River urged sternly, sitting up straighter.

"Well… I didn't see much of them or make out anything more than a cursory aura sweep, but as I said, they weren't essence-users. Oh, one of them even did this weird thing where her face just folded back and started shooting some kind of beam which the arrays around the dome really didn't like. She looked more like a puppet in that moment, face all rigid where it before had seemed pretty normal. Pretty fine even. I'd definitely not have been opposed to a little more of that between~ -""Wander…"

Braid remarked dryly, with the exasperation of someone who had danced this particular dance too many times before.

"Sorry, sorry. Well, she popped the array and in they went while this draconian - black scales, really sinister and self-important - started toying with some of the locals. Really good too. He was an essence-user though, not like that elf with the folding face~."

"Builder cultists," River replied flatly, causing the others to look her way.

"What are those?" Kite asked, bemused.

"Venerates one of the great astral beings, with powers that turns them into something akin to constructs. There are a few scattered cells, even though they don't seem to have any particular agenda as a whole, at least not from what little I have heard of them." the acolyte of Pain explained.

"They are apparently quite rare. I haven't encountered any here in Hua-Xi, only in the scattered city states to the west when I ventured there looking for clues. Shouldn't be hostile in and of themselves, at least not to people of power."

"Well they were plenty hostile to poor bodies 540 through 558~," Wander complained.

"Those beetles packed a punch~."

"And the others? You said there were essence-users too," Kite pressed, trying to help Braid in keeping Wander on topic.

"I was getting to those. You see, the rest of them felt normal. A bit too normal even. I may not be as scarred and sharp as Lady Brooding over there to just be able to shatter an aura mask, but my nose is getting pretty good at recognizing the signs by now. I'd wager a decent amount of goods, money or just any kind of service really that the others were our targets; servants of that god. If not, someone has thrown us one heck of a false lead~," Wander finished, leaning back against her rock of choice.

River, who at first looked as if she had once more intended to protest them spending so much time on this track, instead fell silent and contemplative at that revelation, only speaking up after a few seconds.

"And you are sure, odd one?"

"Well, as sure as I can reasonably be after a few minutes of observation~."

"This is important! We-""I know, I know. As I said though, I only got a few minutes. But given how many eyes and noses I had on them, I will stay by my wager. Those were the people that the Crows sent us to look for. I'll sweep the city a few more times to make as sure as I can be though, as I'm nice and benevolent like that. You may now thank me~," Wander finished, turning her nose upwards as all of her present rat bodies did the same in a look of smug superiority.

"That makes it simple then, no?" Will noted, looking to Laevyeth at his side.

"We have masters of falsehood and strife seeming in collusion with odd cultists while they have somehow subverted one of the Queen's gates. Truly, there can't be a finer quest for the Saint of Spears and his Exalted Lady Lance to undertake. Assuming that our dear friend Kite deems it fit to bring us, of course. The Queen's herald seemed to leave the choice with you, after all," the elf finished, turning along with the rest to look at Kite.

"You will bring me too, Pathbreaker. I will not be denied this," River said just afterwards, voice flat but aura intense.

"And me," Dragonfly added, leaning a bit further into Kite's side.

"Honestly, one of the worst things with the gates has been that you've gone in alone. If this works, we can actually take one on together."

"If indeed," Kite added.

"I have no idea what Gleam will manage, and even less how the gate itself will be affected. This is magic on a level far beyond me… Which makes me all the more grateful to hear that you would come with me, given the risks. One of the queen's gates, and with other, probably hostile agents inside? I don't relish the prospect. But you are right, Will. Such a coalition no doubt has a purpose we wish to stop. And inside an astral space like the gates, there should be limited opportunities for them to flee."

"And for you too. Honestly this sounds extremely dangerous. I sure am glad that we aren't going in there. Right, Braid? ~," Wander said, eyes closed as she kept relaxing against her stone. But when her companion failed to answer, she cracked open one eye to look at the masked man.

"I said; right, Braid~?"

"It will probably be a complex environment, Wander. They will surely need a scout. A really good one, able to cover an - I assume - limited area."

"Oh no, just hold it there, mister~""A ritualist and array-crafter would probably come in handy too," the cloth-covered man went on, ignoring Wander's dawning look of horror.

"Having defenses to fall back to as well as some handy crafting shouldn't hurt either. I would need plenty of materials with me going in, but I have devised a few rituals in the past year to spin new threads from raw resources. It would be an excellent test."

"But Braid~! The sun! And relaxing! And snacks! And spying on naked people! They're all out here, not inside- Well, whatever is in there~!" Wander pleaded, gesturing down to the broken dome in the distance. In response, her friend and companion only met her with an even stare, his arched eyebrow clearly visible even through the cloth covering his face.

"Fine…~" the swarm-user eventually muttered as she deflated, dramatically leaning back against her rock as if it was the only thing keeping her steady in the cruel, merciless flood that was life.

"But note that I do this under protest~."

"It's a portal, Wander. I don't think you could enter it under protest if you really did not want to."

"... Well, crap. Alright, you got me. I'm coming too. Even though it will leave me separated from all the good things in life~," Wander muttered.

"At least it might give me an opportunity to check out that elf with the beam-face. Because she sure looked quite fine. Quite fine indeed~." Braid looked as if he was about to protest when Kite put a hand on the weaver's shoulder.

"Just let her have her moment, Braid. She probably needs this," he said softly, as Wander kept going on another one of her peeping-related tangents.

"And thank you. Both of you. Knowing that you would join us leaves me quite at ease," he finished, winking against one of Wander's rat bodies who was currently peeking up from inside Braid's hood. Kite then stepped out into the middle of all gathered, looking to Glint.

"Would you join us too, little beauty? Or do you prefer to stay outside? You have already seen your fair share of these gates and their dangers. And this is bound to be something out of the ordinary." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Don't be silly, my bond," the familiar replied from where she was lounging on a divan of conjured water.

"This young mistress would not miss this. Our paths are entwined, no?"

"Then I thank you too. All of you, really," Kite continued, looking at everyone present.

"Assuming that Laevyeth counts as one of the ten which Gleam thought would be able to enter, that makes seven of us, as Glint has been allowed inside at my side in the past. And as I would prefer going in with the full ten, it seems that we have some inquiries to make. Along with preparations. Plenty of them, in fact."

"-and this, I should really encourage you to start taking this seriously, trial-taker. The offense of the opposing side will be relentless and start pushing towards your Ruler unless you intervene. It might be a gold-ranked being, but you did hear when I explained its limited capabilities, no? In the case, I shall reiterate-" Verses Sung Twice had already tuned out the metal orb which kept following her around since they had entered the gate two days prior.

It had introduced itself as the officiator of this trial, but as neither Verses nor her companions had any actual interest in what the gate itself offered, the spherical construct's frequent explanations had fallen on uncaring ears.

"- as such, it is imperative that you show the adaptability, flexibility and command which should be expected by one of your rank. Prove yourself worthy and-""Verses! Ball! I have taken care of some of the leftmost passages where the other side made a more concerted push," Sunless Fang called happily as the draconian emerged in a shadowy blur from one of the opening to the ravines which led off into the vast web of similar crevasses that separated their base camp from the supposed goal of this trial.

"— an— errrr—" For once, Verses found that part of her was a bit grateful for the appearance of her fellow priest of Discord, as his address made the officiator orb sputter and fall silent, as had been the case since they entered. When it was only focused on Verses, the thing would not stay silent for long. But the presence of Sunless and the others seemed to be something it had trouble comprehending.

"Good. May your insides be ravaged by discord and dissonance for some time yet," Verses thought in silent prayer as she regarded the stunned orb, even though she knew her god could not hear her in this place. The feeling was most unpleasant; an eerie silence in a part of her mind which had been filled by the echo of a divine presence for so long. She then turned to Sunless, the question apparently clear in her eyes as the draconian continued without further prompting.

"It's honestly quite enjoyable out there, Verses. You should try it. Plenty of grunts to tear through, but enough varieties and surprises to keep you on your toes. Almost like a little personal monster surge, but without having to pose as or dodge questions from adventurers. I even found an awakening stone hidden in a dead end. Most enjoyable mission so far. How's it going for the metalheads?"

he asked, gesturing to where the Builder's cultists had set up their little habitat beneath a covering framework of odd, angular girders supported by a latticework of metal bars in triangular patterns.

"Jin has informed me that the ritual has begun. He expects no complications as long as they aren't disturbed. But the magical conditions inside this place were apparently less favorable than he had hoped, and as such he estimates that it will take several weeks for the ritual to drill through enough of the dimensional membrane to connect to the beacon of their peers outside," she said, a bit disgruntled.

"Well, that's great! Tell them that they can take however long they want. I won't mind the tempering!"

"Just remember the actual mission," Verses replied tersely, trying - and failing - to put a damper on the draconian's enthusiasm.

"Push the forces back to a comfortable distance, but keep away from the Ruler of the other side. We do not want to accidentally end the trial early, as the forces of our side will continually push against theirs too."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. Me and the others have it under control. The trial is only meant for one person to take on, after all." Sunless replied, his voice dripping with some derision as he once again made for the ravines and the scattered battlefield they hid.

"You just stay here and coordinate with our allies. They'll have their precious forward base here soon enough, and we'll have more tools to help shield our great undertaking." Another blur of shadows, and Sunless disappeared. Verses allowed herself to sneer at where she had last seen him before she turned back towards the center of their little hub and the impressive being that resided there.

They had emerged into a round-ish open space among the cliffs, far wider than any of the multitudes of ravines and crevasses which led away from it. And in the middle, their so-called Ruler towered above them. It looked something akin to a queen of some arthropod species; a huge and cumbersome thing clad in some kind of chitin with a distinct blue tint. The gargantuan entity reached around ten meters from the ground where it lay, its body - consisting of several more bulbous segments - curled in upon itself.

Its face broke the pattern though, as where one would have expected faceted eyes and mandibles, you instead found yourself gazing into a pair of deep, black orbs set into a distinctly feminine humanoid face at its front. So far, the Ruler had not done anything more than regard its so-called guardian, and it had not responded to any attempt to communicate. Neither had it seemed to give any care for the shredding storm of glowing winds that raged above the cliffs just above where its body ended.

But given that it was a gold-ranked being, no one in the group had tried to investigate further. The Ruler did do something though, showing why it and its counterpart seemed to be the fulcrums of this trial. Occasionally, the carapace of its body would brighten and separate into a huge oval which fell to the ground before dissolving into fine dust and a bit of rainbow smoke. From within, a small troupe of silver-ranked, lesser arthropods would rise and immediately set off into one of the crevasses.

Most of them were humanoids with segmented limbs and covered in blue carapace which were vaguely shaped into shields and long spikes jutting from their right forearm, but occasionally other variants would appear to scuttle into the depths or even take to the skies on shimmering wings.

"An eternal conflict, in a way," Verses mused as she saw one such spawning take place, uncaring drones marching into the broken landscape beyond to wage battle against similar foes spawned from the other side.

"Great Discord… You may not be able to see this… But I believe that you would be pleased."

"Kite, good to see you! What can your favorite branch director, travel companion and giver of sagely advice do for you today?" Jarvan asked happily as he took a seat opposite the younger man in the somewhat crowded downstairs living area of the house in which the LanCaires kept their extensive family.

While most were out and about, the twins - a pair of blonde girls that was the last of the batch of 25 which the branch director and his wife had agreed upon - were toddling around them, playing with a pair of stuffed toys which Kite had seen Jarvan purchase during their time in Vitesse.

"Jarvan. You are looking well as always."

"Well, it is easy to feel a bit satisfied when surrounded by your vast family, beautiful wife and with the knowledge that you've helped a young adventurer take some important steps in their relationships. Given the gift you sent, I assume that things went well?"

"Most well indeed. Thank you, Jarvan. It turns out that you weren't the only one with the same concerns," Kite replied with a laugh.

"What brings you up north then? I do ever appreciate the visit, rare as they are these days. Here to see Will's family? Or check up on the Victorious Sunset sect?"

"Honestly, director, I came to you for advice, albeit of a different sort than last time."

"As we have established, I'm quite an expert when it comes to advice, no matter what some of my older children will tell you. What counsel do you seek today?" Kite looked about, but as there was only the two toddlers present with them he chose to forego the privacy screen.

"There has been some development in Boundary, in regards to the search."

"Ah, yes. I heard that. Walker sent me an update telling me he sent Wander and Braid to investigate. The lead was good then?"

"More than good, it turned out, but also rife with some additional... Complications..." Kite then proceeded to tell Jarvan of their discovery in regards to the gate, Gleam's appearance and her subsequent quest for him.

"- and as such, I came to ask you for advice in who our final member should be," Kite finished.

"I have plenty of suitable people in mind, but most of those are from my time with Gauntlet, and I have no idea where they are and even less time to get a message to them. So it will need to be a local, someone I can trust and that won't be too upset by River's presence. I've thought to ask Providence, but as I dropped off Will and Laevyeth here I thought I could ask your input as well. Assuming he's willing, perhaps you would be willing to lend me the time of Rupert-""Vineyard's vein-covered vine, Kite!

I'll do it! I'll come with you! Gods, I'm almost hurt that you didn't consider me from the start!" Kite, a bit taken aback by the other man's sudden outburst, found his words again.

"You would be willing, director? But your responsibilities and-""Bah! Rupert is an old hand at covering for me by now. And besides, it should only take a few weeks right? In 15 years or so, we will return to active adventuring duty, so surely it wouldn't hurt for me to start warming up a bit."

"With a trial in an unknown astral space where the rules and conditions might be less than stable while fighting followers of a dark deity and their allies?"

"But I would have nine other, most competent people at my side, no? That's way more than I'd ever had outside of a monster surge!"

"And your wife? How would she feel about it?"

"Fantina? Oh, I am sure I could convince her. I have learned quite a few things over a few decades of marriage, you see, and-" Jarvan suddenly fell silent, an intense look coming over him.

"Director? Are you-""She heard us," Jarvan then whispered, looking about.

"Or perhaps she has felt it in my aura. I really thought I'd learned to mask myself well enough. She's coming here right now, so I think it is high time for you to make your retreat."

"Ah," Kite agreed, rising from his chair.

"Shall I discount you then?"

"Oh no. Don't do anything hasty just yet. Just give me a few hours with my wife and come back this evening, alright? I'm sure we will have it sorted out by then. I do have a special, hidden ace up my sleeve, even though I would have hoped to be able to keep it for a few more years. Ah, well, Fortune can be fickle. But now you really should go, Kite. I'll see you tonight. Oh, such an adventure. I'm already looking forward to it!"

"Junior brother, there is a visitor here. One that I believe you would be the one best suited to receive." Little Crow Plucks the Moon did not start at the voice suddenly emitting from his own shadow where he was performing one of the meditative, slow katas of his clan; one that had been passed down through their generations by the Tengu himself. But he did grow much curious.

"Oh? Then I shall have to trust senior brother's word and go see," the younger celestine replied, smoothly transitioning to one of the kata's finishers, bowing as imaginary wings proudly spread out behind him. Obsidian Crow made no further comments as Little Crow made his way through the compound towards the outer gates, the gold-ranker probably busying himself with one of the other myriad things which seemed to occupy his attention these days.

Sensing an aura outside, Little Crow opened the gates to reveal a silver-ranked elf clad in somber, sleek black robes and with his dark hair neatly combed back over his head who had just reached out to tug the colorful ropes connected to the bells which would announce his presence. To his credit, the other man kept his composure at the sudden development and gave Little Crow a respectful bow.

"Greetings, honored member of the Tengu's clan. I am called Grim Snowfall, and I come here bearing a message. A rather time-sensitive one at that. May I come in?"

"-and so Kite and Braid went north, first to Gilded and then to get whatever Peony has finished for us and stock up on other supplies.

Will and Laevyeth went with him to his family to request help from Grim - their portal-user - to carry word to the capital and ask for Little Crow's help while River stayed behind to keep watch over Boundary along with Wander," Dragonfly finished rattling off, all while she had been furiously swinging her axe in an attempt to find an opening in the defenses of her current sparring partner.

"And you, I suppose, came to see me with the same request?" Soul asked as she leapt and twisted between Dragonfly's two strikes; the animated axe having tried - and failed - to come in from the celestine's blind spot. Even so, Dragonfly felt a bit of pride in that the sharp edge had managed to shear off some of the other woman's amethyst hair, which was a sign that the attempt had at least been a close one.

"Well, yeah. There'll be lots of fighting, with at least ten other silvers involved on top of what the gate might throw at us. You've heard Kite's stories about it, no? The tempering should be amazing."

"Yet I would do so away from the gaze of Warrior," Soul replied, stepping into a cross-counter as she accepted a glancing hit from the hilt of a heavy axe in order to land a more square hit of her own. The stone tiles beneath the two women creaked as their enhanced strengths met one another before both were launched in opposite direction, with Soul tumbling gracefully to her feet as Dragonfly reached out to let her animated axe stop her momentum.

"As if that would ever stop you. Warrior would see the results once you emerged."

"I would be away from my arena, missing opportunities as people come seeking might before the god who blessed me."

"How long are people already waiting around here? A few weeks, if need be? I'm sure they'll be fine, especially if you leave a really important plaque or something stating that you will be away. Heavens, you could even urge an acolyte of Warrior to remain and let others clash here in the meanwhile, stating that you will test the one who comes out on top. I may not know the mind of a god, but I would be really surprised if Warrior didn't absolutely love that idea."

Each of their exchanges were matched with that of axe, flame and fist. Dragonfly definitely got more than she gave, but as such was also the way of her path, she wasn't bothered. It was even expected. Soul still outclassed her when it came to technique and talent, but when Dragonfly's inner fire reached a certain level she could start pressuring the celestine through virtue of sheer attributes and resilience.

She wasn't quite there yet though, Soul's hesitance in regards to the gate seemingly bleeding over into the martial aspects of their conversation. But as Dragonfly caught the woman glancing towards her not-students-but-actually-students every once in a while, the gathered irons and bronzes spectating their clashing with awe, admiration and determination in their eyes, she finally pieced it together.

"Ah," Dragonfly thought to herself, casting waves of fire to force Soul to disengage and find a new angle of attack.

"So that's the true reason. Now how to go about this…" Soon enough, Dragonfly made a decision; to stay true to herself in all things. And, in this case, her choice of words.

"Besides, it would probably be a good opportunity for your students to find some tempering opportunities of their own. See the sights, fight the good fights and come back to show you the results of their efforts."

"They're not my students-" Soul began in her normal protest, but this time Dragonfly powered through it; passionate and relentless.

"Soul, you're way too talented and insightful to keep deceiving yourself like this. They are. You teach them, help them. Gods, I'm sure you're actually really proud of them. They've grown in leaps and bounds after all."

"Don't be daft. I'm seeking perfection, a path that will ever be a lonely one-""And yet you've kept them around, helped them repeatedly and gained their utmost respect and devotion. I know what that's like, Soul. Perhaps not with this many, but still! I know how it feels. Seeing Sprite grow from a terrified kid towards something greater… I've really enjoyed it. And I've realized a lot about myself when I have taught her, too.

So tell me, honestly; can you really say that you haven't learned the slightest by teaching all of these people? That changing up your pace and your ways has led to absolutely no kind of insights into yourself, your path or your life? Tell me Soul, with Warrior as our witness, that it hasn't been tempering in its own way?" Soul's response was the completion of opening up Dragonfly's guard in a way that allowed her to deliver a devastating palm strike in the center of the Dragonfly's chest.

One flash of transcendent damage later and Dragonfly was sent flying back, rolling nimbly to her feet while ignoring the still smoldering hand-print on her sternum. But instead of following up the attack, Soul shot her a somewhat dissatisfied, almost uncomfortable glare before turning to the gathered lower-rankers and speaking.

"See that exchange? I hope you took note of it, as there are several among us who would stand to learn from Dragonfly's choices here. I will expect your thoughts on it at the end of this bout," she called out, receiving enthusiastic and thoughtful nods and murmurs in return as she easily slid back into a more relaxed combat stance.

"Fine. I will come with you," the amethyst-haired celestine murmured more softly so that only Dragonfly could hear.

"They'll be fine, you know," Dragonfly replied with a smile.

"They've been trained by Soul, blessed of Warrior, after all. And besides, all of you should have some more variety in the way you temper yourselves. It would be a shame if either you or they turned into greenhouse flowers."

"I said, I would come with you, Dragonfly," the celestine retorted again, obvious annoyance coloring her aura as Dragonfly drove her point home.

"At least as long as you can provide me with something worthwhile here today." Questing inwards, Dragonfly found that the smoldering core of inner potential had grown further; a blazing inferno, focused and channeled. And, as it happens, at just the sweet spot when she would really start to hit her stride.

"Oh, you can count on that," she replied with a grin, the air around her shimmering as she let her inner heat spread throughout her body and empower it even further. In response, Soul's lips twitched upwards in that way they did when she expected to at least get a little challenge out of a clash. Then they both charged, strength against strength. And path against path.