I was only barely able to withhold a wince as an older, heavyset balding man clung to me and started sobbing uncontrollably. There were more than a few uncomfortable shuffles from the other onlooking officials as the man actually slumped to his knees, now weeping into my own as he did. Awkwardly, I reached out and gingerly patted the man on the shoulder a few times, as I heard a low snicker coming from behind me. I shot a brief glare over my shoulder at the sound, but none of the other expedition Captains, nor my Captains in the Polaris Reach, had anything but stoic looks on their faces.

  I still know it was you, Renauld.

  I gave a minute shake of my head and looked back down at the still blubbering noble, and put a strained smile on my lips. “There there, Lord von Steinmark,” I said, patting him on the shoulder once more. “We’re…more than happy to help.”

  It was hard to believe that the man clinging to me was not only an actual relation to both the famously stoic Regent of Herztal, but to the Royal House as well. I’m pretty sure if Isolde could see this right now, she would have had an impressively disgusted look on her face.

  Alas for my entertainment, my Commander and second in command of our Order was back in Blutstein.

  This man was, to my understanding, something like Wenzel von Steinmark’s second or third cousin. I didn’t know his actual relation to the Regent, only that he was the von Steinmark who was currently acting as the ruler of Elderwyck in Wenzel’s stead. Something like a regent to the Regent, as I understood matters. As part of the deal to become the Regent Lord of Herztal until Oskar was ready to assume the throne, House von Steinmark had been granted the seat of the Duchy of Elderwyck since the previous one had come down with a sudden case of ‘death by Vampire’. And since Wenzel was not only currently acting as the stand-in ruler of the country, and separated from Elderwyck by hundreds of miles of deadly, corruption-laden land…

  I had to deal with this guy instead. Well, he and about a dozen other visibly relieved Herztalian officials with us, here in the governors’ mansion of Elderwyck.

  I think the guy's name was Tomas, or something.

  “Oh, thank you, thank you, Lord Hart!” Tomas blubbered into my knees. He looked at me with a teary-eyed, snotty smile on his lips. “I-I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to see other Humans from the capital! To know that our people still stand s-strong in other places in the face of the Desolation is a relief b-beyond m-measure…”

  He lost his composure once more, hugging my legs to his chest. I had to fight the urge to shake the man off.

  No matter how unseemly I found this, the man was the current governor of Elderwyck. And I had to say….

  He hadn’t done that bad of job. I’d been frankly surprised at just how much the city had recovered, after Rhazal and his Revenants had done such a thorough job of decimating it. While there was still some evidence of the attack, things almost seemed…normal. The streets had long since been cleared of even the largest pieces of rubble, and they were actually pretty full. I had, for some reason, expected the city to be a little, I don’t know, underpopulated? The number of people that had been slain by the hunting revenants alone was frankly sickening. But, even under the glare of the Skyfall, business was still progressing much like how it was in Blutstein. Most buildings and businesses had either been rebuilt or simply lay as cleared out abandoned lots. Even the massive fortress that lay at the heart of the twin cities, Fort Duality, seemed to have undergone repairs. Which was frankly impressive, considering Rhazal had demolished the structure to use as a makeshift throne. But it made sense, I suppose. That building housed the only surviving link in the chain that was the planetary portal network. When we’d passed that location on the way here, our chauffeurs had even confirmed that the portal was still working.

  If not...sporadically. Apparently, the connection to Indiqua was spotty at the best of times and had been relegated to merely message sending for the duration of the crisis. The Orcs had demanded such a thing. They were much more concerned about the state of the link to their homeworld than we were, and the Dominion…really had more control of the portal, if only by strength of arms. They didn't want to risk its stability by unnecessary portal travel.

  I…

  I think I’d been expecting…worse. In my mind, Elderwyck would always loom as the city where I had nearly lost everything. Sylvia had nearly died here and had lost her memory for a very long time. Dozens and dozens of my comrades had either lost their lives to the Loyalist Army or to the mad schemes of an ancient Vampire. I’d lost my very humanity in this city, that thin facsimile where I could still pretend to be something other than a Precursor.

  This wasn’t even counting the mind-bending terror that had been Rhazal, and the entire struggle uphill against him.

  I didn’t like being here, but I was…happy to see it mostly recovered.

  Well.

  Outside of the Skyfall, that is.

  My musings were cut short when one of the other Herztalian officials cleared their throat, catching my attention. When I raised an eyebrow and cut my eyes briefly down to the sobbing noble on his knees before me, the man just gave me an apologetic smile. “Ah…Lord Hart-”

  “Marshal,” I interrupted him. “I’m not a noble. It’s either Sir or Marshal.”

  “Marshal, then,” The official continued smoothly. “I am given to understand that you…have a method to survive the Devastation for us?”

  As the man’s eyes drifted over to one of the people I had brought along with me to this meeting, I briefly considered that.

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  ‘Devastation’, eh? Everyone really did have a different name for it.

  I shook it off and then followed his gaze to find Meia Itzelan, the enigmatic half-Orc Sorceress who had all but demanded I bring her along on the expedition. She was competent and had more than proven herself on the research team which developed the APD’s, so I hadn’t protested at all. Even better, I think it was a toss-up which one of us was more knowledgeable and skilled when it came to Abjuration. She was sitting on top of one of our crates packed to the absolute brim with APD's, watching the entire meeting with a bored gaze and leaning with her chin in one open palm. Despite my expectations, she’d let the hood of her long grey cloak down when she came with us into the city, which was…confident of her, I’d give her that.

  After all, tensions with the Orcish Dominion of Xilochtlan were high last I checked, and you wouldn’t find a place where they were higher than Elderwyck.

  What with the city being literally right up next to the only Orcish enclave upon Vereden. The only thing separating Elderwyck and Tlatec was the river which ran between the two cities.

  It was bold, walking the streets of Elderwyck as someone who was visibly Orcish. She’d been the only one I’d seen out on the streets, and she’d gotten her fair share of dirty looks from the inhabitants. But Meia hadn’t cared. She’d just keep shepherding the crate of APD’s with her head held high, held in the grip of her telekinesis Spell.

  I still didn't know why she had chosen to come with us.

  I smiled at the interested official and nodded. “Yes, we do. My assistant over there has them with us, and we intend to give you-“

  I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence. The door to the room where I was meeting the Elderwyckians slammed open, startling everyone inside enough that even Tomas von Steinmark stopped his blubbering.

  I was…not prepared for who marched through the open doorway as if they owned it. For several reasons.

  Three full blooded Orcs. Important-looking ones, at that, dressed in much the same way I’d seen the higher caste examples of their people, on my last visit to Tlatec.

  As in, with not much on at all. All three of them were bare-chested, exposing the heavily muscled, heatherish grey skin of their people. Around their necks were heavy torcs of wrought iron, studded with obsidian and onyx gems and bearing a somewhat alarming amount of spikes, while upon their heads they bore headdresses spouting numerous turquoise feathers. Other than their simple sandals, the only other piece of clothing they had in common was the bulky iron belts around their waists, holding up their matching black loincloths.

  I dearly wish they were wearing something under those.

  However…there was one other difference between the three of them.

  The Orc in the center of their formation, the one who still had a foot outstretched from where he had kicked in the door, was wearing pauldrons. Decorative ones, at that, with more than a few crimson plumed feathers sticking from the ends.

  I’m guessing this was the leader.

  He proved it only moments later.

  A massive, arrogant sneer crossed the center Orc’s brutish features, curling around his prominent tusks. “Steinmark, what’s this I hear about a ship arriving in the harb-”

  At first, I was confused as to why the bossy Orc had stopped mid-demand to stare across the room. The expression on his face had changed in a heartbeat from dismissive disdain into sheer shock, and he wasn’t the only one. All three of the interrupting Orcs had stopped just inside the room to gape across it.

  I followed their gaze to find they were looking…right at Meia.

  The half-Orc had stood up from her sitting position on top of the crate to frown massively at the three other Orcs. The expression on her face wasn’t quite the open disdain that her fellows had displayed, but it wasn’t something as mild as annoyance either. If anything, she just looked…irritated with them.

  “You…?” The lead Orc whispered in his shock, his voice echoing throughout the silence of the room. “How are you…”

  The Orc to his right impulsively stepped forward, and to the shock of everyone in the room, actually bowed to Meia. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t get the chance.

  Meia abruptly barked a word at the other Orcs, in a language I couldn’t understand. In response, the bowing Orc hastily straightened up and stepped back behind his leader. In fact, the other two stood straighter as well, as Meia started to utter a few clipped words to them in that same language.

  I frowned slightly at the shrouded conversation happening right in front of me. The only way you could hide words like this…was by deliberately turning off Language Adaptation. Which hinted at a couple of things, really.

  One was that Meia had a skill that allowed her to access her Status at a moment's notice, without a mirror. While rare, they weren’t exactly unheard of. That was the only way she could have abruptly turned the universal Skill off.

  The other…was that Meia Itzelan had some measure of authority over these three.

  Once more, it occurred to me just how little I knew about the woman.

  Finally, after a few minutes of pointed words from Meia under the curious and shocked gazes of everyone in the room, the deliberately obfuscated conversation seemed to stop. In a mildly humorous moment, at least to me, the lead Orc straightened his head dress and nodded brusquely. “Very well,” He said, much more respectfully and in a language we could all understand. “I hear and obey. I will convey your words.”

  “Good,” Meia said brusquely, before bending down and cracking open the crate of APD’s. She reached inside and removed only a single one of the small crystal brooches. Almost carelessly, she tossed it to the lead Orc, who snatched it out of the air easily. “Take that and go.”

  The still unnamed Orc stared down at the white crystal of the APD for a moment, brushing one broad grey thumb over the surface. There was an apprehensive look in his eye as he stared at it, almost as if he recognized something about the device and was scared of it. He shook his head. “I…hope you know what you’re doing…”

  “Go,” Meia said with finality, crossing her arms over her chest.

  A short nod from the leader, and more bizarre short bows from the other two Orcs, were her answer. In moments, the trio had vanished from the room they had just barged into and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor. To the last, they had barely acknowledged the presence of anyone in that room

  It was like Meia was the only actual person present to them.

  Curiouser and curiouser.

  It felt like only moments later that a young Herztalian, his green and red tabard hanging loosely over his chainmail, skidded around the corner and into the room. “Governor!” He panted. “There are Orcs in the building!”

  Tomas von Steinmark finally rose from his kneeling position in front of me, his thick face starting to go red. “Yes, we could see that!” He exploded at the suddenly cowering soldier. The man jabbed a finger at the door the kid had just come through. “Go back to watching birds at the gate, you buffoon! That’s about all I count on you to do, anyway!”

  As the provincial Lord of Elderwyck took to berating his underling, and I got to work explaining the APD’s better to the other, more patient officials, I noticed something.

  Two things, really.

  The first was the massive grimace I could see on Meia Itzelan’s face, as she stood in front of the APD’s like a guard. It didn’t seem like she was angry about anything, per se. More…embarrassed, as if something she’d tried to hide had been exposed.

  The other…

  Was the deeply considering look that Maria was sending the half-Orc woman.