The Ethersmith

A corner before the Lifeweaver’s mansion, Vivi checked her reflection through dark a streetside window.

Her make-up was almost invisible, slightly complementing her features but nothing complex. That made her freshly cleaned hair stand out more. Her head just felt nice after Lortel gave her a bath. Everything always looked nice after Lortel did anything with her face.

Then she had her raincoat. The black and purple design, made by Senith, and definitely the best raincoat in the world right next to Essi’s. Vivi’s had moonweaver’s silk inside, so hers was probably a step above.

She struggled to smile, though, seeing its reflection. The purple hood strings brought memories from Paradise, from Grandpa’s goodbye. Senith had made the raincoat, but Grandpa stole her work. Like the stubborn and happy idiot he was, Grandpa gave the raincoat to Vivi prematurely.

She grabbed one of the hood strings and rubbed her fingers on it, facing the reflection on the window. The picture was hazy, and the world was a mess. There was so much to deal with.

I’ll meet Senith soon again, Vivi thought. The surface will survive.

Despite the feelings, her raincoat was just plain beautiful. That was the only way Vivi could describe it. The best raincoat in the whole world. Seeing herself wearing it, Vivi looked like she belonged somewhere. The shiny purple reminded her to stay strong, because she was strong.

A demonic figure suddenly appeared next to her in the reflection, having come out of nowhere. Vivi flinched.

“Looks like I did an acceptable job with your makeup this time,” Lortel said.

Vivi faced Lortel’s smile. Through the reflection, Vivi hadn’t recognized it for a moment. “Gods, you scared me.”

Lortel wore a simple black and white skirt with stockings, having tailored it for herself with the few hours of free time she had. Her hair was tied to a bun, and her heavily scorched demon face was fully visible.

That must have been intentional. Her horns were difficult to hide, and by trying anyway she’d just appear shady. By fully revealing herself, the outfit conveyed honesty and friendliness, at least to Vivi.

Even though Lortel’s scorched face and demonic eyes were still scary.

“You need to improve your perception,” Lortel said. “If I was an assassin, it would not be impossible to attempt something with you.”

Vivi’s lips formed a line, saying nothing, but internally agreed. She still had a lot to practice with ether, despite her affinity with ascension skills. Grandpa’s sword granted her a lot of firepower, but she was far from the most suitable person to wield it. She needed practice.

For now, they had politics to deal with. She turned the corner and faced the Lifeweavers’ mansion. It, too, was a temporary residence for hunting companies that visited the city, not much different from the one Vivi had. Ythar’s teleporters essentially solved transport, letting hunters move in and out of cities whenever they wanted. Temporary residences were as common as permanent ones. Even Fellwater had a small empty house always kept ready if a hunter decided to stay the night, even though that hadn’t happened in decades.

A servant greeted them at the doors. Seeing Lortel behind Vivi, the woman paused. She snapped into a nervous bow and led them inside, trying her best to stay professional. Vivi was used to such nervousness due to her reputation in Shivenar, though the maid’s reaction seemed to stem entirely from Lortel’s presence.

The hallways of this mansion followed the same generic hardwood noble interior, but the Lifeweavers added personality by swapping their own carpets in: black, pink, and purple interwoven with pretty patterns.

“—that’s nothing short of completely nonsensical!” a woman’s voice was complaining deeper in the hallway, growing louder as they approached. It sounded like Veronica Lifeweaver. “This utter fool sovereign, does he really expect to command us like nothing happened? He gives us that display, and he still—”

The servant knocked on the door, and the yelling paused. After a pause, the door opened as a bald middle-aged ether hunter opened the door, wearing the Lifeweavers’ uniform. Inside, Veronica and one other man sat by a table, facing two letters, one of which was sealed.

Vivi entered and asked, “You’re complaining about Helegar, I’m guessing?”

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Veronica let out a sigh. Lortel’s presence didn’t alarm her, as she’d already spoken with the demons. “I apologize. It seems this city is on its best efforts to crack my temper.”

Vivi smiled. “What happened?”

Veronica shifted her posture. “Our fool of a sub-sovereign is butthurt and hoping to reclaim his pride. He’s demanding an apology out of you, and he’s trying to pressure me to convince you, because you are apparently too dangerous to approach on his own. He’s afraid you’re trying to kill him, I think.”

“Uh, I would never do such a thing,” Vivi said. “Is he hoping to earn the ether from the storms? What are his goals?”

“I am not sure if this idiot has any proper goals,” Veronica said. “He’s like a toddler given the power to lead a class in school for a day—except that same child is running cities. His political intentions are impossible to read, because I genuinely don’t believe he has any, except to make himself grand and amazing. Never in my life have I made business with someone so utterly incompetent!”

It felt odd to see Veronica like that, genuinely losing her cool. But Vivi also couldn’t blame the woman. She felt the exact same way when talking about most ether hunters.

“What jobs does Helegar actually have?” Vivi asked. “Like what does he do in the city?”

“Most of the actual work is done by his administrators,” Veronica said. “In each one of his cities, and some towns, he has assigned people for resource and provisions logistics, military operations and city guard, tax officials, infrastructure upkeep—everything that keeps the city running is performed by a full team. Helegar himself has authority over all of those, and can choose whoever is in charge of what. Although, he, of course, poses as a great genius of everything listed, but his real task, which he admittedly is not terrible at, is fooling the public. He is a charismatic speaker, if nothing else.”

“He would not be difficult to replace, then?” Vivi asked.

Veronica’s eyes snapped toward Vivi. “If you’re thinking of getting rid of him, it’s way too early. Our little alliance is still tiny. And despite Helegar’s incompetence, he has allies amongst the hunting companies.”

Lortel took a step forward, indicating for her turn to speak. Everyone’s head turned to her. “Out of all humans, opposition or not, how many do you think are currently stronger than Vivian Runeblessed?”

“It’s not many,” Veronica said. “I’ve only seen you fight once, and you might have weaknesses I don’t know of, but I think there are around ten who might be stronger, and at least three who are definitely stronger. The most dangerous opponent will be Solomon Devianor, the leader of his hunting company.”

Vivi had heard of that name. Fellwater’s teens saw him as almost a villainous ether hunter. Still cool and looked up to, of course, since infamous and mysterious figures were cool. He was said to be so strong he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.

“He holds an exalted ascension skill, an exalted weapon ascension skill, and he keeps switching between a third exalted skill,” Veronica said. “He’s on the upper level of fourth elevation hunters, very close to the fifth. I’ve seen him fight, and he is impossible.”

“I can probably still overpower him with a seven-runed sword,” Vivi said. “But most hunters are more skilled at fighting than me.”

“A heavy sword is easy to avoid and manoeuvre around,” Veronica agreed. “Solomon will defeat you. Conversely, Aubrey Trihaven could become an ally. She’s a fourth elevation hunter as well, specializing in supportive and healing skills. She’s known to revive people from the brink of death who’ve lost half of their bodies.”

Lucius popped out of Vivi’s core and suddenly asked, “What about the legendary skill users?”

“That’s a good question…” Veronica said. “Legendary skills can be regarded as unforeseen threats. Their wielders or locations just aren’t known. Banishment Portal disappeared sixty years ago. Ascension To Heaven is believed to have fallen to the demons, and Death Forecast hasn’t been seen in centuries. I am not aware of any humans with legendary skills.”

“The status is, however,” Lortel said, “that we are currently not strong enough to directly cause a scene. We can only use indirect chaos.”

“I am not sure if expediting the government’s collapse is a good idea,” Veronica said. “It’s best to secure an advantageous position for when this mess starts collapsing on its own. More and more hunters and hunting companies are growing upset with leadership. We must form our alliances prematurely, so that we can fight when we must defend.”

This sounds complicated, Vivi thought. And time-consuming.

“I think it would be interesting to just assassinate Helegar,” Lucius said. “His death would be very funny.”

He would deserve it, but I’m not sure if that will make anything better.

“Maybe I can just keep defending towns and clearing storms,” Vivi said. “There will be many that the hunters fail to contain. If I can clear them anyway and save towns, my reputation should probably rise, right?”

“I was about to suggest that,” Veronica said. “For a start, we should do what the hunting companies are really supposed to be doing—protecting those who need it.”

Lortel glanced at Vivi, and Vivi already knew what the look meant. Their goals still conflicted with each other. Did they want to stay around on the surface in hopes to fix things, or just head back down?

“Who is that letter signed to?” Lortel asked through the pause, glancing at the table. “It’s for Vivian, correct?”

“Oh, this one,” Veronica said, picking up the unopened letter. “Helegar requested me to relay this letter to you.”

Vivi batted an eye and accepted the letter, opening the stamp. Inside were two letters. The first one was a longer one with pretty handwriting. It read,

“Vivian, I wish to once more convey my eternal thanks for your contribution in protecting Ranewal in these harsh times. To properly reward you, I would like to hold a discussion with you personally over wine and good times. - Helegar, Sub-sovereign of the North Canton.”

The second letter was smaller but decorated with drawn, artistic roses. It read,

“Invitation to the Roserain Royal Ball - Vivian Runeblessed”