The castle shifted into a more luxurious housing compound surrounding a courtyard, filled with trees and a shining pool.
“We can tailor the facilities to your style and needs, and even your Path.” Now the house became a network of rocky hills and caves, with vents in the ground spewing jets of fire into the sky.
Lindon could practically feel the aura of fire and destruction even from the illusion.
He and Dross stared speechlessly at the image. Lindon felt a pang of regret that Orthos wasn't here to see this.
“Will we be able to use this prize in our next round?” Lindon asked when he had recovered himself. Dross was still staring, his mouth hanging slack.
“Regrettably, no. It will not be ready until the completion of the tournament, while the next round is in one week.”
They had already been told that the second round would take place in a week; the rest of the city was in a non-stop festival until the end of the Uncrowned King tournament, but the participants were expected to spend their time training and preparing—which was what Lindon would have chosen to do anyway.
“And the nature of the next round?”
“A team elimination match between all teams at once,” the Soul said serenely. “Those teams who survived the first round with all three of their members will therefore have an advantage.”
“That's a lot less than a map,” Yerin said. “Where are we fighting?”
“I cannot give you any more details until the day of the competition. However, I am permitted to say that you will be allowed to fill your soulspace, but can carry no other weapons or void keys. Any constructs you bring will be inspected to ensure that they fall within appropriate power parameters, which are contained within the tournament rules and can be reviewed at any time.”
Lindon stored that away. He couldn’t fit anything too powerful into his soulspace, but he and Dross should be able to make some preparations. “Gratitude. Now, the fortress...is that allowed weapons?”
“The fortress naturally includes a battery of defensive scripts and constructs, as it is intended to be a secure retreat. For the same reason, however, our intent is not to design you a weapon of war, but a safe place to live or travel.”
Lindon asked further questions about the power source, guidance system, requirements for piloting, and maintenance. Most of them were standard systems, and the one consistent restriction on the fortress was size. The size of the Thousand-Mile Cloud construct remained constant for all participants. Dross fed a few questions through Lindon, rather than addressing the Ninecloud Soul directly, and Yerin piped up with a few as well.
“What do you plan to do with yours?” Lindon asked her. “Maybe they could complement—” He held out a hand, interrupting himself as an idea sparked in his mind. He spoke before he thought. “Wait! If you'll forgive another question, honored...Soul...could we combine our prizes? Would you allow us to have one fortress that's twice the size?”
“If number eleven agrees to it,” the rainbow light said.
Yerin frowned at him. “Don't you think we'd be better off with two?”
“We're always traveling together anyway. We can make ours better than anyone else's.”
She stared at him quietly for a long moment, which gave him enough time to realize what he’d said. He had essentially asked her if she wanted to build a home with him.
Heat rushed to his face, and she noticed, because her own cheeks flushed red and she hurriedly looked away. He almost apologized to the Ninecloud Soul and took back his words. He really hadn’t been thinking. This could ruin his whole relationship with Yerin.
Mercy’s voice echoed clearly in his mind. “And you’re okay with that?”
Then his own: “I don’t know.”
[Look at that!] Dross said proudly. [I can play memories back for you! It’s just like you’re hearing it for the first time, isn’t it?]
Lindon’s heart pounded, and he looked back at the rainbow light so he didn’t have to see Yerin’s expression, but he didn’t say anything. His proposal stayed on the table.
After the longest handful of seconds in Lindon’s life, Yerin made a quiet noise that he thought might be approval.
But she hadn't said anything. Maybe she felt like he was pushing her into it. Suddenly his self-consciousness spilled over and out of his mouth. “Or not,” he added, “if you don't feel comfortable with it. We can wait to decide.”
The Ninecloud Soul twinkled. “Number eleven, no one can determine the nature of your prize but you. If you are afraid of reprisal outside the competition, you are entitled to the protection and enforcement of the Ninecloud Court.”
Yerin coughed. “Who's telling you I'm afraid of anything? I agreed, I agree, I'm agreeing now.”
“If you would perhaps let number ten leave, so that I can hear it from you without the possibility of coercion...”
“Did I say there was a need for that? Get it done.”
Yerin looked away from Lindon, and the back of her neck was scarlet. He knew his face had to be even brighter than hers.
Chapter 12
Eithan tapped his fingers together as the Ninecloud Soul produced another floating model of his flying fortress.
“Is this more of what you had in mind, number sixty-four?” The feminine voice from the cloud of rainbow madra was beginning to sound impatient. He couldn’t blame the spirit. This was his eighty-first revision, and even artificially created spiritual networks could get testy.
“Perfection!” Eithan declared. His “fortress” was a broad square, stretched to the maximum dimensions, and filled with a series of gardens. It looked more like a plot of farmland.
“Now, are there any plants in particular that we can provide for you?” The Ninecloud Soul’s exhaustion was beginning to strain its polite words. “Keep in mind, you are only permitted a limited total value.”
“Nimblethorn root,” Eithan said immediately.
The rainbow shimmered, confused, but one corner of the floating garden converted to a patch of thorny bushes. “Are you a refiner, number sixty-four?”
The Nimblethorn root was typically used as a medicinal herb to separate types of madra before spiritual surgery. It wasn’t common, but it wasn’t incredibly valuable either.
“Not much of one, I’m afraid. Now, how about some ancestral men’hla trees?”
Rumor said that Emriss Silentborn had been a men’hla tree before her ascension, and as such they were considered sacred in certain circles on the Everwood continent. It had a handful of uses for refiners, but it was especially valuable to Soulsmiths, as each of its leaves actually produced a separate Remnant. For many projects, one men’hla tree could be an endless source of dead matter.
The red in the Ninecloud Soul grew brighter. “I am afraid we can provide only one century-old men’hla tree.”
Eithan affected disappointment, but the joke was on the Ninecloud Court. He didn’t actually need this tree at all, he just wanted to extract the maximum value from his prize.
Of course, since they were willing to give him one, he would use it.
“Hammershell fruit,” he recited. A prime source of force aura. “A hive of ivory bees. Cloudbell bush. A spring of Whispering Water. Starlotus pond.”
His list contained nothing that the Ninecloud Court would balk at or flag as unusual. Some were more useful to Soulsmiths, others to refiners, and he mixed in some decoys with the ones he really needed.
When he stretched the process of designing his first-round prize to over two hours, the Ninecloud Soul said, “Allow me to remind you, number sixty-four, that there is no rush. You cannot bring this prize into the second round, so you can take your time planning.”
Eithan smiled into the rainbow light. “I assure you, I have taken my time. And not for the second round.”