“The webs of political intrigue grow no more fascinating after you’ve watched them break and rebond time and again for centuries. As the years go by the details change, who is enmeshed with what interests, and who plots against whom, but the overall pattern remains depressingly the same. 

It seems like any group with more than two people in it must inevitably form a snarl of conflicting loyalties and layered deceits, and try though I might to walk those paths with the care the Imperial Commandment which binds me to this world demands, even I have found the dance tiring on more than a few occasions.

Lately, even when I am not exhausted by the pointless drama of it all, has a singular thought crossed my mind – webs constrain, webs tangle, and webs block you from where you wish to go. Do you know what else webs do though?

They burn.”

– Glenmorda Tinbellus Enika of the Reaper’s Mercy uttering the last words ever heard by Sherrif Lazgo Ironbriar of Sounding Deeps.

It was well past sundown by the time Mellina had laid out her plan for us and we’d gone back and forth on each of the points were someone either thought they had a better idea, or simply objected to the risks involved. Okay, to be fair, I was the one doing most of the latter, and in the end I was forced to, reluctantly, agree that I wasn’t going to be able to do everything by myself with no risk to anyone else.

No matter how much I wanted to try.

There was just one point that hit me at the end of our discussion though that seemed odd.

“Why, or maybe how, would House Ironbriar send Holman as their champion?” I asked. “He’s part of House Astrologia isn’t he?”

I was pretty sure he’d been introduced like that but he’d also been the one to speak for House Ironbriar when Idrina had been sent to a trial by combat.

“He’s an Intercessor,” Enika said, as though that explained everything.

“Technically a Most Honorable Intercessor,” Mellina said but continued since she could see how confused I was. “Holman was born a member of House Astrologia but part of the function of an Intercessor is to take on the burdens of the Great Houses where political neutrality is desirable. They’re intended to advance the ‘legal and just causes of the House’ they’re contracted by while remaining committed to the Empire above all of them.”

“That’s why he spoke for Idrina at her trial?” I asked.

“Yes. House Ironbriar retained his services after the admissions were complete,” Idrina said.

“That’s probably my fault right?” Ilyan asked.

“It’s all of our faults,” Mellina said. “We all broke with our Houses that day. Or reestablished one in Kati’s case. Holman was convenient for them to acquire because he already had a connection to us. They would have been thinking all along to use him against us in some manner, this is simply the most direct approach they could take.”

“Couldn’t he just say no?” I asked.

“Of course. He’s free to do as he wishes,” Enika said. 

“But then he’ll be hauled before the High Council and forced to explain what Imperial Edict House Ironbriar violated to cause him to refuse a lawful order. If he doesn’t have a legally viable complaint against Ironbriar, they would strip him of his Most Honorable status.”

“So he’d lose his job?” I asked.

“And his head,” Enika said. “Intercessors are not allowed to have lapses in judgment.”

I shook my head, not in disbelief but ever deepening exasperation.

“Is every Imperial rule designed for maximum cruelty?” I asked.

“Not a single one was designed for cruelty,” Doxle said. “The cruelty is the work of later hands, and is remarkable mostly in how comprehensive it is.”

“The beheading part, for example, was added almost a hundred years after the addendum which required that Intercessors be stripped of rank if they were found to be guilty of “being subverted to the favor of any entity other than the Imperial throne,” Enika said.

“So what happens to him when we show what Ironbriar has been doing?” I asked.

“He might be executed. Might not,” Enika said. “The laws are specific in the various and horrible punishments they suggest, but the enforcement and infliction of those punishments varies wildly, based usually on how influential the culprit is.”

“And how influential is Holman?” I asked.

“Oh that doesn’t matter,” Enika said. “Ironbriar, should there be anything left of it, will ensure that he doesn’t live long enough to stand trial. It’s the same plan they have for you largely because it’s worked for them in the past and they don’t believe in changing tactics when they don’t need to.”

I recalled how touchy Enika and Idrina had been about Ironbriar’s honor and insults against it when we first met. Or rather how touchy they’d appeared to be. Hearing Enika bad mouth her former employers and sensing no new spikes of rage from Idrina gave credence to the idea that they’d been far more focused on taking the measure of “Doxle’s new pactling”.

Or at least Enika had. Idrina’s emotions were still a maelstrom of conflicting heartbeats, though after a long day of discussion they’d spun down a lot from where they’d been the last time we’d talked.

I sighed, dreading the possibility of even more talking, but I had to asked the question anyways. “Do we need to plan on rescuing him too then?”

Doxle chuckled at the idea and continued massaging Enika’s scalp as she sat in front of him. “No. Holman’s quite adept at keeping himself out of trouble and, when it comes to it, I suspect we’ll want him positioned wherever he chooses to be rather than somewhere safe and fighting to get free.”

“He agrees with that,” Ilyan said.

We all turned to look at him with the same question on our faces. He’d been silent during most of the planning so I’d sort of forgotten he was there, and I don’t think any of us expected that he’d been doing anything of value while we spoke.

“Who agrees with what?” Doxle asked, without pausing the scalp massage he was providing.

“Holman,” Ilyan said. “He agrees that we should leave him where he is. He says he’ll be fine.”

“And how, exactly, would Holman know to answer that particular question?” Enika asked.

“Because I asked him?” Ilyan said, holding up the scroll he’d been scribbling away on.

It was my mistake that I’d assumed he was doodling little cartoon images or something. When he turned the page to us, I saw the most recent bit of three different conversation threads he’d been having.

“Who have you been messaging?” Idrina asked. If she’d posed the question in that manner to anyone else, I would have assumed she had selected ‘murder’ as the reply to the wrong answer, with Ilyan though the aggravation seemed like it was a siblings thing.

“I checked with Holman just now, but I’ve been writing to Ula and Chase for a while now,” Ilyan said, gesturing to the top two sections of the scroll, both of which were forming new words and erasing old ones as we spoke.

“Ula?” I asked, thinking the name sounded familiar.

“Yeah. You remember. We met them after you…uh,” he said with a quick glance at Enika who did not know the ‘uh’ in question.

Fortunately I did, and the ‘uh’ reminded me of who Ula was as well. Ula Zarn of House Farsail, who had the flawless beauty of a statue without being a blockhead at all. Also, possibly, the leader of the ‘Empress’s Last Guard’. Most of that was probably stuff Enika already knew, but out of respect for Ula and the other’s privacy I drew the conversation away from that detail.

“After I invaded the research quarter,” I said. “They were a help in getting us home but why message them?”

“We need contacts outside the city,” Ilyan said. “I’ve got some and I know those two do too,” he nodded at Doxle and Enika, “but those aren’t exactly a secret. We’ll need some new connections right? Ones Ironbriar and Lightstone and the rest don’t know about? Ula’s been making some suggestions and thinks she can arrange a few meetings. I’m supposed to be having dinner with one of them later tonight.”

“You should take backup,” Narla said. “Just in case.”

“Yeah. I was hoping to bring both of you,” he threw an one arm around Yarrin and one onto Narla’s shoulder. “If you wanted to join me that is?”

“Like you need to ask,” Narla said, while Yarrin just nodded.

“I will guard our Head of House then,” Idrina said and for a moment she and Narla exchanging a challenging stare before Narla gave a small nod of agreement.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I mean my job now is literally ‘get in trouble without killing anyone’.”

“Without killing anyone else unless you must,” Idrina said. 

Mellina was, for some unfathomable reason, trying to hide a smirk. “I could help with that, but the information we need is not going to steal itself.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked, genuine concern rising inside me for the thousandth time at the thought at what everyone else was tasked with doing.

“Would you like me to say I’ve seen a vision of this turning out just fine?” Mellina asked.

“Sure. I like comforting lies like that.”

“And what makes you think it would be a lie?” she asked.

“Because you’ve made it clear how and why foresight is useless, and I know you’re too smart to base your actions off it,” I said, hoping that meant she was also smart enough to be right about her evaluations without it.

“I never said it was useless, just that what is foreseen only rarely comes to pass.”

“But you haven’t had a vision about this,” I said, guessing rather than hoping that was true.

“Or I’ve had hundreds,” Mellina said. “Both are equally frustrating, let me assure you. In this case however, it isn’t prophecy but rather my own talents I‘ll be relying on.”

“And you’re sure I can’t come with you?” I asked.

“You need to be out causing trouble,” she said. “And disguising two is more difficult than one.”

“Okay. Just make sure you come back,” I  said. “All of you.”

I couldn’t get over how maddeningly worried I was over a bunch of people who’d been complete strangers to me up until a few days ago. 

Had I been that desperate for family that the moment any potential siblings, or cousins or whatever they were, showed up my heart was going to latch right onto them and not let go?

Apparently the answer was ‘yes’, but my heart remembered the pain that came with family too and was fighting against that as much as it was fighting to hold onto them. 

So I was a mess.

Nothing new there.

Turning to Idrina I asked, “Ready to go out with me?”

She gave a little blink at the question, which was a big reaction comparatively speaking, and then nodded with an “If you are.”

“Well, trouble’s not going to make itself,” I said and stood up, which seemed to be the sign people were waiting for that we could finally get to work.

Doxle and Enika were the only two who remained where they were, with Enika asking, “Oh my, the children are away. Whatever will we do to occupy our time?”

She meant it to sound flirty and suggestive, but they were going to fight. Not emotionally or verbally. Regular fighting. Like with swords and daggers. Enika had been itching to do that all day according to her body language, and Doxle seemed to be inclined to humor her from his.

I’d call them weirdos except for the part where both Narla and Idrina wanted to fight me still and, as I came to trust them more, I was sort of intrigued to find out how that would go too.

Offering my hand to Idrina, I headed out the door which would lead us back to the Academy’s grounds. The ones where we weren’t, officially, allowed to be anymore. 

It seemed like a good option for getting into the right kind of trouble, though when Idrina took my hand a spark jumped up my arm that made me wonder if I hadn’t found all the trouble I could handle already, right beside me.