Awakening the Lightforged

The tunnels of the Nightstone base grew more foreboding the deeper Estingai and her companions ventured. No cloth hung on the walls to dampen the echoes of their footsteps, and no light illuminated their path save the small electric torches they carried.

With the way so lonely and empty, Estingai had to grit her teeth to keep her paranoia at bay. As it was, she nearly flinched every time someone moved the light of their torch, making the shadows jump. It had alerted them to a few tripwires the Nightstone guards had set, however, which they carefully disarmed.

"So," Kozasana whispered, stepping up beside Estingai, "you going to apologize for being so harsh on them earlier?"

Estingai winced. The smooth stone of the tunnels carried and amplified even the faintest sounds.

She wanted to snap at Kozasana. Instead, she sighed.

"I let my exhaustion get the best of me," she admitted.

Kozasana nodded, and they walked in silence for a while before Estingai's friend spoke again, "How do you think we should handle the meeting?"

Estingai looked at her friend, then shrugged. "We should just leave that to Aari. He's more skilled in that sort of thing."

Kozasana shrugged. "True, but then why did you come along?"

Estingai had no answer for her. That she'd needed to get out of the base, away from Uuchantuu and Koruuksi, away from her room that was so unbearably empty, didn't seem like a response Kozasana would accept.

"You know what you mean to everyone, Estingai, even those in the other factions.”

Estingai winced, but Kozasana kept going.

"You have to accept that at some point. Your name—what you are—carries weight whether you like it or not."

Estingai had nothing to say to that. She didn't trust herself to speak. Partially because she was afraid she would bite Kozasana's head off. And because she was afraid it would be her voice that caused some sort of unseen trap to be sprung.

She kept her fists clenched. Every darkened doorway or twisting corridor made her throat tighten and her heart pound a bit harder.

Drawing a deep breath, Estingai tried again to think of something that had been bothering her the past week.

How did the Imaia know?

No one else seemed interested in that. Not Marjatla, not Koruuksi, not Kozasana.

The only explanation was that someone had betrayed them. But was it one of the faction heads, or someone they were close to? Someone that manipulated them into needing to share something like that, the way she and Svemakuu had told Koruuksi and Uuchantuu?

Or what if it was one of the aides like Marjatla? One of those who stood to take over the faction in their leader's stead?

Estingai didn't even know where to begin searching for clues like that. Intelligence work had always been Phantom's job before he'd abandoned them with Nevisi and Kweshrima and the rest of the Knights. Her faction shared his name for its expertise in intelligence and infiltration, but Phantom had always been on an entirely different level than everyone else. She could acknowledge that much, no matter how she despised the man.

"Estingai?"

Estingai blinked and reflexively shushed Kozasana, who threw her a flat look.

Right, she asked me something.

With a sigh, Estingai took off her helmet. She held it rather than hanging it at her waist. It gave her hands something to do.

"What was that?"

Kozasana shot her a wry grin and moved a bit closer. "I asked about the meeting. I know you told us on the way over what it was and why there was so much secrecy around it, but… Is there anything else I should know? That Frozen Phantom should know?"

Estingai frowned and raised the brightness of her blacknodes. The Auroramantic signatures had grown stronger, and she could sense that she and her companions were headed toward them—down and to the left—but there was only so far her blacknodes could guide her in tunnels that twisted and turned and wound around each other.

They hushed those of their team who made noises as they walked, and Estingai sighed when she saw the other four huddled together as they trailed her and Kozasana.

She quietly ordered them to fan out and check corners and peek down corridors they passed. They didn’t want to trip any of Nightstone’s defenses.

After a while, Estingai raised a hand to halt the others and brightened her orangenodes once more. She had to force the Deathknight’s visage from her mind again, and her pulse spiked, but she did it. Again, she saw people heading deeper into the tunnels, taking down cloth dampening patches and sconces and light posts, cleaning up litter as they went. There were more people this time, their steps were hurried, but not frantic.

This was an orderly drill. Just like the ones we run.

When Estingai dimmed her orangenodes back to their resting brightness, she found she had only about half the Auroralight left in that pair. She frowned. Orangenodes rarely proved useful in a combat situation, but that was still Auroralight she could direct to her other abilities if needed.

Only three or four more uses before I deplete them entirely.

Estingai raised a hand again, and her group continued on in silence save for their echoing footsteps.

Every deviation in sound, every breath that was loud enough to echo on the stone walls set Estingai on edge. She tried to distract herself from that by looking at the tunnel walls and thinking about how they were carved and what they would have been long ago. Had these merely been the result of ancient mining? Or had someone lived in them to beat the heat, then discovered the valuable minerals?

That was Samjati thinking. Most Natari loved being out in the sun. It seemed to energize them like a dip in a cold river energized Estingai.

A tap on Estingai's arm nearly made her jump. Her heart pounded as it was, and she tried not to glare at Kozasana.

"Sorry."

Apparently I didn't try hard enough.

"What is it?"

"What are we going to do when we get there?" she asked. "Before the meeting. They're going to be armed and expecting intruders. Not an… envoy, or whatever Aari's official title is."

Estingai frowned, but she saw Kozasana's point. In a Nightstone guard's situation, she would attack first and ask questions later.

"I'll go in first," she sighed. "I'll just need the rest of you to support me."

"And if they attack you?"

Estingai rolled her eyes. "I'll give them a signal only the leadership knows. Marjatla and Aaden know it. So do Koruuksi and Uuchantuu, so someone left behind should recognize it and tell their guards not to kill me."

"And once that happens?"

Estingai frowned, then stopped and looked over her shoulder toward Aari.

He met her gaze and cocked his head, the light of his torch just below her chin.

"Mylora said something about needing more emerald biogems during the meeting. We should lead with that since we can offer intelligence about Imaia shipments carrying those."

Aari nodded. "Yes, Estingai. Anything else?"

Estingai thought for a moment. "If we can get Ironpeak and Last Shadow to ally with us, we should be able relocate most people in this base so that they don't have to take as many security precautions or have so many so close to Imaia territory."

Aari wobbled his head this time. "Thank you, Estingai. I can definitely work with that."

Estingai found herself smiling as she looked forward and started walking again. That felt… good. It made her feel useful.

"How much farther?"

Estingai shrugged at Kozasana’s question. "I think we're about halfway. Hard to tell since it's not a straight line, though.”

"Are we going to talk about your fight with Koruuksi and Marjatla?"

Estingai frowned and quickened her pace. "I'd rather not."

"Even though it's something you need to talk with someone about?"

"Yes," Estingai growled. The sound that made when it echoed through the tunnel sent shivers down her spine.

Kozasana was silent for a while as they continued forward, but it didn't help Estingai relax.

"What are you going to do after this?" her friend asked.

Estingai didn't say anything.

Kozasana moved closer, lowering her voice to the point that Estingai nearly had to brighten her clearnodes to hear.

"I know you've been pulling extra shifts, not sleeping. You can't just keep going like this until you fall over. I know you've had your greynodes brightened at a low level the past few days just to keep going."

Estingai stopped, realizing Kozasana was right. She had her greynodes on a low brightness, just above their resting levels. Hers didn't grant the strength Koruuksi's did, but they helped her move quicker and aided her balance. With them this low, it should have been barely noticeable.

Unless I have someone worried enough to pay that close attention to me.

She knew better than to push herself this way, but found it hard to care lately.

Estingai sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. She brightened her orangenodes for just a moment to cover her pause, and saw more people this time, moving slower, some more orderly than others. That made sense. They'd passed a number of other tunnels that branched off from this one.

"We keep going this way," Estingai said, starting forward again. She didn’t dim her greynodes.

"You can't just keep going like this or fade into the background, Estingai," Kozasana prodded. "Like it or not, you're the best chance we have at getting out of this."

Estingai took a deep breath. Clearly her friend wouldn't be satisfied until Estingai gave her an actual answer.

She thought for a moment, feeling a bit less claustrophobic as the tunnel opened up and signs of habitation started appearing. Doorframes and hung cloth over tunnel openings and walls, shelves and benches carved into the walls or raised out of the ground.

"I know," Estingai said. "I just… need time. I know I shouldn't have left things that way with Koruuksi and Uuchantuu and Marjatla. I—"

She cut off as Kozasana put a hand on her shoulder. "I know. You're not the only one who lost people."

Estingai met her gaze. Even in the dim lighting provided by their torches, she could see the pain in her friend's golden-brown eyes.

"I didn't know Raima as well as you did," Kozasana said, "but she was a good leader. Fair. Someone who gave us direction and held us together when we needed her. As for Svemakuu…"

She grinned, and Estingai's chest grew tight.

"He was my friend, too. I know it's not the same. I don't think I've known many couples—even my own parents—who had what you two did. It still hurts, though. Losing him. He would always come by after we went on an assignment to play a game or cook and somehow make something tasty out of the rations. Even if he hadn’t gone with us, he always came to talk. We knew he was checking up on us, but he never made it seem like that. He just managed to make us feel better.” Kozasana sighed. “It never gets easier—seeing your friends die. The pain never fades into the background like you wish it would."

Estingai swallowed a lump in her throat. She was about to agree with her friend when she realized something. Meeting Kozasana's gaze once more, Estingai saw that her friend really was hurting as bad as she was. More than that. She—

She's hurt that I wouldn't talk to her about it. Just like it would hurt Svemakuu when I kept things to myself instead of letting him share my burden.

A flash of anger twisted Estingai's stomach. A part of her hated that about other people. Hated that they wouldn't just let her keep things inside where they belonged.

She reminded herself, though, that she'd never felt more at peace in her life than when she'd had someone to share things with.

Vittuu Svemakuu. He gets me to open up, then leaves me without anyone to do that with.

Estingai started to say something to Kozasana—to let her know it wasn't an issue between them, that it was just how she was—when she noticed the woman had stopped.

Estingai tensed, shining her torch before her, then relaxed as metal glinted under the electric light.

A massive metal door with a thick frame outlined the entrance to a cavern before them. It was shut, but Estingai recognized it by its size and reinforced design. These doors were one of the few things the factions had shared with one another. A safeguard to buy time if their bases were ever discovered.

Estingai looked to Kozasana, who nodded, then back to the door, taking a deep breath. She concentrated on the signature her Auroramantic sense picked up. It was strong behind the door.

They were here.