The first thing that occurred to Shinsou, as he listened to his companions and noted the subtle rebukes against his little monologue, was the urgency in their tones. He felt that they had somewhat missed his point. Whilst killing Lye was high up on his list of priorities, it would have been careless to not have first thought about the bigger picture. It hadn’t escaped the Telgradian that the outcome would affect Althanian causality in ways that perhaps hadn’t sunk in with the other members of their hunting party. Of the three, only he and the Brotherhood were best equipped to deal with the aftermath; only Shinsou understood the scale of the power vacuum that would open up once Ulroch was dead.

They don’t care for political agendas, or for understanding the wider consequences of what we’ll be doing. They’ll kill Lye, regardless of everything else. Shinsou mused, tapping a sole finger on the wood, Perhaps at one time I would have been mildly insulted by the ignorance, but on this occasion it suits. Once I’ve settled the score for Amari, I won’t have to worry about anyone else wanting a slice of the political cake. With the matriarch of the Gilded Lily here and an affiliate of house Winchester, regardless of how well aligned we are in our purposes or our relationships, it would not do to spoil over the remnants of Lye’s little empire.

Shinsou’s train of thought was interrupted by his friend, the faun Philomel, sat opposite him. With the creases on her forehead multiplying with every moment that the Telgradian sat thinking, the huffing from her lungs becoming harsh, Shinsou could have been forgiven for thinking his friend was becoming impatient. Lillith seemed equally eager to hear what the Brotherhood’s leader had to say, but simply sat and stared at him.

“I concur with the plan. We’ll use the festival as cover, find a Geiko to send to Lye as a ‘gift’ from Akashima and sail from Yanbo harbour as soon as time allows. Lillith; I have a question,” Osiris started, brushing a hand through the locks of his smooth chestnut hair, “You teleported here, presumably from quite a distance? What prevents you from teleporting us to the Seventh Sanctum, exactly? That would be much easier.”

Lillith rolled her eyes, as if the question was moot.

“Don’t you think I would have if I could? I can only take us to places the troupe have been.”

“Fair enough,” Shinsou nodded, a hand in his chin, “then can you get us to Akashima?”

“Easily.” Her response was dry and concise.

“Good,” The Telgradian smiled, pushing back from the table, “Then we have an accord. Let’s give ourselves thirty minutes to gather anything we may need, get Delath, Veridian and Mao fed, go for a piss and get something quick to eat ourselves. We have a long night’s work ahead of us.”

This sudden shift from the earlier rhetoric to a rise to action seemed to be welcomed by the faun and Lillith, who both nodded their agreeance with the plan of action and stood too.

Thirty minutes later, Lillith, Philomel van Der Aart and Shinsou stood together once more, this time in Whitevale’s town square. Although the sky was now without even a wisp of the clouds that had smothered Corone earlier, the ground was still sopping. Puddles filled stretches of the cobblestone outside of Shinsou’s offices, soaking the guardsmen’s trousers up to the shins as they marched their rounds. A quick check was enough to ensure that their provisions were packed; carefully prepared to only consist of light and necessary goods. Veridian, Delath and Mao were now alongside their beloved Faun. Lillith adjusted her hair, looked at her two companions and without further ado clashed her bangles together.

Everything shattered into a million fragments of light.

A swirling blue mass in front of the three and their familiars hummed and whirled as the plasmatic substance it was comprised of from bent and curved to fit their slender forms. Strange tentacles of white and marine blue converged on their bodies and snatched them into the gravity well, pulling the six of them through numerous sheets of reality before finally depositing them onto terra firma.

The landscape of Akashima spun into focus slowly as Shinsou tried to negate the nauseating effects of teleportation by bouncing on his heels for a moment. He had never been here before, to this city state that sat upon the south slopes of the Comb Mountains, but was greeted by sights that would ensure he would not soon forget having visited.

One such sight was the infamous Great Crystal Spire, which lay no more than twenty feet ahead of the trio. It was too dark now to observe the true brilliance of the spire, as every evening the sun would sink below the lush green forest to the west and pour its brilliant rays into the crystal which, in turn, would illuminate the streets, but another phenomenon could be witnessed. Every now and then some sort of ethereal beings, ones that reminded Shinsou of his old friend Elthas Belthasar, seemed to commune with the pillar and used it to manifest a physical body for themselves. It was a curious practice; one that seemed commonplace and rarely turned the heads of the passing Akashimans, but enough to stick in the Telgradian’s mind.

Beyond the entrancing spire, Shinsou could see the grand palace where the Royal Family resided.

“That palace, I remember reading about it,” Osiris mused, recalling a passage from one of the Brotherhood’s old books, “It was fashioned to become a formidable fortress in times of war, but despite that it was believed to contain delicate artworks and stone masterpieces throughout its grand halls and towering walls. Lady Akashima herself was said to have a personal interest in it.”

The random tidbit of information that Shinsou vocalised drew little to no reaction from his comrades, unsurprisingly. He hadn’t looked for one, of course, but like other places on Althanas that he was visiting for the first time, the Telgradian was taking it all in.

Knowledge is power, after all.

Although music had been playing in the background for the last thirty seconds, it was only now that the chords of the violins, the steady tapping of the drums and the fanfare of Akashima’s festival truly registered with Shinsou. Sweeping aside his white greatcoat and turning his back to the spire to face the direction of the ensemble, Osiris pivoted to see a city in the throes of jubilation.

This particular celebration was in honour of Akashima’s new government and was an occasion of unrestrained joy. The costumes lit up the summer's night; a riot of colour to rival any gardener's paradise. Music filled the air, festive beats lifted the spirits and made the people want to move, jump and sing. It was a time to celebrate being alive, celebrate the new rule and be one with the community. The air tasted heavenly, with cooks and their stalls lining the parade with their stalls and wares; every delicious thing ready to be shared and consumed.

Along the road shone hundreds of lamps; illuminating with their flickering candles. The light was cast every colour by the tinted panes and Shinsou, for all of his complexities, couldn't help but be reminded of the simplest thing; candy. It was as if the lane was iced by the baker on the high-street. To add to the gaiety most children carried a lamp of their own making, their gentle puffs of steaming breath made visible by the glow, only to disappear into the inkiness. At the stroke of each hour on the old town clock would come the next wave of songs, songs of thanks to echo into the homes of the Akashimans. Tonight, even the windows of a nearby hospital would be open despite the cold, because the doctors believed the multitude of voices from young and old alike had a stronger effect on their patients than any medicine they had to offer.

Marvelling at it all, Osiris shot a glance to Philomel, who seemed equally absorbed in the atmosphere. Delath hulked quietly by her side as Veridian's eyes swept over the city, absorbing and analysing everything as he always did. Mao simply perched atop Delath. Shinsou imagined he and the faun under different circumstances, enjoying the festival together. Drinking, making merry, and anything else that followed. Caught up in this wonderful atmosphere, it was easy for one to put aside the grim task ahead of them.

It was then that Lillith sauntered beside him. Shinsou’s golden eyes regarded her with curiosity, before tearing themselves back towards the party.

“So, here we are. Over to you, Lillith Kazumi.”