Irwyn carefully, painstakingly altered his flesh. The surface of his skin parted before a scalpel of Starfire, sculpting it into another form. The pain was intense but he grit his teeth and continued. One long incision, ranging across half his thigh and bleeding messily. But when he removed the knife it was not because he could no longer continue but because he chose to stop. And that was wonderful progress. Only the third time he had managed that but there would be more. He could feel his improvements after every session undergone.

  Taking a deep breath, Irwyn relaxed, the suddenly much more distinct pain making him hold back a grunt. The wound was not deep but it still ached, especially once his mind was not wholly focused on a task in front of it. That was something to work on. When he eventually carved the Concept he would likely need to cut far deeper than just the skin which would entail proper agony. But it was progress all the same.

  He applied the ointment which made the flesh quickly knit itself back into place, then looked across from him. There, Elizabeth was making her own attempts at the same thing far more clumsily. Her own wound was shorter and far more jagged, irregular. Irwyn was not quite sure whether she genuinely thought it would be a useful skill to acquire or if it was just a show of solidarity. Either way much of their time dedicated to practice had lately been consumed by the unpleasant exercise. To convince oneself beyond doubt that those cuts were not self-harm but rather alternation - a means to a greater end – was not easy.

  Elizabeth had much better discipline when it came to the pain. That was wholy offset by the simple fact that she would still cut herself even when failing in the mental exercise. Irwyn could not be harmed by his magic even if he tried - hence the entire point of the mental gymnastics - but Elizabeth was merely highly resistant to her own. That made the entire thing much more unpleasant for her because there was not a good way to tell success from failure before magic genuinely met flesh. And both cases would hurt.

  “I think this might be enough for me today,” she sighed a few minutes later, also relaxing. Unlike Irwyn she did not even let a trace of pain cross her face before or while she applied the ointment.

  “Don’t let me keep you,” Irwyn nodded. “Still a long way to go before I can do this properly.”

  “You should hurry, I am nearing my second Concept quite rapidly,” she grinned.

  “Already?” Irwyn questioned with some surprise. Ten days had passed since they went to the mall with the principal and major. That meant less than a fortnight since she had claimed the first. Far too quick even compared to intentions.

  “I told you conception will be quick for us,” she nodded. “The main limitation is whether the Vessel and Soul can bear another carving. With the stimulation of one Concept, mine are both improving rapidly. Not to mention the burst of empowerment that follows each carving. I might hypothetically already be over the minimal requirements.”

  “So are we expecting to be done with Conception in half a year?” Irwyn pondered.

  “Things will slow down for me at some point, I expect around the fifth,” Elizabeth shrugged. “Which is why all the mergers I plan will be done early.”

  “I really better hurry then, lest I be left in the dust,” he eagerly nodded, preparing to delve into that twisted mindset again.

  “Or my shadow.”

  “I thought that would be me?” Waylan interrupted, having at some point barged into the room.

  “More like a shade, really,” she shot him a grin.

  “What is the difference?” Irwyn immediately latched on.

  “Well…”

  “While I am sure it would be only mildly boring,” Waylan interrupted. “Something is up.”

  “What?” Irwyn asked.

  “The sky,” Waylan deadpanned. When they both gave him very unimpressed looks he rolled his eyes back at them and actually explained. “Our liar-son…”

  “Liaison,” Irwyn hopelessly corrected.

  “Li-ar-son…” Waylan intoned with spite “...found some more.”

  “I was losing hope,” Elizabeth nodded. They had certainly gotten Alice2 running all around the place looking into things. Mostly the founder. Though it had been four days since she had run into something worth mentioning. “What did she stumble onto.”

  “She can explain herself,” Waylan shrugged. “Come on.”

  They quickly left the apartment to the front door where both Alices were already waiting, ready to head out. Irwyn wasn’t sure what exactly their Time mage had been doing, besides probably also practicing, but she had somehow caught a wind of what was happening first.

  “So?” Elizabeth inquired.

  “You wanted stuff personally made by the founder, right?” Alice-not-original reiterated.

  “Did you find something genuine this time?” Irwyn nodded. The past few items in their museums were of… dubious authenticity. Two hundred years was a long time for even important items to be properly preserved. So far anything they had run into were either replicas or lacked any details the mages could glean something from.

  “Well, I ran out of museums so I thought ‘maybe there was a book left behind or something’,” she nodded. “I didn’t actually find one. But a librarian I asked remembered that one of the statues of the founder at the central square was supposedly carved by the man himself! Apparently, she had read about it in an old annal. It took me a while to figure out which one it is, but I think I have it.”

  Which meant, unfortunately, walking. They did not have a car and just flying over on Irwyn’s platforms would likely not go over well with the local customs... or law enforcement – technically not explicitly illegal did not always work as an excuse. And walking was infuriatingly slow. The thirty minutes they spend on it even with a fast pace, Irwyn could have used getting more practice with altering his flesh.

  At least the central square was pleasant to look at. Paved open ground, sprawling over an area where two dozen buildings would fit. There was something to the spectacle of lone trees and statues sprinkled around the place at regular intervals. Some of the statues were mourning monuments dedicated to soldiers from wars long gone. Some depicted great generals and leaders. But at least half were dedicated to the founder. And once they reached the first one on their way, Irwyn finally had a face he could put to those legends.

  The man was quite literally carved from marble, perfect sharp chin and heroic bodily proportions only marred by battle scars and some nicks of time. He was depicted as holding a torch high above his head, lighting the way. Upon glimpsing the plaque, it also became apparent that the depiction was merely 50 years old, over a century younger than the man’s last sighting. Perhaps not the most reliable depiction. Any notion of exact appearance was further dashed when the next statue of the man presented a drastically different appearance. Not just in posture and stature but also in facial features. If both were not literally called a variation of ‘statue of the founder’ Irwyn would have doubted the two were even of the same person.

  “We are looking for one with a big strange tree in the background, somewhere around the center,” their guide informed them. “That is what I read in the book.”

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  And so, they went looking, passing along many more images of the Republic’s father. In some he was a fierce warrior, tearing apart a crown with his bare hands. In others he was a thin scholar, holding anything from scrolls to intricate mechanical devices Irwyn did not understand. Some were more abstract, like the one where the man was strangling himself with an extraordinarily serious face and a dagger in the stomach - the exact meaning of that had probably been lost in the 140 years after it had been carved.

  When finally they reached the statue they were after, it was sculpted from seemingly simple gray stone. It depicted a much humbler-looking man, leaning forward with an outstretched hand. Soft but ordinary features and robes that certainly reminded Irwyn of mages, even if the stone betrayed no color. Behind him, as if in the distance, stood a strange tree indeed. For one, it had three trunks, half merged half separate, growing in different directions but twisting around. Their branches also seemed to be unrealistically long and often bent at unnatural angles, tracing strange trajectories in their growth. Weirder yet, the branches would also occasionally merge before separating into two again. Irwyn suspected that was no artistic shortcut.

  Ultimately, the great tree formed something close to a semicircle behind the founder… almost shielding him from behind. Irwyn got a distinct impression it was protective which he thought might have been part of an enchantment. He certainly had no logical reason for that undeniable gut feeling. Because it was also tangibly magical. Irwyn could feel the enchantment, even as subtle as it was. Thin but distinct power was coursing through the stone… After over 200 years. In spite of Finity. Whatever magic had been woven still worked. And he was not the only one to realize it.

  “At least Truth, I think,” Alice guessed. “Or close. The Time here is still… blindingly firm. Those are not easy enchantments to make last without maintenance.”

  “We already suspected as much,” Elizabeth said, still staring at the statue itself. She began to breathe in as if to continue, then glanced at their liaison who was not very subtly listening with great interest. No doubt anything they said would return to her higher-ups. Therefore, the heiress reconsidered. “This is likely the most faithful depiction of the man’s actual appearance. Still no name.”

  And none recorded anywhere they had looked. Strange. Stranger still that no one from the Republic found it unusual, including Alice2. It was as if a mental block, an inability to even perceive how weird it was to not have a single public record of the name to the one whose memory they treated like a god. Irwyn moved to investigate the foot of the statue, which was quite intricate. It was hoisted upon an ornamental stone carved with a variety of seemingly random but pleasant-to-look-at lines. Nothing near any marks that could be used in enchanting or wizardry as far as Irwyn could tell and the other two mages seemed to be of the same mind. But there was probably a pattern in there somewhere, Irwyn just had no idea where.

  They spent a few more minutes around the statue before they decided to leave. Their informant received plentiful praise for finding the piece in the puzzle and thus seemed quite pleased even though they seemingly hadn’t found much. Nothing which was spoken out loud, at least. That of course changed once they were back at the apartment, nestled within a black bubble of privacy.

  “I recognized that tree,” Elizabeth said, voice thoughtful. “There is only one such great sapling in this Realm as far as I know. The offspring sprout of the Tree of Change, the living monument overlooking and guarding Strom - the capital of the Duchy of Green.”

  Therefore, they would have to sneak out for a second look, probably after dark to avoid being followed. There was more to that statue, of that Irwyn was increasingly sure. A long-lasting enchantment like that would be there for more than just to preserve a self… portrait? Did that apply to sculptures? Irwyn shook his head, getting his thoughts back on track. Either way, an initial suggestion of not dallying and going that very night was quickly shut down.

  “Which is exactly what they expect us to do,” Waylan pointed out. “Not yet. Wait two days, at least. That major wasn’t stupid.”

  “I agree,” Irwyn nodded. Their liaison was in fact in the middle of slowly reporting what had been said. As she had been for… the past 15 minutes. Telegraph was taking a while when she had to relay exact sentences they had spoke and add precise details. “We can also make some arrangements so that it’s harder to notice we are not home when we actually do go.”

  “Two days then, that place hides the missing pieces I expect,” Elizabeth stated confidently. “Depicting one of the Federation’s most distinctive landmarks is not the step of someone wanting to be subtle. More like a message to fellow countrymen, far from home. I think the odds are that there will not even be traps within.”

  “Last time we played your odds we ran into a…” Waylan said, paused, and frowned. “Into a…”

  A fae. Everyone knew what he was referring too. It had not been that long ago, which was the point of the jab. They had all been there. But Waylan could not speak the words, like a secret being enforced.

  Because the sisters of life held onto their secrets somewhat jealously. They bound those who had dealt with them so that none could be revealed to those uninitiated… which they all were. But if everyone present was exempt from that yet those words could still not be spoken?

  “Shit,” Alice summarized, coming to the same realization as the rest of them.

  Someone else was listening.

  “How?” Elizabeth was seemingly taken by genuine shock. They were still in her bubble of privacy. The Void shielded them, empowered by a concept. No one outside of it should be able to peer through, especially not without being noticed.

  “Do they somehow have powerful mages?” Irwyn tried to deduce, but no, doing it so subtly would likely require at least a Domain mage. Elizabeth was competent and well-practiced in that kind of concealment. “Perhaps some form of advanced wizardry?”

  “It is still fundamentally magic,” Elizabeth shook her head. “And not one wielded too skillfully. Even if they used another Mark, we would have at the very least noticed it.”

  “What else then?” Irwyn was trying to think of other possibilities and coming off blank. Was there truly a domain mage hiding somewhere? But how? Perhaps a god? A call upon a Name aligned with Stealth and subtly stealing secrets?

  “Maybe… this,” Alice interrupted his spiraling thoughts by outstretching her palm. On it there lay a small device of some sort. A thin-ish ceramic tube with holes on both ends. Nonmagical, beyond any doubt but not much else to see. “It was hidden in the couch. Well, enough I never noticed it until now with unfocused senses.”

  “What does it do?” Irwyn asked, though had an obvious suspicion.

  “I am almost certain it records sounds in some way,” Alice confirmed. “I am not exactly sure how but the vibrations go into the holes and reflect away diminished. The inside is… something is moving in there, but not vibrations. Possibly writing down the sounds somehow? I know that is possible even though I never learned it myself. I don’t have fine enough perception to feel the within exactly, the moving pieces are too small.”

  “Damn it,” Elizabeth cursed. “This was not the first one.”

  “This entire time, someone has been listening,” Irwyn summarized with a sinking feeling.

  “We need to assume that every conversation we ever had in this room had been heard,” Elizabeth slowly nodded. She put on a calm facade but she was angry… and humiliated. Irwyn could not help but feel the same way. They had been arrogantly talking all that while, overconfident in their privacy. Dismissive of the locals.

  But the people of the Republic were not stupid, even if they lacked the wondrous magic of the Federation. Irwyn had to remember that, even though it should have been obvious. This was a nation like any other, it would have bright minds. Just because they were not mages did not mean they could not outmaneuver and trick them when given the chance.

  “I think it needs to be physically picked up before someone can listen to it,” Alice said, still holding the device. “Not a clue how to do that though.”

  “Can you erase what it has heard today then?” Elizabeth asked hopefully.

  “Not in a way that will not be noticed,” she shook her head. “The best I could do is shred the recording from within so that it isn’t immediately obvious until someone tries to extract it.”

  “This is troublesome,” Elizabeth understated, clearly unsure of what to do for once.

  “Optimistic,” Waylan half sneered but most of his face remained serious. Meanwhile, Irwyn was trying to think back on every conversation they have had in supposed privacy… and struggling to do so. He had not distinguished them in his head at the time so dialogues kind of melded together. But the Republic had certainly gotten more than one tidbit they had not been meant to know.

  “I suppose we are not going to visit the statue again, are we?” Alice sighed. “When they find out we found out, they will get warry. Probably ramp up other kinds of surveillance.”

  “Maybe but we could stall,” Irwyn realized. “Someone needs to secretly take it from this room. So, as long as we are always here to prevent that, they will have to wait. And if we destroy what was overheard today, they will not know what we have realized about the statue even when the fa?ade falls off.”

  “And depending on what we find, we might have more bargaining power,” Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully. “Since our relationship with the major will likely change again after this.”

  “Or we dip,” Waylan suggested, getting a few glares.

  “The undead are still a problem here,” Irwyn pointed out. “We cannot just leave whatever caused those blue flames to fester.”

  “Not in the city right now, are they?” the sneak shrugged. “You can go hunting for them elsewhere. Might even be the right call.”

  “We can decide then,” Elizabeth interrupted the argument. “Let’s hope whatever the statue is hiding ends up worth all this trouble.”

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