Standing on the top of the cloud, half of his body still wrapped in bandages, was Eithan.
“Stand proud, new acolytes of the Twin Star Sect!” Eithan cried. He sounded more energetic than anyone so injured should be. “We have chosen you to receive training from the best of the best, so that you may reach heights undreamt of!”
The crowd applauded, and the new recruits looked smug, but Lindon was starting to wonder if this was all some elaborate prank on Eithan’s part.
He activated the Soul Cloak for just a moment, kicking off and soaring over the crowd. When he landed next to Eithan, the Archlord swept a very stiff bow to the people down below.
“Now I must bid you farewell, as the time has come for me to confer with our founder and Patriarch: the Sage of Twin Stars!”
Eithan ushered Lindon toward Lindon’s own home as the crowd cheered below.
“What?” Lindon asked.
“I feel like you’ve already pieced it together accurately,” Eithan said. He sagged down onto his personal Thousand-Mile Cloud, groaning as he did. He made a gesture as though to brush hair away from his face, but grimaced as he found his hair short.
“You created a sect in my name.”
“That I did. It was something of a bluff, but you know how it is. Sometimes these things get away from you.”
“I don’t know how to lead a sect!”
“I, of course, considered that you might feel that way. Not a problem at all. I would just like to borrow your image as a figurehead. That might work even better, in its own way; you could be the enigmatic mysterious expert backing our operations from the shadows.”
Lindon gave Eithan a sidelong glance, but the man looked perfectly sincere.
“Apologies, but I thought you would try to trick me into doing it.”
“Lindon! Lindon. Lindon. How dare you say something so hurtful and yet so accurate.”
Lindon continued staring at him, and Eithan’s usual smile faded a bit. “Believe it or not, I had intended to consult you first. I had a plan for a grand reveal and everything. You do like tiger meat, don’t you? Anyway, events got ahead of me, and I had to work quickly to bail out of a complicated situation. I do apologize.”
Lindon shook his head. “No need.”
“What?”
“This is perfect.” Lindon’s mind was whirling. “We had to keep borrowing the name of House Arelius or the Akura clan, but now we can act on our own. You know what we can do with an organization behind us? Besides…” He winced as his enthusiasm was too much for his fractured Remnant arm. “You taught me my cycling technique and guided me in my pure madra techniques. You have more right to the Path of Twin Stars than anyone but me. And Dross.”
Eithan looked from his own bandages to Lindon’s sling. “If I hugged you right now, would that put an awkward strain on our relationship?”
“It would certainly strain our injuries.”
“Then just know that I embrace you in spirit.” Eithan settled down on his cloud. “As you can imagine, many of the people around here no longer have anywhere to belong. And no one in several hundred miles has ever had a real sacred arts education. We need teachers, and refiners, and more resources…but most of all, we need somewhere to settle that doesn’t have the word ‘desolate’ in its name. Or Dreadgods lurking nearby.”
“I assume we’ll use whatever portal you brought Windfall through.” That hadn’t even struck Lindon as odd. When he’d seen the cloud fortress appear out of nowhere, Eithan’s presence had been the only explanation Lindon needed. Clearly, Eithan had set up some kind of transportation between here and Moongrave, or had bartered with the Monarch.
Eithan became interested in his own fingernails. “As…eager as I am to claim credit for that, it actually crawled out of a shadow without warning or explanation. I begin to wonder if Malice has some kind of grudge against me.”
“Why? Sending the fortress back was a favor.”
“It was my shadow that it popped out of.”
Presumably Lindon’s family had been aboard; he could sense them nearby. Not that their presence was entirely a relief. They would have been perfectly safe in Moongrave.
“They should have room for us in the Blackflame Empire,” Lindon said. “Naru Saeya suggested the Emperor was very pleased with us.”
Eithan sighed. “Yes, it does, and just between you and me and any Monarchs that happen to be eavesdropping on us, I suspect they’ll be sending some cloudships for us soon. They won’t have missed a Dreadgod’s rampage, and they know we were involved. Naru Huan has an opportunity. But we would be the most powerful beings in the Empire by a huge margin. Our presence could change the entire landscape of the nation, not to mention their relationship with the Akura clan.”