Dinner is a slow-roasted joint of meat, dark crust, tender flesh that pulls cleanly from the bone. Braised root vegetables and fresh bread still warm from the oven. Rich, slightly smoky. The kind of meal that does its job quietly and well.

  Demon Lord Kaelith sets down his glass.

  [Kaelith] "We'll be departing tonight. There are matters in Eryndor that require my attention."

  Chancellor Velira nods beside him.

  [Velira] "It's been a pleasure. Truly."

  Pope Orell smiles.

  [Orell] "I'll be taking my leave tomorrow. Terravene needs more than administrative support right now, and the people there need us present, not planning from afar."

  He pauses.

  [Orell] "As it happens, Aurelia and I had a conversation yesterday. We're both heading the same direction, so it made sense to travel together."

  [Selis] "I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. Rathen won't survive another week without me."

  [Lysara] "I leave tomorrow morning as well. My assistants have already sent two messages I haven't had time to read. That's never a good sign."

  [Wright] “We’ll be departing in the morning too. After breakfast.”

  I look around the table. These people traveled from across the continent, sat through two days of negotiations, and hammered out a framework for an entirely new nation. A proper send-off seems like the least I can do.

  [Wright] "Actually, before you all go, hold on a moment."

  I pull up the Online Shopping interface and start scrolling.

  Demon Lord Kaelith and Velira are easy. I add a generous quantity of durian. For the Pope, I search aged cheeses he hasn't tried yet and add an assorted selection. For everyone else, I don't know their preferences well enough to guess at something specific, so I search gifts and scroll through options until I find something that seems right: a decorative box of assorted fine chocolates. I add four, one for each of them.

  I check out.

  My mana drains in a single pull. A large cardboard box materializes in the air beside me and drops to the floor with a solid thump. Several heads turn.

  I start unpacking.

  The durians go to the two demons. Demon Lord Kaelith looks at it the way a person looks at something they've been thinking about for a while.

  [Kaelith] "Excellent."

  [Velira] "We'll need to arrange separate transport for these."

  The assorted cheeses go to Pope Orell. He goes quiet, and stays quiet for an almost awkward amount of time before finally responding.

  [Orell] "This is entirely too generous, Wright."

  [Wright] "Consider it a travel provision."

  The chocolate boxes go out next. I set one in front of Supreme Mage Lysara, Chancellor Selis, King Alden, and Chancellor Mirelle.

  King Alden picks his up and turns it over slowly. The exterior is deep burgundy with gold lettering and an illustration of cocoa pods printed directly onto the surface.

  [Alden] "This print. How is it this precise? There's no brushwork, no grain."

  [Wright] "The printing is done by machine."

  He runs a thumb across the gold foil text, then finds the magnetic flap. The box opens with a soft snap that visibly surprises him.

  Chancellor Mirelle turns hers over, examining it at different angles.

  [Mirelle] "The color doesn't fade toward the edges. It's completely uniform."

  Supreme Mage Lysara holds hers up and examines the surface closely.

  [Lysara] "There's no texture to the image at all. It's flush with the surface."

  Chancellor Selis has already opened hers and is pressing the magnetic flap open and shut, apparently less interested in the print and more interested in whatever is making it close on its own.

  [Selis] "What's holding this shut?"

  [Wright] "Magnets."

  Her tail swishes.

  King Alden finally looks inside. Each piece of chocolate sits in its own small molded cup, arranged in neat rows, every one a different shape and finish. He tries one. Then another.

  Supreme Mage Lysara has moved on to the chocolates as well. Whatever she expected, it isn't what she gets. Her expression does something complicated and brief. She tries a second before she's finished with the first.

  King Alden laughs.

  [Alden] "I believe you've found her weakness."

  [Lysara] "I have preferences. There's a distinction."

  She takes a third.

  After dinner we say our goodbyes to the demons at the entrance hall. Demon Lord Kaelith gives a slight incline of his head that carries more weight than most people's formal bows.

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  We head back to the dining room. King Alden is still at the table, working steadily through his chocolates.

  [Alden] "Before the evening gets away, I've arranged carriages to take your group to the Crescent Moon. Mirelle has already been in contact with them and they'll be expecting you."

  [Mirelle] "Ask for Hauren when you arrive. He'll take care of everything."

  [Wright] "Thank you."

  [Alden] "Think nothing of it. Enjoy the auction."

  ---

  The carriages are waiting in the courtyard, two dark lacquered coaches with the Respera emblem on the door panels. The evening air carries the smell of the harbor, salt and something faintly resinous drifting up from the direction of the docks.

  I end up with Eldrin, Liora, and Sylphaeris. The carriage rolls out through the palace gates and begins the downward slope toward the city. Through the window, all the canal lanterns are lit, their reflections shifting in the dark water below.

  [Wright] "Sylphaeris. I've been meaning to ask you something."

  [Sylphaeris] "If it's about the wind current situation, I don't want to talk about it."

  [Wright] "It's not. It's about the otherworld crops."

  I lean back against the seat.

  [Wright] "You help manage this world with the other spirit kings and queens, right? The flow of natural energy, the seasons, all of that."

  [Sylphaeris] "That's a simplified way to put it, but yes."

  [Wright] "The crops that come from my skill. They come from a world with no magical energy at all."

  Sylphaeris goes quiet. The specific kind of quiet that means she's actually processing something rather than just waiting to respond.

  [Sylphaeris] "None at all?"

  [Wright] "None."

  She sits back and looks at the ceiling for a moment.

  [Sylphaeris] "Everything in this world is steeped in natural energy from the moment it exists. The soil holds it. The rain carries it. Even the air has it in trace amounts. Plants draw on it as naturally as they draw on light and water. It's woven into how things grow here."

  [Liora] "So what would happen to a plant that had never known it before?"

  [Sylphaeris] "That's the part I genuinely don't know. Nothing like that has ever arrived here before."

  She drums her fingers against her knee.

  [Sylphaeris] "What I can say is that natural energy isn't something that harms living things. It sustains them. Plants grow strong from it, monsters grow powerful because of it. It's the current that runs through everything. A plant drawing on it for the first time isn't in danger. The question is how it reacts and what it becomes."

  [Wright] "Could it change them? The crops?"

  [Sylphaeris] "Most likely, yes. Everything adapts when it's exposed to energy over time."

  She glances at Eldrin.

  [Sylphaeris] "The high elves are a good example. They were among the first people in this world. Over generations, their bodies adapted to it at a far greater degree than any other race. It's the reason they don't age."

  Eldrin goes still. It's subtle but visible, the slight shift of someone who has just heard something land differently than they expected.

  [Eldrin] "I... had never considered that the cause."

  [Liora] "We always understood it as a blessing of the land. Something given to us."

  [Sylphaeris] "It was, in a way. Just not by any deliberate hand. The world shaped you over time."

  The carriage rocks gently over a seam in the road. Eldrin is quiet, looking at nothing in particular. Liora has her hands folded tightly in her lap.

  [Liora] "Then is there a chance the crops could develop the same way?"

  [Sylphaeris] "In theory, perhaps. But that kind of transformation takes thousands of years. Tens of thousands. Monsters have grown stronger and stranger across countless generations, some of them reaching full sentience. That doesn't happen in a single lifetime, much less a growing season."

  She shakes her head.

  [Sylphaeris] "What's far more likely is that the crops simply thrive here in ways they never could before. Bigger yields, faster growth, richer flavor. Natural energy sustains living things. The crops will draw on it and grow."

  [Liora] "That's reassuring."

  [Sylphaeris] "Just keep them in a separate plot for the first few seasons and see what happens before you plant them alongside everything else."

  [Liora] "Already planned."

  Sylphaeris looks at her with mild surprise, then nods approvingly.

  A few minutes later the carriage slows and rolls to a stop.

  ---

  The Crescent Moon takes up an entire city block. White stone faced with deep blue tile accents, wide steps leading up to a main entrance framed by tall columns. A carved crescent moon sits above the doors, large enough to read from the far end of the plaza. People move in and out with the particular purpose of those who know exactly what they came for.

  A man in deep blue livery is waiting at the foot of the steps, hands folded.

  [Staff] "Good evening. If you'll follow me."

  Inside, the main floor is already filling. Rows of seats arranged in a curved sweep facing a raised platform at the far end. Display cases line the walls, items arranged under carefully placed lighting. The murmur of conversation layers over itself, the particular energy of a room that hasn't started yet but is ready to.

  We're led up a wide staircase and through a set of double doors at the top.

  The room is large and comfortable in a way that makes the expense obvious without announcing it. Deep sofas and chairs arranged around a wide balcony that overlooks the auction floor below. The railing is low enough to give a full, unobstructed view of everything.

  Aurelia is already there, settled in one of the chairs near the railing with a folded catalogue in her hand. She looks up when we come in.

  [Aurelia] "Good timing. I was starting to wonder."

  [Wright] "We had a long dinner."

  [Seraphina] "How long have you been here?"

  [Aurelia] "A while. Long enough to go through most of the catalogue."

  She holds it up briefly. Several items are marked.

  [Lucien] "You've already marked lots?"

  [Aurelia] "There are a few near the middle I want to look at properly when they come up. Some of the tools and artifacts listed look like they could be useful for the rebuilding effort."

  Before anyone can respond, an older man in the same deep blue livery but with silver trim at the cuffs steps forward from near the door.

  [Hauren] "Good evening. My name is Hauren. I'll be your butler for this evening."

  He gestures toward the balcony.

  [Hauren] "From here you have a full view of the floor. When a lot interests you, simply raise your hand and call your amount clearly. The auctioneers will acknowledge you from the floor. I can handle the transaction afterward for any winning bids and have the item delivered."

  He pauses.

  [Hauren] "I can also arrange food and drink throughout the evening. If you have questions about any lot, I have access to the full consignor notes."

  He has barely finished before Vesper speaks up from where she's already settled into the largest sofa.

  [Vesper] "What kind of food do you have? I'd like to see the options before things get started."

  Eldrin looks at her.

  [Eldrin] "We had dinner less than an hour ago."

  [Vesper] "I know. I was there."

  She doesn't look up from the catalogue she's already picked up from the side table.

  [Vesper] "Walking all day and sitting through a full meal doesn't mean I'm not hungry now."

  Seraphina has drifted toward Hauren and is looking at whatever list he's produced with focused attention.

  [Seraphina] "The Selenith vintage. Northern slopes, three years past. Do you have that?"

  [Hauren] "We do."

  [Seraphina] "Two bottles to start."

  From the floor below, a clear bell sounds.

  The auction is about to begin.