Xiu raised one of her barely visible brows with dry intrigue. “Imagine that. One thief vouching for another. Fine. We’ll make a concession, as long as we receive a proportionate payment. I propose, based on the collective voices I’m hearing from our group, that an arbiter travels to the Immortal Plane with the lower beings and Ruk. This arbiter will serve as a companion, while ensuring that this group does not break the Mandate. And if Ruk is going to make his grand journey to the Immortal Plane yet again, I insist that we send someone powerful and impartial enough that he can’t slip away.” So, they wanted to send a babysitter with us, essentially? I watched a few bodies perk up at the chance to visit the lower planes, mainly Pik and Sen. Maybe the Mandate was less popular than I thought, or maybe its appeal had worn off over the centuries.
“I could go,” Un offered immediately. “It could count toward my payment for my crime.” He’s always the sharp, enterprising being who wants to capitalize on every opportunity. Dorian gave me a wary look, and I stifled an incredulous laugh. With Un following us around, I doubted we would get any work done.
“You’re far from impartial,” Xiu countered. “And, no offense, but I need someone who has bested Ruk before. We don’t want to break the Mandate of Secrecy. Our secrets must be safeguarded by someone who is both open to lower beings but ultimately far too protective of the Higher Plane to allow their judgment to be clouded. I don’t want this companion getting involved in any battles that could sway the natural order more than we’re allowing with the necklaces and Ruk’s powers.”
I frowned, not following her logic. “It would make the job a lot easier, though.”
“The restriction is ideological and practical,” she assured me. “We don’t want to spend energy that we might need to fix the tear. We risk throwing ourselves out of balance by getting involved. Un is ineligible, and I must recuse myself, since I have clearly grown emotionally invested in this subject. I support the group’s decision to keep me at a distance. It is a wise one.”
This is her idea of emotionally invested?
Relief flooded me that Un was off the list, but I was disappointed that Xiu couldn’t accompany us. She was clearly a natural leader with an open mind, even with that arbiter logic holding her back. Who would they send? I glanced at a few arbiter humanoids I didn’t recognize, and their blank stares said that they weren’t about to volunteer. After Xiu said she wasn’t good enough to go, it seemed like a few minds had changed. So, nobody wants to head into the dangerous place that they purposefully cut themselves off from thousands of years ago. Fair enough.
“I can go,” Sen offered brightly. “I have a purely scholarly interest in the quest, the tear, and the lower planes. I can bring back further information for like-minded researchers, like Pik. Who knows what we’ll make with all this new information?” The corner of her mouth turned up, and her eyes sparkled. “And I will remind everyone that I have bested Ruk before.”
A muttering of positive agreements erupted.
“Really?” I asked Ruk, with an amused smirk. “You failed to mention that.”
“Of course he did.” Sen squared her shoulders. Her sea-green skin looked garish against Un’s color scheme, but she was striking in her own right. “Do you remember the tournaments we had before the Games? The Inventions?”
Ruk rolled his eyes in the most human gesture I’d ever seen him make, leaning back in his chair with a huff. Dorian and I shot each other surprised looks.
“I would argue that our dear Debt Keeper’s judgment was fallible, during that particular event.” He caught my eye. “Look, we used to make proxies and all sorts of things for research purposes and then submit them for judgment, before we eventually thought to put them in the Games to fight one another.”
I dropped my voice into a whisper of disbelief. “She beat you… in like, a science fair?” And everyone remembered this, thousands of years later? I felt a brief pang of sympathy for Ruk and his desire to escape the Higher Plane. Living here must have been like living in the worst kind of small town, but for eternity.
Ruk glared. “Only once, and I don’t want to talk about it.” He shrugged. “But, fine, I accept Sen’s nomination. She is agreeable, if a tad annoying with her dreamy tone.” Although he sounded irritated, I had to say his reaction soothed me more than worried me.
“Perhaps Xiu will erase the memories of the loss for you, if it’s so humiliating,” Sen said, gloating.
Her teasing made me freeze for a minute. Wait a minute. If the arbiters had the ability to erase memories, why had they been so stubborn about letting us leave in the first place? Couldn’t they have just enforced the Mandate of Secrecy by using this power? I kept my mouth shut, watching Ruk and Sen trade barbs back and forth while Xiu waited patiently for them to finish. I worried that if I asked, the arbiters might get a worse idea about memory erasure… or perhaps they were already planning on it.
They might try to erase all of our memories of the Higher Plane, once this was over.
“Everyone, send in your verdicts on Sen’s nomination,” Xiu said simply. We waited a beat. “It is decided. Sen shall accompany you to the lower planes. She has been judged capable and impartial enough to serve in this capacity.”
Sen brought her hands together with the restrained excitement of an arbiter. “Excellent.”
“On to the next order of business.” Xiu studied Dorian and me. “We will look into the lower planes in order to help you determine the best plan to attack the Immortal Council. Now, where exactly do you suggest that we look in the Immortal Plane?”
Everything had happened so fast, from the arbiters’ decision to separate Dorian and me, to the possibility of taking our memories of the Higher Plane entirely. The feelings I was fighting so hard to process needed to be set aside for the moment. Life had handed me its cards. Now, I had to play them.
3
Lyra
The prospect of seeing into the Immortal Plane emboldened me. Finally. Zach’s agonized face on the window from the Games haunted the back of my mind as Un led us to a private laboratory.
Our numbers had thinned. Only the strongest and most interested arbiters joined us. Most were content to return to their estates until summoned to deal with the vortex tear. I surveyed the remaining arbiters. Xiu, Sen, Pik, Un, Krysh, the one known as Fiz, and a few whose names I hadn’t caught. Most were in human forms, save two who floated as balls of green and red light, respectively.
“This should do,” Un said as he threw open the double doors. He was being helpful, even if he wore a begrudging scowl. Black stones, matching the outside of his estate, formed a large rectangular room. A small window overlooked his manicured gardens, which Dorian and I had snuck through on our failed attempt to rescue Aurora. Silver tables and shelves lined the walls, save for one. It was blank, the perfect canvas for the arbiters to cast an image onto. My pulse raced with anticipation. I ventured a glance at Dorian, who stared restlessly around the room. We were finally going to see what was happening down in the lower planes. There was no question of being ready. We had to be.
The arbiters gathered around the blank wall, forming a semicircle. A white cloud bloomed upward over the black bricks until it extended to the floor and ceiling. Sparks of energy crackled off the collaborative work. Ruk had barely held his image with us, and the arbiters didn’t have much energy to spare if they wanted to fix their own problems in the Higher Plane.