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The tarp at the top of the tent was kind of yellow. It was kind of old. Those tents were solid though. Or were they? She couldn’t really remember.

“Retractors.”

Nestra lifted her hand. It was kind of bloody, or rather, there was a layer of blood covering an entire side. It looked thin. Was she bleeding? Her arm didn’t hurt. Only her head.

“I think I’m bleeding.”

“That you are,” a male voice said.

“Shouldn’t she be asleep?” a female one replied.

“I’m not an anesthetist so this is safer. Cranial trauma. Calculating angles. Keep your eyes on the camera, Weiwei!”

“There’s nothing out there, Derek. If they were coming after us...”

“Eyes on the camera.”

Nestra’s left eye was closed and she didn’t feel like moving. Something was tugging on her forehead which was a bad sign because she couldn’t feel anything there. She recognized the two people hovering around her. Derek and Weiwei, the expedition’s augs. What were they doing here? Oh, right.

“I think I’m hurt. And bleeding.”

“Yep.”

“Can’t be too bad though.”

“You have a slit in your skull, Nestra. I can see your brain matter.”

“Oh. That sounds bad.”

“Only if I zoom. We’ll get you sorted. Ok, the simulations says no piece of her skull is loose so it should make things much easier. Get me a potion, we’ll apply it locally.”

“Doesn’t it work like shit on baselines?”

“She’s pretty much a quirky. Just do it. It will work.”

Nestra let them work. She was rather confused by the whole affair. There had been a trap, and she’d gotten hurt. Shit, she should have kept her helmet on, dammit. There was more movement.

“So, how are things going?” she asked.

“You are miraculously alive, and I do mean it. Half a centimeter down and you might have not. I don’t know. I’m not a neurosurgeon.”

“We can repair brain damage nowadays,” Weiwei mentioned.

“Sure, you and what operation theater?” Serek replied with a bit of snark.

Nestra frowned.

“Wait, weren't you hurt as well?”

“It’s nothing. My body armor blocked most of it.”

“Body armor?”

Someone sponged the left side of her head free of blood, including the eye. She was still feeling woozy and a little lost, so she decided not to move too much. That sounded reasonable.

“Wait, what were we talking about?”

“We were saying you were miraculously alive after a mincer trap planted in our fucking garden activated on us. Thank fuck you pointed at it or I might have missed it. Oh, that reminds me, I need to run a diagnosis. Optics glitched for a second there. Ugh, can I afford to do it now?”

Nestra carefully turned her head. Weiwei was on the side, holding a handgun with an oversized barrel. Derek had a full-on assault rifle and he was sitting in front of a console showing a series of screens, though he wasn’t looking at them right now. His eye augs flashed in the dim light.

“If anything was going to come after us, it would have already done so,” Weiwei replied.

“You mean, anyone. Somebody wanted us dead. Or at least, one of us. They might just be considering finishing the job. I’m keeping an eye out.”

“They have archers,” Nestra said. “Gleam archers.”

She considered explaining before changing her mind. Her thoughts were still a little jumbled. They’d probably get it anyway.

“One more reason to keep an eye out. Weiwei, you watch the cameras while I run that diagnostics. We can’t afford to take risks.”

“Should we build some sort of bombardment shelter? Pile furniture?” the woman asked.

“There isn’t anything in here that will stop a gleam archer’s charmed shot. Don’t think about the worst case scenario. Just look and hope for the best.”

“Alright, alright...”

Something occurred to Nestra as she watched the aug ‘pilot’ mumbling to himself, his augs clicking from here.

“You’re not just a pilot, are you?” she finally said.

Derek smiled.

“He’s not a pilot at all, though I guess he’s a decent copilot,” Weiwei replied.

“Hey, I can press a few buttons and the thing will fly itself!”

“Barely,” Weiwei grumbled. “He’s good on the cannons though.”

“Are you here to keep an eye on us?” Nestra asked.

“On you? Fuck no. For you.”

“Are you Intelligence?”

His smile was crooked and looked genuine, as far as she could tell.

“You understand that I won’t reply to that question, right? In fact, it would be best if you forgot our little discussion. Focus on remembering spotting the trap instead. There is going to be a debrief... and consequences.”

“Uh?”

“Attempted murder on a diplomatic envoy. That’s not grand theft, that’s an act of war. Shit’s going to get real when the expedition returns.”

“So... there will be war?”

“No, well, I don’t think so, but old Nguyen is going to have to clean house... and we will be requesting proof.”

“It’s probably Manh,” Nestra said.

“How do you reckon?”

“He’s a nasty cunt.”

There was a pause, the other two digesting her brilliant insight.

“You know, for being so short, that sentence was so convincing and makes so much sense that I’m fully inclined to agree with you.”

“I’m a good detective,” Nestra insisted.

It felt super important to say.

“So it would seem. And now, you should sleep.”

“Why are you here, though?”

“To keep our people alive against that kind of thing,” Derek replied curtly.

Nestra considered it.

“I think I died. Very close to it.”

She frowned. It was probably not a good idea to elaborate. They didn’t know about her being an Aszhii and it would take far too long to explain. She wasn’t feeling like it.

“Please don’t move your face too much, you’re pulling on the stitches,” Derek said with a tired voice.

“Okay.”

“And yeah, sorry, I fucked up. I should have been more careful,” he said.

“Derek?” Weiwei softly asked.

“I was looking out, not down. She almost died. She was this close. I fucked up.”

“You could not have —”

“It doesn’t matter!” Derek interrupted, nearly shouting.

Weiwei sighed.

“Sorry, I should not be raising my voice. I’m stating the truth, though. It doesn’t matter that it was absurd of them to trap the garden. They did. I didn’t see it coming. She almost died, therefore, I failed. I should have checked the grounds around the encampment for recent movement. I can do it. Got a soil temperature module.”

He tapped his temple.

“It won’t happen again.”

“It’s okay,” Nestra said. “I wasn’t really in danger.”

It felt important to let him know that. He wasn’t at fault. Derek was nice. She didn’t want to see him sad.

“Alright, Palladian. Time for you to catch a little shut eye,” he said.

“But...”

“I need you fresh so you can take the middle spot as night guard. Both Weiwei and I need some sleep as well, okay?”

“Oh, right.”

That made a lot of sense.

“I want my bed though.”

“Errrr.”

Nestra stood up. There was indeed a bed in one of the sections of the tent. She found it. Weiwei helped her settle down.

“Should I remove my armor?” Nestra asked.

“Better keep it on, sweetie, just in case.”

“Well it does temperature regulation. And other stuff. I should have kept the helmet on...”

“You’ll know for next time. Now, sleep, okay?”

“Fine.”

And she did.

***

Nestra woke up with a jolt. Panic filled her mind. Her head felt fuzzy. Unsticking her tongue from her palate took way too much energy. She was feeling like shit. Despite the urge to act, she stayed lying on the cot, breathing hard.

Any time.

Any time now.

Hmmm.

Despite her expectations, pain remained conspicuously absent. She remembered she had a camera on one of her gloves to scout without being seen. Switching to her side, she took a picture.

Fear paralyzed her, but it soon proved unwarranted. So ok, she was looking like shit, but more like, normal shit. A spectacular bruise had formed on her forehead where a thin line split it in half, vertically, from a bit above her eye to her hairline. It was bright red. She also had a bump. All in all, she’d had much worse during some of her training sessions. The rest of her felt fine.

She was alive. It was weird too, because Seth had told her the mask would fall when she received lethal damage. This wasn’t lethal damage. It was near-lethal damage, certainly. Perhaps her mask was more fragile since it was that of a baseline. Or maybe her true form had instinctively judged that this wound was enough to kill her. It would have certainly sufficed in a primitive society with no access to any sort of medical help. It could also be because she was mostly human, and human Aszhii cared more about their masks. Well, enough assumptions. There was no way to test it anyway. Time to handle the real emergency.

Nestra grabbed the glass of water left on her bedside table. It was half a liter of tepid water that tasted too much like stone. She emptied it in less than ten seconds.

‘Shit, I could eat an entire neo-pig from snout to tail.”

Nestra went to forage for food, feeling every bit the cave woman. Weiwei looked up from the monitors as soon as she appeared. Clint was asleep on the side with his hand gripping the handle of his rifle. At least the safety was on.

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“Ok, no, I also love my family, my friends, and obviously good food. Oh, and cooking. And... but you get the idea. My interest in you is blade related. You are an artist. A master of your craft. I’m here because of that. Here, with no one looking, you can finally show me all those techniques you were holding back in the previous portal.”

Camille chuckled. They grabbed the handle of their estoc, lifting it in a smooth gesture. It was still sheathed, though.

“Are you sure? last time, you had a bit of help. Here, though? It’s just you and me.”

“I’m stronger. I don’t need anyone to beat your ass.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Camille finally drew, and so did Nestra. Finally. Finally!

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

“No hidden bullshit, right? No politics? Just you and me in a test of skill?”

“Just you and me in a test of skill. Let our blades talk. We can continue exchanging words after.”

“Then...”

Camille saluted.

“En garde.”

With a scream of pure happiness, Nestra charged forward. She used momentum to close the distance with a lunge of power and speed, which was blocked by a series of transparent panes of mana. Nestra was pushed back. Meanwhile, Camille looked surprised by the shattered remnants of their defenses. In the moment that followed, both combatants smiled, and then; then both attacked.

A whirlwind of precise strikes whistled through the empty air and shattered branches that fell in a glassy snow. It was the deadly dance of two masters on their path to perfection. Nestra had reach and power on her side, but Camille had experience and precision, plus the many panes they manifested all around them. There were so many tumbling blocks, improvised shields, and all around nuisances that prevented Nestra from moving freely though she could somewhat predict where they appeared thanks to her mana senses. Camille was good, but they weren’t there yet. After Nestra smashed through yet another wall, something changed in Camille’s demeanor. Their estoc flashed with enchantments. Resilience, as far as Nestra could tell.

“Water Dragon Dance.”

Nestra stopped herself from laughing. Who the fuck announced their attacks before —

“Oh sh —”

Parry, step back, parry, momentum away. Camille was a hurricane of strikes, each following Nestra where she was going. They were using those mana panels as springboards, Nestra realized. It was all she could do to stay ahead. So fast. Something bit into her leg. She felt pain on her forearm, but managed to push back yet another strike.

Camille went low, gathered her strength. Only Nestra’s muscle memory saved her.

It was going to be a lunge.

Immovable increased Nestra’s defense, but Camille’s blade still pierced through her left palm. She gathered her hand in a fist around the cruel blade, gritting her teeth against the pain.

Nestra struck down with a roar. Her void-infused strike smashed through three walls and an improvised pauldron, biting into Camille’s shoulder. The human disengaged to avoid the worst of it.

Nestra was left with an estoc in her hand. Quite literally.

“Hey pick it u—”

Camille made a sign. Their mana flared, and the estoc flew into their waiting fingers. They smirked.

“Or you can cheat, I guess.”

“Sore loser. Show me that bolt of yours.”

Nestra obliged. The dot connected with Camille’s chest, then potential called for it to be connected. A black bolt exploded from Nestra’s fingers. Thick layers of mana blocked the bulk of it. Though they couldn’t block the wave of shadow that followed. Suddenly, it was the darkest of nights.

‘What the —”

Light blue mana dispersed Nestra spell, but her cleaving strikes still destroyed Camille’s remaining defenses in a single blow, and Nestra kicked them while they were open. The low kick sent Camille tumbling on the ground.

That was going to leave a nice bruise. Nevertheless, Camille just stood back up and went for Nestra, who let them attack so she could unleash a series of vicious counters. Camille was forced to slow down their attacks which gave Nestra the initiative again, but only shortly.

“Falling Arrow!”

“That’s lame,” Nestra commented between two blocks.

The two of them demolished the copse before moving on to open ground. Their attacks dug grooves in the ground, sent shards of shattered stones flying through the air in a reverse hail. Their dance of death was unceasing movement, each one a mirror to the other.

Only momentum and savvy bursts of shadow magic saved Nestra. At the apex of her assault, Camille pulled back for a finisher. Nestra used precision to strike at her opponent’s elbow. She drew blood.

Camille’s strike sent her crashing on the ground with a deep pain in her ribs. One of them might be cracked. There was some blood as well.

“I held back, but that would have skewered you,” Camille said in the following moment of calm.

“Not with only one arm, it wouldn’t have.”

They smiled, in pain but happy.

“We should stop there since you’re about to keel over from blood loss,” Camille began.

“And you from mana exhaustion. You need to work on your stamina.”

“Yeah, sure. Truce?”

“Truce. I’m hungry.”

Finally, after several days of imprisonment, Nestra was feeling refreshed.

***

Nestra wanted to rest but hunger came first. As it turned out, Camille agreed.

“I haven’t eaten since this morning. Do you happen to have rations?”

“No. I only carry my cooking equipment. We could eat the local wildlife though.”

Camille sighed heavily.

“Well... I’m desperate, so why not?”

The pair quickly found a tusked creature hiding in a crystal tree thicket. It was absolutely no match for them. Nestra cut off something that looked like the tenderloin off its flank, then they found some semi-frozen water in a nearby pond.

“It’s safe to drink,” Camille explained. “We tested it. The crystal trees burn well too.”

“Marvelous,” Nestra replied.

She was going to make a stew. Honestly, the meat looked too hard to be pleasantly edible right now. She boiled it first to remove the scum. While they waited, Camille guided her to a few edible tubers that would supplement Nestra’s emergency reserves of mana-rich carrots and onions (two of each). Nestra used a flat piece of rock to prepare the vegetables.

In the following moments of quiet, Nestra decided that she might as well get closer to her rival so they would have a long term, sustainable stabby friendship.

“So, things have been tough with your people?” she asked after they settled.

Camille gave her a measuring look, but then her attention returned to Nestra’s quick knife movements. It was like watching a puppy getting all excited before remembering they’re supposed to growl. That, or maybe it was just natural that someone who’d spent more than two decades keeping their distance from other people wouldn’t magically open up in a single evening. Either or.

“Before we get into this, can you tell me why you’re here? Why you’re really here?” they asked.

“I’m here to fight you and eat food?” Nestra asked, confused before remembering there was a world outside of the portal.

“Oh, you mean the expedition? As far as I can tell, Threshold wants to trade for your steel and accountability for the thefts.”

“They know it was me?” Camille asked with some fear.

“Yes, and they know you’re from the enclave. I expect some asset recovery will happen soonish. Are you going to warn your people?”

“Fuck no,” Camille replied.

“But it’s all your hard work. Hard thievery. Whatever.”

“Maybe I want to protect my fellow Sword Kings, but I certainly wouldn’t mind if some of them were taken down a notch or two.”

“Like Manh?”

“He’s certainly the worst of the lot. I saw him try to trap you in the combat pavilion. Giving that insane bitch Truong a thrashing was the highlight of my week.”

“I thought it would be our fight,” Nestra whispered, heartbroken.

“The highlight of my week at that time.”

Nestra was relieved. Camille shook their head.

“Thank you for telling me the reason for your coming. I appreciate your trust. I promise not to abuse it, hmm, unless you plan to murder the people I care about, obviously. To answer your previous question, yes, things have been difficult at home. Grandfather is trying to usher the enclave into the future and he believes it will take Threshold’s help to do so. He believes humanity should be united, and that our lives would be better with some machines to work the fields.”

“No shit,” Nestra grumbled.

“He means well!” Camille replied, suddenly defensive.

They blushed with embarrassment. Their next words felt more hesitant than the rest, a sharp contrast to the confident warrior who had backed Nestra into a corner.

“He’s trying. When he was younger, things got... bad on the mainland. The Sword King enclave was meant to be a bastion of strength for humanity, and to a degree, it worked, okay? It worked for a long time. But ông grew older and he could see that only relying on physical strength was, errr, he said it was like going into a small corridor and realizing all the doors were closed. He wants more for us. For the younger generations. Not all of the members of the enclave agree. Many of them think we’re betraying our principles. Tch! What principles? I’m the most talented genius and people won’t talk to me because I have breasts and a penis.”

Nestra patted their shoulder.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be casually talking about genitals like this. And you’re cooking too.”

“It’s ok. Did you know that when you eat urchin, you actually eat their genitals?”

Nestra smiled. This had to be a great icebreaker. Camille looked amused therefore it must have worked on them.

The meat was boiled by now. Nestra tossed the water, cleaned the pot, shredded the meat with her fingers, then set all the ingredients to simmer in a bit of clear water. She added some barley and closed the lid.

“Now what?” Camille asked.

“Now we wait for two hours!”

“You’re serious? Two hours?”

“We could wait longer. We have plenty of time to talk! Maybe fight again!”

Camille sat on a rock. Nestra wondered if she should scavenge for more stuff while the soup bubbled. Maybe she should slice a steak out of the beast’s neck? Poor Camille looked ravenous.

“By the way, Manh is the sort of person who would dare an assassination attempt against me, yes?”

“I doubt he would try. It would pretty much be a declaration of war.”

“Then who could have tried?”

Nestra saw the moment Camille did a double take. She’d forgotten to mention almost dying. Oops?

“I’m sorry. What?”

“Someone set up a monster trap in the tent garden. It cracked my mortal form’s skull open.”

“What the FUCK?”

“Yeah, it was bad.”

Camille stood in a panic. She walked to and fro, muttering curses in Vietnamese. Nestra got the feeling this was worse than just political maneuvering. Come to think of it, she was probably taking the attempt on her life rather too lightly.

“Fuck. FUCK! Why didn’t you say so before?”

“Errr, sorry. Monsters and people trying to kill me have become such a normal occurrence...”

“You don’t get it. Manh could be attempting a coup.”

“Against a B-class raider much more powerful than he is?” Nestra replied with her doubt on display.

“And that B-class raider is now in a portal for a couple of days, not to mention, if you’d been assassinated, what would’ve been Threshold’s response?”

Nestra didn’t need to be an expert diplomat to imagine the answer.

“It would involve gunships.”

“Thus forcing the enclave to unite against a foreign element. I'm telling you, this is bad. I still care about the enclave, despite everything. We need to stop a war.”

“We?” Nestra asked with a smile.

“Come on, police girl. Let’s team up.”