Xanarken rematerialized near to his brother, and waited a moment for acknowledgement before speaking.  Rylen, however, already knew what the man was going to say, and chose to ignore him for a little while.  Data from the bodies of the Warp Magi was already being compiled and sent to him, and the information displayed for him on a series of flat, hovering panels above his desk.


    “…I know you know I’m here, Rylen.” Xanarken grumbled, “Every time I tell the system to take me to your location, you get an alert that I’m coming.”


    “There’s only one thing you’d have to say if you’re back already, and I know what it is, so…well done?  If there’s nothing else.”


    The Fourth stepped closer to that long desk and reached a finger through the displays, nudging them aside to give him a clear view of the First, “Having someone else around to back you up isn’t the worst idea.”


    “If there’s nothing else.” Rylen repeated, and stuck a finger onto two of the wayward panels in an attempt to slide them back to where they’d just been, but Xanarken’s hand stayed where it was, and the panels just deflected off of it like an air-hockey disc.  Rylen sighed impatiently, “I’m not interested!”


    “It’s not all.”


    “Fine, what else?”


    “I’m heading back north, and I’m going to disconnect from the local Cloud.  There’s nothing left for me to do here.  If you need the Fourth for anything, just ask Gabriel.”


    Those bright eyes stared at the Fourth’s obstructive forearm for a moment longer, and Rylen attempted to nudge it away with a finger, but Xanarken refused.  In frustration, the First sat back roughly in his seat, “If you’re trying to make some point about treating Gabe like he’s one of us, you’re not going to succeed.  He’s not, and I’m not going to.”


    “You’re going to have to go through him from now on if you want anything to do with Sargon.”


    “Why are you doing this?  You’re not even the one who took the hit, but you’re acting like an alarmist anyway.” The First crossed his arms impatiently, “You’re overreacting.  It was a one-time thing, and it only spooked us because it’s only happened the one time ever.”


    “Because the Magi were talking to someone who wasn’t there with us.  There’s someone else out there…and Gabe and I both think it was the Kitezans, who still have Sir Ianori’s body in their custody.  He’s still out there.  And you haven’t even asked for help in recovering him.” Xanarken explained, both hands set down onto the desk as he leaned in through the panels to loom over his cohort, “I sent the Duchess scrambling like a kicked dog, and you just sat back.  We should’ve pressed for Ianori’s release right away.”


    “And in return, they want what neither of us is willing to give them.”


    “That’s what negotiations are for.” Xanarken argued, “I thought the Fafnir meant more to you than this.  You’ve done nothing but meddle with Dame Ren since she moved over…but you won’t ask for my help to get Ianori back?”


    “…It’s not that simple.” Rylen shook his head, “The official position of the Sixth is that Sir Ianori Noardin is dead.  In the coming days, between docking and leaving with the Prince again, Captain Rydell is going to go notify next of kin.  After what we saw Ianori’s body do on that Magistrate’s ship, it’s evidently clear that whatever he’s become since going to Kitez, it’s not friendly towards it…or us.  …And, I know where he is.”


    Xanarken’s eyes widened, and he pulled back from the desk.  The panels hovered back to their spots, but Rylen shut them off and stood up, “This whole time?”


    The First shook his head, “No.” He answered simply, and came around the front to face his brother, “Only since the Connington Fragment debacle.”


    “Where is he?”


    “There’s a facility on the northern outskirts of a city called Stoneface Bluffs.  Magistrate Regulus’ home-base.  We traced him back there after he left.”


    Xanarken tilted his head slightly, “You did?”


    “You think I just let one of my people go into a fight and not track her?” Rylen puffed, “Your may have faith in Gabriel, but he’s no fighter, and I wanted to be sure that if things clearly went south, I could send the Captain to back her up.”


    “Things did go south though, and the Captain never left Trazad.”


    “Dame Ren never cut loose.  Things didn’t go south the way they needed to for me to know to send help.”


    “What were you expecting him to do in such a short period of time if you kept him so far away?  It took Gabriel three hours to get to the Fragment.”


    “His skiff isn’t capable of hypersonic flight.  The Fafnir are.  Captain Rydell could’ve been there in four minutes.”


    Xanarken threw his arms up and turned around in frustration.


    “This is why you’re responsible for the talking and I’m responsible for the destroying.” Rylen reminded, “Next time don’t send a mediator to do a warrior’s work.”


    “…That wasn’t the point.  How do you know Ianori’s being held at the Magistrate’s facility?”


    “The Magistrate keeps returning there.  We’ve even seen the Duchy arrive and leave recently.  What reason could they possibly have to go there if not to marvel at the sight of a captured – albeit dead – Fafnir?  It would be the most opportune time to gloat and preen over their so-called victory.”


    Stern purple eyes stared in confusion, There’s no way he knows Aamin is there.  There’s just no way.  …Could he be hiding it from me, waiting to see if I slip and reveal it so he can lord it over me?  Those eyes narrowed slightly for a moment, but the Fourth shook his head, “I’m hoping this is where you explain why you haven’t done anything to bring Ianori home; dead or not, ‘no man left behind’ has always been very important.”


    “We’re waiting to see what happens.” Rylen explained, “When I found out the Magi were talking aloud, and heard their words, my first thought was Ianori as well.  But because of what they were saying, it became clearer than ever that Ianori is gone, and that thing had taken over completely.  Non-combatant Warp Magi – dead ones, mind you! – fought with the experience of a fully-trained Fafnir Knight.  I’m not going to bring that thing home until I’m certain it won’t do to us what it did to the Kitezans.  I couldn’t live with myself if I invited it into our custody and it wiped-out the entire contingent tasked with keeping it secured.  So, for now…let them keep his body.  I’ll eventually find out everything they know anyway.”


    “You sound so sure of that.”


    “You taught me well when you impressed upon me the need to play the long-game.  I always get what I want in the end.”


    “I’m going home.  If you decide to keep moping around here until you get back, then I’ll see you in a couple days.” Xanarken grumbled, and dissolved without another word.


    .


    Ren had swapped back to her reds after the complete buzzkill that was the earlier interaction with the Eidolon of the Fourth; not necessarily because she agreed with what had been said, but as a show of solidarity.  Gabriel looked like he’d been kicked in the chest, staring ahead absentmindedly.  The story he’d told after the fact, however, still sat poorly, “…I know the Eidolon System didn’t start with the intention of being used the way that it is, but…I still can’t help but wonder how it came to be like this.”


    The spacious areas of the weather deck made it an easy place to loiter, and the views made for an easy distraction.  Gabriel looked from the late-afternoon skies above to the badlands-like desolation below, then turned to Ren, “It was originally sustained by the warp core of the SSCF Agartha.  How it went from that to the Seraphim Engine is…something Xanarken has thus-far refused to explain to me.  I suppose there’s probably no small amount of scandal and/or grief involved with it.”


    “I can’t even imagine…” She said quietly, but then stepped closer, looking around briefly to make sure anyone else nearby was far enough away to be out of earshot, “…How come Lord Xanarken talks to you the way he does?  When I first got here – with you, I mean – he talked you like a kindly father-figure.  The longer things go on…the more it seems like he’s as much your Eidolon as Lord Rylen is mine.  There’s…no warmth there half the time.”Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    “…The duality of Xanarken is something I’ve had to learn to deal with.” He answered carefully, “The way he can switch from being friendly to bossy is…something to behold.  I’m not immune from the whiplash it creates.”


    “What’s the point of it though?  I could understand if you were anyone else, but…you’re you.  Of all the people he shouldn’t have to switch tones with…”


    Gabriel just shook his head, “He does it when he knows I’m going to refuse him.  Never forget that he’s an Eidolon first…  Whatever personality quirks any of them have, they’re both…ruthless, when it comes down to it.  One more reason I don’t want to be where Xanarken is putting me.  I don’t have it in me to be like that.  No one would accept it anyway…  The day I try to be anything more than aloof around people, they’ll start to resent me.  …More than normal.  Like, wretchedly resentful.”


    “We need to talk to Furion.”


    “WHAT.” He countered loudly; eyes went darting around as he panicked at having potentially been heard.  A few looks went his way, but Ren just waved happily and those faces went back to what they were doing before.  Gabriel smacked his forehead with one palm, “You’d be way better at this than I.”


    Ren just waved her hands in a downward motion, “Just chill.  You’re way too worked-up about it.”


    He sucked in a quick breath and started listing off excuses on his fingers, “I treated you lousy for four months.”


    “I never told him that.”


    “I was literally chosen to be your mentor because everyone thought I’d drive you away.”


    “You didn’t manage that one.”


    “I blamed the Captain for my room situation and then I punched him in the mouth for it.  Not only that, but he’s the one who fixed it for me in the end!  I can’t face him.  Not like this.  It was deviously clever of you to guide him out of that briefing room so that he wouldn’t see me, but now you’re asking me to jump into the dragon’s own mouth.”


    Ren crossed her arms, “So just say sorry and thank you and we can get on with the reason I think we should talk to him.”


    “Why do we need to talk to him?  He’s not even Fourth Wing.” The mediator asked frantically.


    “But he is a Captain.  He’s exactly the person who would know what you should do differently to get people to stop rolling their eyes when you turn your back.”


    Gabriel slouched where he stood, “…I already knew they did that, but for some reason it really stings when you say it.”


    “I’m calling him.”


    “I’m going to have a stroke.”


    “And here we are.” She gestured at the doorway to the Captain’s office on the top deck, “You’ve probably had worse meetings than this anyway.”


    “I’m being asked to do way too many things that I really don’t want to do lately.”


    “In.” Ren pointed through the now-open portal, “It’s for your own good.”


    “My own good will make me jump off the back of this ship if you d-” He found himself being dragged inside since he wouldn’t walk.  Ren only let him go once he was far enough away for the door to close, and by then, he was practically deposited into the middle of that unfortunately-familiar room.


    “That.” Furion’s voice spoke abruptly, “That’s the whole thing.  That right there.”


    Gabriel’s eyes lifted to the visage of that intimidating figure, whom he was surprised to see wasn’t decked in his full official regalia.  He…looked rather casual, leaning against the front of his desk with just the T-shirt and sweatpants he’d changed into earlier, “…What where…?”


    Ren approached her commander, “You think you can fix it?”


    “I can only offer insight.  What he does it with it is up to him.” He answered, those teal-green eyes leveling at the mediator, “So?” He asked, but was only met with awkward silence.


    Ren sighed and went back again, “Gabriel, I’m begging you.  Listen to him.  You two got off on the wrong foot but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right.”


    “I don’t even know the question you posed to him.” He grumbled.


    She looked back over her shoulder, then forward again, “I asked him what the consensus was between the ranking leadership on why they all view you with apparent disdain.  And, if he could make any recommendations for how to fix that.  You completely change your behavior around people you’re supposed to mediate…think about why you can’t do that with the Captains.  You can’t even look this one in the eye and admit you made a mistake, and he’s not the kind of person who’s going to hold it against you!”


    Furion leaned slightly in Ren’s direction and spoke quietly, “I don’t know if he’s ready for this conversation.”


    “Maybe not but he doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter.” She explained, “Lord Xanarken is raising him up into Council leadership.”


    “…He’s what?”


    “Because of what happened with Lord Rylen.  He thinks he’s a good idea to put in back-up Eidolon, and Gabe’s the first one.  He wants Lord Rylen to find one, too.”


    “…That’s dire.” Furion uncrossed his arms and pushed off the edge of his desk, “Not much for it, though.  If that’s what he wants to do…” He looked directly at the mediator again, “Do we have to start calling you Lord Gabriel then?”


    “Please don’t.” He answered hastily, hands flapping back and forth rapidly, “I do not want this.”


    Both of the two Fafnir stared at him, unsure what more to do in the moment.


    Gabriel sagged helplessly, “…Look, I’m sorry…” He finally said, “For thinking wrongly that you were the reason I was assigned below-deck.  I wouldn’t have thought twice about staying in that room if I didn’t think it was payback for messing up Ren’s mission.  And…then for hitting you after the fact…and for all the rest of it.”


    Ren breathed a sigh of relief, but didn’t dare chime in.  Furion looked at her in surprise, but then shook his head with a shrug; he knew it wouldn’t take long for her to figure it out.


    “It was short-sighted of me and…not becoming of the mediator title I’m supposed to represent.” Gabriel continued, “I don’t know why I got so tilted about it.”


    Furion was stunned by the whole thing, though he didn’t show much of that surprise on his face.  He glanced over at Ren, who looked rather pleased with the whole thing.  With a long inhale, he nodded, “Alright…well, I appreciate that.  So…where to begin then.”


    “Is there any particular overarching theme that runs through the entire Captain population?” Ren wondered, “If you had to pick one thing…”


    Furion nodded, “That’s easy.” He looked to the mediator, “Permission to speak candidly.”


    Gabriel just gestured to get on with it.


    “That.”


    “That?” He answered warily, “What do you mean, that?”


    “You treat conversations with officers as if it’s personal.” The Captain explained, “You show no deference to rank or status, seniority, or experience.  Maybe you get away with it with Lord Xanarken, but it’s not a trait he should’ve allowed you to develop with others.  You need to show decorum.”


    “…Decorum…?”


    “When Lord Xanarken raised you up to High Negotiator, there was no particular announcement about it.  We all just…found out that you out-ranked us somehow, even though there was no specific reason for the rank to exist or why it was necessary to create it when he did.” Furion continued, “But, abide it we did, since the rules in the Fourth Wing aren’t for Lord Rylen to question or challenge.  If I had to guess…it was to cushion the trouble you no-doubt caused by being so casual.”


    Ren knew those words were coming, but it still left her a bit stunned, “…Brutal.” She said quietly, but then stepped closer to the so-called High Negotiator, “Maybe you don’t remember how much I fussed at you over not using honorifics with the Eidolon, but I do remember how you excused it as being because Lord Xanarken was like a father to you.  But…that’s him, and this…is everyone else.” She extended her arms up to gesture at herself and Furion, “And given what he said earlier, I think he recognizes that things went awry with his previous attempt at raising you up.”


    “What’s going to be different this time?” Furion wondered, mostly to Ren.


    “Lord Xanarken said he was going to call for a Conclave to tell all the Captains about the promotion.  He’s also going to be forcing a new uniform onto Gabe, to show-off that he has status where no one saw it before.” She answered, “The way his uniform-jacket looks now, he’s on a level with us Fafnir, yet he outranks you as our Captain.”


    “Right…” Furion curled one arm around himself and set the other hand around his chin, thinking on it all, “It has made it confusing for people to see where he stands at a glance, especially since mediators aren’t really ranked the same way as we are in the First and Sixth.  Every other mediator has a two-thirds jacket, and even at the very top, stands only as tall as a Chief petty officer.”  He looked at the Fourth-winger, “What’d Lord Xanarken tell you about why he made the higher rank?”


    “Uh…” Gabriel stammered, “He said it was so I could help with bigger projects.  Six years ago, Kitez was making a big stink about something…  I don’t remember what it was because, in hindsight, it probably had something to do with the Fafnir.  There was a lot of handwringing and hostility, and Rylen made the mistake of trying to do the Fourth’s job out there.  Alone, apparently.  Xanarken was preoccupied with something else at the time, and when he found out, he was a little ticked off.  He tried to manage it alone for a bit, but with the whole Fourth Wing looking to him, it got overwhelming…so he created my new rank, and threw me into the thick of things to help relieve the pressure elsewhere.  Around 18 months later, the Sargonian Prince lit-up, and I was switched-over to dealing with him full-time instead.  Sargon as a whole has probably been…75% my job since.”


    Furion and Ren looked at one another, and the Captain reached to pull her in closer, a hand gently on her shoulder as he spoke quietly, “Six years ago was our last excursion out there in the Exclusion Zone.  It was also your first big mission as Wing Commander.”


    “You don’t think what we did was enough to cause Lord Xanarken to make the High Negotiator rank, do you?  How could Kitez have taken up so much of his time?”


    “It was enough to freeze our activities for a while.  Remember how sketchy things were?  We had a grand total of two missions for the whole next year after that, otherwise we just spent that whole time running P.R. tours.  I had to convince you it wasn’t normally so boring around here.” Furion looked back over his shoulder at the mediator, then to Ren again, “I didn’t even know Lord Rylen was going it alone on the fallout.”


    “He probably didn’t want to drag us into it, not after what happened with your dad back in the day.” She surmised, then turned around again to look at Gabriel, “Well, seems to me, we’ve been working with one another far longer than any of us realized.  We cause a ruckus and you run interference.”


    “…Maybe…”


    “In any case…” Furion continued, “If I had to make any kind of recommendation…it would be two things.”


    “Okay?”


    “First…no matter how high you rise, the officers of the Council are still leaders in their own right, so treat them with the proper respect and don’t be so dismissively casual.  Maybe the Eidolon get away with it, but this is their organization.” The Captain started, watching the younger man for any resistance, “And second…when you walk into a room, own it.  Don’t slink around like a kid holding onto Lord Xanarken’s apron.  If you want people to respect you, then earn it by setting the example.”


    Gabriel’s brow crinkled slightly, and he lowered his gaze, “…Right…”