The Price of Light

The Price of Light

The healer cut the seal with a kitchen knife.

Rahkhan had offered his dagger, but she had already put the knife through the wax and was levering up the lid. Behind her, a boy sat on a bench with his arm bound against his chest. His mother watched the case as though something living might climb out of it.

Blue light spread across the healer’s hands.

She did not thank them immediately. She lifted one of the crystals from its padded compartment, turned it towards the window and examined the clear centre. Then she closed her fingers around it.

“Mara,” she called through the inner doorway. “Bring the little girl back.”

A woman appeared carrying a basin.

“Which one?”

“The burn. Her father cannot have reached the bridge yet.”

The woman put down the basin and ran.

Rahkhan looked at the boy on the bench.

“And him?”

“Afterwards.”

His mother began to rise.

“I can set his arm and keep him comfortable with a herbal brew,” the healer told her. “I cannot keep that child’s chest from tightening another night with ointment.”

The mother sat down again. Her son leaned against her, trying not to move his shoulder.

Fateese cleared a space among the jars on the table and laid out a receipt.

“Two cases, fully charged, supplied through the office of the Sylvan ambassador, the Lady Delrona.”

The healer had already turned towards the treatment room.

“Leave it.”

“I do require a signature.”

“Then leave yourself as well.”

She went inside.

Fateese glanced at Rahkhan.

“I suspect we shall be here a while.”

“I can wait.”

“So can I. Although I had hoped to do it somewhere that provided breakfast.”

Through the doorway Rahkhan could see three other patients beneath thin blankets. A man with a swollen leg watched the healer choose a clean cloth. An elderly woman lifted her head when the crystal illuminated the room.

The crystals had come from Delrona’s workings in the Verdant Expanse. They had arrived carrying a full natural charge, without occupying a place in the charging cradle at the Heartwell or taking power from a waiting Primary Crystal. The healer tested a second one, and the light held steady between her fingers.

Rahkhan felt the tightness in his chest ease.

Ever since the Council meeting Rahkhan had been thinking about Drell’s new guardian corp. They were not Kefarian but an inter-Crestream force and he could see the good and the problems with such a company. He was also concerned about the distribution of recharged crystals as they were being reserved before public allocations. And there too the reasoning of restoring order in Kefar and maintaining peace in the region was to outward semblances a legitimate goal.

The girl returned in her father’s arms.

Fateese moved out of the doorway without being asked.

When the healer finally signed, she left a thumbprint of salve beneath her name.

“How do I obtain the next delivery?”

“Send the request to the Sylvan Watch ambassador’s office.”

“The stores administrator has our requirements.”

“Indeed. But these particular crystals are supplied privately.”

“Then should she send them?”

“She may forward them. The approval comes through us.”

The healer looked back towards the inner room.

“How long?”

Fateese smoothed the receipt.

“I shall mention that you asked promptly.”

Outside, the morning queue had lengthened around the corner. Rahkhan stepped aside for an old man helping his wife up the stairs.

“Can we arrange regular deliveries?” he asked, watching the crowded doorway of the healing house as two more orderlies struggled past carrying a boy with a badly bandaged leg.

“We are arranging a great many regular things,” Fateese replied, smoothing his vest with deliberate care. “Standing orders, preferred allocations, diplomatic exemptions... all in due time.”

“She needs a date,” Rahkhan pressed, gesturing back toward the healer who was already attending to her next patient. “Not vague reassurances.”

“Then she has something in common with nearly everyone in Kefar,” Fateese said without missing a beat.

Fateese tucked the receipt safely inside his coat and set off towards the Council offices, his pace brisk and unbothered by the growing queue outside.

* * *

Within a fortnight, the reception room no longer contained enough chairs for the people waiting outside it. Word had spread across the districts that the Sylvan Watch’s ambassador’s office was a better center of administrative movement, bypassing the sluggish procedures of the High Council. Representatives from trade guilds, district wards, and provincial garrisons milled about the hallways, clutching worn ledgers and official petitions.

The High Council supplied more seating to accommodate the crowds, but the effort was short-lived. Delrona had two chairs removed immediately because they obstructed the morning light from the high arched window, and a third because its faded blue upholstery offended her sensibility. The remaining petitioners, taking the hint, learned to stand in quiet, orderly lines along the wood-paneled walls.

Rahkhan stood guard near the entryway, observing the steady tide of supplicants. Shortly before the morning appointments were scheduled to begin, he admitted three young women. All three wore crisp travelling clothes of fine Sylvan silks in strong pinks and purples, tailored for utility as well as ornament. One carried a heavy stack of bound schedules under her arm, their edges marked with colour-coded tags. Another had a dark smudge of fresh ink on the side of her right hand. The third paused at the threshold, her keen eyes examining a cracked iron fastening on the doorframe before she stepped inside.

Delrona looked up from her paperwork and greeted them by name.

“Selvara. Your journey?”

“Uneventful, Ambassador,” Selvara said, stepping forward with a crisp bow. “We used the crossing to reconcile the manifests you sent ahead.”

“All of them?” Delrona raised an eyebrow.

“All that could be reconciled,” Selvara replied without hesitation. “Several of the earlier harbor records appear to have contained deliberate discrepancies regarding weight and origin.”

Fateese looked up from the breakfast tray, a silver fork poised above a slice of melon.

“A tactful distinction,” he remarked dryly, still chewing the previous forkfull. “You will do very well here.”

The city stores administrator sat across the long table, surrounded by three massive ledgers. Her glass lenses had slipped to their usual resting place low upon the bridge of her nose as she glared over the rims.

“I was told one assistant,” she said, her voice dry as parchment.

“Selvara will work directly with you on transport logistics,” Delrona replied smoothly, taking a fresh sheet of paper from her desk. “Ilyne will assist the Keeper’s scheduling office at the Heartwell, and Maerith will manage the stores for the Alfadin establishment.”

“Which Kefarian officer will supervise that last appointment?”

“The expedition is not yet in the mountains. Until it is, Maerith will report here.”

The young woman who had inspected the door placed a narrow document case beside her chair.

“I will need the expedition’s authorised strength, the expected journey time and the available reserves,” she said.

“Drell will provide the first two,” Delrona told her. “We shall establish the third.”

The administrator opened her largest ledger.

“And your qualifications?”

“Selvara has spent three years administering two of my trading offices. Ilyne has managed the school’s charging schedules through the present shortage. Maerith served with its Guardian training establishment before taking charge of stocks and supplies at their school.”

“Which school?”

“The Girls’ School of Sylvan Supremacy.”

The administrator looked over her lenses.

Fateese buttered a piece of bread with great attention.

“They are senior graduates,” Delrona continued. “Their work recommends them most highly and their professors are loath to lose them to us but it is for the common good.”

“Do you mind, I would prefer to examine the ledgers and records myself.” Selvara said without an air of intended impertinence. She turned one of the schedules towards her. Fatese got up to fill Delrona’s cup and offered some tea to both Selvara and the administrator. After perusing a few pages and scribbling some notes, Selvara looked up. “Your third district appears twice in the transport charges. Once under its present name and once under another Mosaic shipping company.”

The administrator drew the sheet closer.

“That was corrected.”

“In your ledger. The harbour still invoices both.”

For several moments the only sound was paper moving.

“How far back?”

“Seven months.”

“Leave that with me, I have people who can look into it and make the corrections.”

“No need. I have already prepared notations and I will have the gold over payments returned to the city coffers as soon as the shipping company has been informed. I mean they must already know they have been paid for no work, don’t you agree? I have prepared a copy for you here..”

The administrator took it. Her shoulders lowered a little.

By midday, Selvara had cleared a stack of duplicated requests that had occupied one end of the table for weeks. Ilyne had obtained the Keeper’s cradle schedules. Maerith had sent the loose door fastening to a carpenter and requested a lockable room for military stores.

They were useful. Rahkhan could see why an exhausted office would welcome them and there was definitely a sense of pride that the Sylvan superior education was having such a beneficial effect on the work of administration.

Late that afternoon, he watched the administrator sign a release for a district healing house.

Selvara added a second sheet beneath it.

“What is this?” The administrator asked.

“Confirmation from the ambassador’s office for the allocation of Verdant Expanse crystals to the distinct healing house.”

“I have confirmed it in my ledger already from the city stores..”

“The new crystals are carried against Ambassador Delrona’s company’s account. We must reconcile the release before the harbour accepts it.”

“Then reconcile it.” The administrator was beginning to show her frustration.

“As soon as the ambassador has approved the allocation.”

The administrator put down her pen.

Across the room, Delrona was receiving a grateful councillor. Selvara waited as a Bordrad frog does its prey.

* * *

Delrona’s first reception occupied an upper gallery overlooking the harbour.

Wax candles burned in tall glass shelters along the balcony. Their light warmed the purple silk at the windows and made the silver trays look deeper than they were. From below came the creak of loaded cranes and the calls of men working cargo by lantern.

Fateese had arranged the guest list, the seating and the removal of a small table near the doors.

“Why the table?” Rahkhan asked.

“People put down their drinks and become difficult to move.”

He took two small pastries from a passing tray.

“You have been thinking about this.”

“Some of us protect the ambassador from more than knives.”

The Thalorian representative reached Delrona first. He had brought a polished box containing a shell so delicately carved that Fatresse was afraid that his large fingers may jostle it into non-existence as he took the gift to the entry table for display.

“Our replacement Primary Crystal remains in the southern harbour,” he said, after the necessary compliments. “The shipmaster has been told to expect another delay.”

“Would you prefer it sent now?” Delrona asked.

“Fully charged.”

“That was not one of the choices the Keeper supplied.”

He lowered his voice.

“The coastal cradles are already reducing allocations and the last Primary Crystal was undercharged and has less than 3 months left.”

“Fateese.”

Fateese appeared beside her, having disposed of both pastries with impressive speed.

“Ask Ilyne whether the later cradle period can be extended.”

“After Sylvan Watch?”

“Our replacement must depart as scheduled.” Delrona reminded the Thalorian diplomat.

“Naturally.”

The Thalorian representative was waiting for the right moment but could not see another opportunity any time soon so he went on. There is one other small matter we think you could help Thalorian Tide with.

“Go on, I would do anything for a fellow Ambassador, particularly as we are both outsiders!” She laughed.

“I would be grateful….no Thalorian Tide would be grateful if you would look into the matter of a Thalorian Tide Council member’s son being on a Kefarian warrant that seems to be of contentious legitimacy.”

“That does sound like a domestic Kefarian issue and one that I would not hold any sway in. Tell me who is this Council member?”

“It is Ren Thorne and his son is a graduate of the Kefar Academy. He is an earth mage now and they are a rarity in a land surrounded by oceans. And they do hold documentation for a legitimate investigation signed by Council Leader Thrankal.”

“An investigation into…?”

“Well, it seems the high council had concerns about the power fluctuations affecting the Heartwell some time ago and initiated a group of young scholars to investigate some anomaly in the Alfadin Mountains.”

“You don’t say? Well as I said I don’t have much say over internal Kefarian policies and certainly don’t have legal jurisdiction so the best I can do is pass your concerns on to the Council members I know personally which I will do for you as any good friend would.”

“Thank you Ambassador.”

“I hope to hear your support tomorrow,” Delrona said, “when the Council considers the transport guarantees.”

“I had concerns about their duration.”

“Then we should discuss them while there is still time to help one another.”

Fateese wrote a name upon his tablet. When Delrona summoned him with a flick of a finger.

“Get me the names of everyone on that warrant and do a little investigating of your own. We can’t have mages and their companions running around making a mess of things in the Alfadin Mountains now can we.”

“I’ll get Drell right on it.”

From his place by the doors, Rahkhan could just hear the Thalorian Tide Ambassadors plea. He also saw Delrona’s non-chalant dismissal of the issue but the intense summoning of Fatreese once he was gone. There was something amiss but he could not hear what Delrona had spoken to her right hand man. Guests who had been speaking to Menard began finding reasons to cross the room. A representative from Emberwild Dominion waited beside a flower arrangement until Delrona turned. Two envoys who had earlier disputed precedence now agreed that she ought to settle the matter.

The Ironroot Bastion delegate asked about the naturally charged crystals and wished for a comparison in quality to the ones from his Crestrealm.

“Our northern patrols have been reduced again,” he said. “They turn back before reaching the mines. The mining guardians are being told to hold their shields until contact.”

“A sensible conservation measure,” Menard observed.

“A shield raised after a snowpyma reaches you is generally a decoration.”

Rahkhan then saw the Ironroot ambassador utter some request that was not audible. Delrona looked at the delegate more carefully.

“The first consignments are committed,” she said.

“To whom?”

“Kefarian emergency services, Sylvan requirements and protection of the extraction and investigative work.”

“Ironroot has emergencies, the entire northern boundary need protection from the dereliction which expands as we speak.”

“Ironroot also has its own mines.”

“Which are failing. Chief Panarf’s reports have been sent repeatedly.”

“And our work may help explain why they fail, but allowing our best healers, mages and scholars to study the fluctuations here and in the north is costly. I am afraid right now I cannot distribute crystals beyond what we have extracted.”

He glanced towards the balcony. Beyond it, the warehouse roofs lay black against the water.

“You can prioritise and distribute the ones you have to a worthy Ironroot cause, we are trying to avoid a financial crisis here."

Delrona’s smile cooled.

“I have just explained our commitments.”

A servant offered the delegate wine. He declined it.

The Solaryn ambassador approached as the Ironroot ambassador withdrew from what he saw was a futile discussion and sought out some High Councilors by the balcony instead. Solaryn's formal robes had gold stitching at the cuffs, but Rahkhan noticed that a broken fastening near her wrist had been repaired with ordinary thread when she passed by him.

“May I have a moment?”

“Of course.”

“The drought districts in Solaryn are in need of power for the deep wells that will alleviate their plight. It seems that the High Council is powerless to aid us at this time and we are seeking a more nuanced Crestrealm solution. We have reduced milling, street lighting and irrigation to preserve drinking water. The Council has received our emergency request. But we hear you may have some influence as to where the more urgent needs are.”

“Then it is already before the appropriate authority.”

“I had hoped you might support our situation as the Solaryn Reliquary is already doing its utmost to relocate townspeople and villagers to a more sustainable location and food is at a premium right now.”

Delrona rested her glass upon the balcony rail.

“I understand your delegation intends to object to the increased Verdant shipping arrangements.”

“We have already asked the Thalorians to increase shipping of Virellian gains to offset the drought stricken areas and they would be at capacity if they did.”

“At a moment when delays in crystal extraction and distribution affect everyone.”

“People being supported with food and goods in a crisis can not be cost we write off here. The Thalorians were promised gold for their services and we should not delay anything.”

Fateese stopped writing.

Delrona studied the woman for a moment, then reached for her glass.

“We shall have to find time for a longer conversation.”

Before the ambassador could answer, Menard brought forward another guest.

Fateese escorted the Solaryn representative towards the refreshments. He returned alone.

Later, Councillor Poruh cornered him near the doors.

“The new approval office is delaying releases my district already authorised.”

“An unfortunate accumulation of paperwork.”

“It began after I questioned the ambassador’s appointments.”

“Then you will appreciate how overworked her assistants are.”

Poruh looked at his tablet.

“I shall raise it in the chamber.”

Fateese leaned nearer, his voice soft enough that Rahkhan heard only because he stood beside the open door.

“Before doing so, you might ask your accounts clerk to explain the payments for the garden apartment.”

Her rings clicked against her glass.

“Surely that is a private matter.”

“The apartment appears to be. The maintenance charges have been remarkably public.”

“You have no reason to discuss…”

“I entirely agree. Particularly with your husband expected next week.”

Poruh looked past him and noticed Rahkhan.

Fateese stepped aside with a courteous bow.

“I shall ask Selvara to locate your district’s papers.”

When Poruh had gone, Rahkhan said, “Will she find them?”

“Selvara is extremely capable.”

Fateese closed the tablet and went to fetch Menard for a private conversation with Delrona.

* * *

The stores administrator brought the new charging schedule to the Heartwell offices herself.

Rahkhan accompanied Delrona through a passage where the stone held a faint, continuous warmth. Beyond the inner doors, heavy cradle fittings stood around a Primary Crystal whose long facets disappeared beneath bands of brass and ceramic. Its light was thin near the far end.

An attendant wiped his hands on a cloth without managing to remove the dark marks from his fingers.

“That one should have left three days ago,” the administrator said.

“The intake fell again,” he replied. “It was falling before the ambassador arrived. We cannot put charge into a stone faster by changing the date beside it.”

“Nobody is asking you to,” Delrona said.

Ilyne laid out the revised schedule.

The attendant examined it.

“This removes another period from the regional rotation.”

“For the investigative reserve.”

He looked towards the side chamber.

Inside, six large power crystals rested separately in reinforced travelling frames. They were smaller than a Crestrealm Primary Crystal but each required two men to lift. Blue light gathered steadily within them.

“All six?”

“The Astryx scholars say we can’t do without them. They must be ready before the expedition leaves,” Delrona said.

The administrator traced the schedule with a blunt fingernail.

“Then this Primary leaves below its expected charge, or the next waits.”

“It was already below expectation,” Ilyne said.

“Now it will be further below.”

Delrona removed one glove.

“The Alfadin installation may be part of the reason every one of these schedules is failing. Shall we send scholars into the mountains and ask them to conduct their work with candles?”

“What experiments require this much reserve?” the attendant asked.

“It seems the Astryx scholars have discovered a systems by which controlled tests of an ancient system of conduits can be brought back to life and they may revolutionise power use and distribution in Aethoria. The Astryx material is being reviewed and it seems sound.”

“By the scholars who are coming?” Rahkhan asked.

“Correspondence takes time. So does travel from a hermit kingdom and the paperwork is ridiculously expensive.” Delrona turned to Maerith.

“The reserve remains sealed until the site is secured. No demonstrations along the route, no local requisitions. Drell’s companies are to establish control of the approaches before the technical work begins.”

Maerith made a note.

“Existing personnel?”

“Recorded on arrival. Access thereafter by written permission. I will not have monks, visiting officials and curious mountaineers wandering through an active experiment.”

“Who issues permission?”

“My office.”

The administrator still had her finger upon the schedule.

“I need a discharge level for the regional crystal.”

“The highest you can provide without delaying the reserve.”

“And the notice sent with it?”

Delrona drew on her glove.

“Continued disruption arising from the existing Heartwell deficiencies. Include the action being taken to correct them.”

Outside the reserve chamber, Guardians were receiving smaller crystals from padded cases. Their armour carried the styles of three Crestrealms. Beneath it, each had been issued the same narrow band of purple cloth.

A young recruit held his crystal towards the light, smiling.

Rahkhan remembered doing the same when he received his first blue service crystal.

“Whose command are you joining?” he asked.

“Master Drell’s northern establishment.”

“Your home command released you?”

“My service ended last season. This pays better.”

He fastened the crystal into his equipment.

“A full regular charge, too.”

* * *

Rahkhan wrote his first report that night.

He began with the healing house. He included the relief consignments bound for Sylvan Watch and the replacement Primary Crystal that had finally received its departure clearance. He described the reserve being prepared for Alfadin, the mixed companies under Drell and the appointments in the supply offices.

Then he reached the private meetings.

He had stood outside four. Fateese had attended all of them. Menard had attended two. Rahkhan knew who entered, how long they stayed and what orders appeared afterwards.

He did not know what had been said.

He crossed out the words ‘has ordered’ and wrote ‘appears to be directing’.

That looked weaker. It was also what he could defend as he had missed some of the conversations in the noise of ambassadorial parties.

Before sealing the report, he returned to the first paragraph and added that he had seen the delivered crystals used upon patients. He would not make those people disappear because their recovery complicated his account.

The packet went into a Senate rider dispatch case the following morning.

Rahkhan watched the rider take it aboard the Sylvan vessel, their griffon secured in a stable on the aft deck. The rider would be able to launch a full two days out from Sylvan Watch speeding up the information sent. On the neighbouring quay, workers were securing the great travelling cradle around a replacement Primary Crystal. Its blue light shone through the protective slats. Smaller cases from the Verdant workings waited beside it, marked for healing houses and Guardian reserves at home.

The shipmaster stood with both hands on his hips.

“We shall have people waiting at every stage of the road.”

“For the crystal?”

“For word that it is coming.”

Rahkhan helped a porter tighten a slipping strap.

For the first time since leaving Sylvan Watch, he wished someone from home could see him at his work.

Thy Quest
Delrona’s crystals genuinely help people, but access increasingly depends on her approval. Choose two moments that show this tension. Explain why Rahkhan can feel proud of the relief reaching Sylvan Watch while remaining concerned about her growing influence.