Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

’Goddammit... really?’

Zhang Xi is standing in front of the coach with Leona Hartwell.

The leader of the Silver Fang picked light clothes under the guild’s silver mantle, and the emblem pinned at her shoulder catches the lights from the upper platforms. Even standing still, she changes the flow around her. Divers slow down when they recognize her, commercial representatives change direction, and Academy staff find reasons to cross that part of the supplier area.

I needed discretion.

Zhang Xi brought a woman who can turn a closed coach into the talk of the event before we even open the doors.

Rhayne follows my gaze as we walk between the lines. "That’s Leona Hartwell?"

"Unfortunately."

"I think she heard you."

Leona breaks into a smile from across the area and raises a hand. "My disaster. Come here before that uncomfortable face of yours starts driving off customers."

The Oathring’s commercial area is already packed. Food coaches, consumable sellers, and guild representatives fight for space between the side entrances. Above them, the suspended screens have started announcing inspection times and the event schedule. Every minute, a different voice calls participants to some gate. They haven’t called mine yet.

I reach the coach and look at Zhang Xi. "This was the discreet person you had in mind?"

She takes the question without a hint of guilt. "I said I knew the right person. I never said she’d be discreet."

Leona laughs, but Zhang Xi stays serious. That’s when I realize the choice wasn’t impulsive. She studied the coach last night, listened to the plan, and came here with an answer of her own.

"You knew what would happen when you brought Leona."

"I knew nobody would try to push out a medical operation run by the Silver Fang without offering a public justification. I also knew the LDP would carry more credibility in the hands of someone who has already assessed the product."

Leona rests her palm on the coach’s dark wood. "Xi walked me through the timing, the structure of the sale, and the part you decided to keep quiet. I don’t need another introduction to the LDP. After our deal, it would be hard to forget the product that can keep my healers working when the OXI runs out."

The original plan depended on starting small. Zhang Xi would run the sales, the coach would open at the right moment, and interest would build alongside the demonstration.

Leona destroys that step just by being present.

Two men in formal clothes are already watching the coach near the supplier entrance. One of them probably has a HUD window open, judging by the way his hand moves through the air with no apparent purpose. The other keeps glancing at the Azure Prime guards and then at us, as if measuring something.

Whether they’re Rahul’s men or just merchants trying to read the movement hardly matters. Discretion is already gone.

What’s left is using the attention.

"Then we change the presentation," I say.

Leona lifts her hand off the coach and turns her full attention to me. "What are you planning to do, my disaster?"

"I want you to make noise. Use the Silver Fang name, amplify the demonstration, and turn the opening of those panels into something that reaches the stands. By the time people start asking what’s being sold, I want half the stock already gone."

She studies the platforms filling with spectators. The smile comes back slowly.

"I can put the Silver Fang seal above the coach, project the recovery measurements, and run a live demonstration. That’ll draw attention before the first fight ends."

Zhang Xi joins the conversation while she examines one of the side latches. "Not before. We need the crowd to be looking for an explanation. If Leona presents the LDP now, the event announcements will swallow the message. At the right moment, everyone will have seen the effect and be ready to hear the reason."

I look at her. "You’d already worked out the demonstration, before you even knew mine?"

"Since Richard opened the coach yesterday, I knew what to do to help."

Leona moves closer to the monk, and the two start discussing the counter’s position and the space needed in front of the panels in low voices. Zhang Xi points out where buyers should line up, then indicates a clear area where the projections can be seen without blocking participant access.

I still don’t know every detail of what she intends to do.

But I trust her, and that alone makes me breathe easier.

Oliver arrives carrying Motorhead on his back. Veric comes right behind him, Undertow strapped to his arm and the gladius at his hip. The two have to dodge staff, crates, and an entire team being walked to inspection. Why they’re both carrying their weapons out of inventory is a mystery to me.

Oliver recognizes Leona and lets out a low whistle. "When you said controlled sale, I pictured fewer famous people standing around the merchandise."

Leona hears him and answers before I can. "A controlled sale is usually the polite way of saying nobody knows whether the product will interest the public. The LDP is past that stage, I promise you."

Oliver nods, still watching the movement her presence created. "In that case, I’d say the control’s over."

He laughs, warm and unbothered, as if mocking the problem now sitting in my hands.

Veric stops beside me and takes in the guards, the men in formal clothes, and Zhang Xi rearranging the area around the coach. "It was one night. How did you turn a mobile shop into a political problem?"

"You got here at the right time. Now you’re part of the plan. Come with me."

His expression hardens. "You bastard. I should have shown up late."

I take his arm and steer him toward Richard, who’s going over event entry documents near the rear doors.

"I need the Crest of Monarch."

Richard closes the folder. "You left it with me to handle factory matters. What happened?"

"A bigger matter came up."

He doesn’t ask for details. He pulls the Crest from his inventory and sets it in my hand. The symbol of House Azurea appears on my HUD the moment my fingers touch the metal.

Veric sees it. "Why did Richard have my father’s Crest?"

"Because he had to deal with problems bigger than ours, and he was under my care."

"That still doesn’t explain what you plan to do with it now."

"Just watch."

I pick out four Azure Prime guards posted near the passage separating the suppliers from the participants’ entrance. The officer at the front recognizes Veric and salutes immediately.

I show the Crest.

"That coach will be under the protection of House Azurea until the event closes. No inspection, removal, or interruption of its commercial activity is authorized without direct approval from Prince Veric."

The officer takes the order seriously, but his eyes go to Veric right after.

Veric says nothing for a while. I start working out my next lie in a hurry.

Then he looks at the men in formal clothes across the passage and makes his decision.

"Post two guards at the coach and keep another two near the side access. Any request involving that cargo comes to me. That includes private security orders and administrative representatives of the event."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The four start moving.

I wait until we’re clear before returning the Crest to my inventory.

Veric grabs my shoulder and stops me. "My father never gave that order."

"He didn’t have to."

"You used his Crest in front of Azure Prime officers. They’ll log it."

"They’ll log that the prince confirmed the protection. Not Dryden Sands."

He closes his eyes for a moment and breathes through his nose. "You’re a crazy son of a bitch."

"Takes a bigger madman to cure a madman."

"That line doesn’t improve the situation."

"Rahul has influence over the event administration. He can send inspectors, staff, or private security to the coach to kill our plan. Now any attempt has to get past royal guards and your authorization."

Veric watches the men taking position around the vehicle. "He can still order them to do it."

"He can. But he won’t buy a public fight with House Azurea over a shipment of potions. Leona will be standing in front of that coach too. To stop the sale, he’d have to insult your family and the Silver Fang while thousands of people watch."

The irritation stays on Veric’s face, but he follows the logic to the end.

"You could have asked for my help before lying to the guards."

"You would have refused."

"Maybe I’d have found a way that didn’t put my neck in the same noose as yours."

"Now you’ve found one. Just don’t let me fall alone."

Veric lets go of my shoulder. "After the event, we’re going to have a conversation about your use of the word ’help.’"

We head back to the coach. The royal guards have already formed a discreet perimeter, keeping the access clear without leaving their posts. The change draws even more eyes, exactly what I need at this point.

Richard finishes handing documentation to a staff member.

"How much stock is still at the factory?" I ask.

"Not much. A few crates were set aside for control, and part of the next batch has already entered its final stage. I wasn’t planning to move everything today."

"Go get whatever’s ready."

He looks at Leona and Zhang Xi. The two have opened one of the panels just enough to check the interior lighting. The violet glow of the runes escapes through the gap, catching the curiosity of everyone walking past.

"If we bring the whole stock, we’ll have no reserve until the next production run."

"Once those two are finished, I think that’ll be the least of our problems."

Richard thinks for a few seconds before accepting. "I’ll need some time. I’ll be back as soon as the crates are ready."

"Take someone from the factory to help with the stock. Bring it in your inventory. That way nobody talks about where it’s going on the way over."

Richard files the rest of the papers and walks toward the front of the gate. Before going on, he looks at the stands and the line already forming near the guards.

"How many people are you expecting to try to buy?"

"More than we can serve. That’s why we need more, or this turns into chaos."

He smiles, satisfied, and leaves with quick steps through the supplier exit.

The Oathring keeps growing around us. Teams cross the inspection gates with instructors and assistants in tow. Sellers raise their voices to compete with the announcements. The screens change again, showing the names of the main participants, and Leona’s image appearing near the commercial area sets off another wave of comments while she waves at the magic camera eye.

Rhayne comes closer as I watch Richard disappear into the street.

The violet earrings sway beside her face, and one of the crystals flashes briefly when a porter passes with a crate of charged equipment.

"Is your plan still the same as yesterday?" she asks.

"The goal is. The road got louder."

She looks at Leona and Zhang Xi. "I think they liked that part."

"So do I, as long as the noise sells every vial."

Our eyes meet. Rhayne touches one of the earrings and turns her attention to the arena, though the small smile stays on her face.

A hum impossible to ignore cuts across the ocean sky, like a blue magical shot.

The blast that follows forms a silver fish above the Oathring, trailed by waves of light that run across the upper structures. More fireworks come after, scattering the crests of invited guilds and sea creatures over the stands.

The four barrier columns light at once.

The ground shakes when the crowd answers.

The suspended screens drop the odds and display the event emblem, the coat of arms of the Patala Syndicate. A green shield with two daggers crossed over a Plate of scale.

Oathrings are supposed to be public spaces. The one in Azure Prime was claimed by Rahul’s guild.

An amplified voice runs through the arena, the commercial areas, and the nearby streets, drowning out every conversation for a few seconds.

"Divers of Azure Prime, welcome to the great team event of Azure Prime!"

Leona appears at my side while the crowd is still applauding. She follows the lights over the field, then looks at the coach, where Zhang Xi keeps a hand on the main engine latch.

"I want the exact moment, my disaster. Once I open this presentation, nobody’s putting it back in the box."

I study the stands, the central field, and the men still watching the coach from a distance.

"Start when everyone’s looking at me."

Her expression already looks like it knows what she’ll do next.

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