Establishing Finances
Two more nights passed, a period filled with opportunities of self discovery and self improvement. The entire time was still not spent on any single planet, plenty of opportunity was found to explore such forms of awareness in both worlds.
“Rosa, it’s dawn now. We should probably get some rest and then look into matters on the other side. My sister had wanted me back there pretty early, something about having made an important appointment for something.” “Oh, yeah, the academy was having that fair today, something about a historian’s exhibit. Your sister’s way of thinking isn’t even surprising anymore.” “Oh, so the two of us are going to go see an exhibit?” “Naw, she’ll tell you she has too much homework to worry about and probably just ask you to bring her teacher.” “Except.. wasn’t her essay supposed to be done today? Certainly that would mean she wouldn’t be busy so quickly, right? Besides, she’s always seemed able to just find free time when she’s needed a chance to step away from her work.” Kori could hear how tired Rosa even sounded in such statements, clearly they both just needed some rest. It was more than a little perplexing how much Rosa just suddenly seemed so worn out there, but maybe research had just been hard today. They had both invested the time into trying for practical applications with true chaos.. the results being more confusing than anything. Even their limits in usage seemed to be flexible without cause, something that they found easy to do at one point later proving too taxing for another. At least the matter of process was making it easy enough to adjust to such absolute randomness.
Such, though, wasn’t the only thing that had gone on. Rosa quite frequently disappeared for what she called business meetings with Drew. When pressed upon the idea, Rosa did admit that most of the time was spent making sure Drew had someone on hand who he could associate well with in all of the corporate struggles they were currently enduring. Kori might have provided some stock of supplies, but Velvet cutting them off from civilization was simply making things hard for everyone. Supposedly then, making sure they had proper leadership was supposed to keep them organized? That might be a fair assessment at least, such was generally the same struggle on the other side, with the academy isolated by the foundry. There at least, the academy had quite a stock supply to work with, the citadel providing even more. Even so, things were clearly pretty rough at the academy, it was even starting to feel like Jhez was counting on her to be there for him. Considering such thoughts, she settled down to her time-suspended sleep, ready to visit the other side once they had both woken up again.
“Great, Axln is here now. Okay, so I’ve got these two tickets to this really sweet fair I think you’re going to love. Sadly though, I’ve got a few assignments to still worry about from some of my other classes, so I won’t be able to go with you. Lyun probably won’t enjoy this sort of thing, but it seems like my teacher is actually free today! If you go ask him, he’ll probably be just as thrilled as you to go check things out. Have fun now, and be sure to tell me all about it!” Xwyhr quickly handed off the two tickets and made sure everyone was promptly moving along. Axln accepted both tickets while Lyun felt the onset of a mild headache. As expected, it didn’t take much for Jhez to be compelled to visit the fair either. Once Axln and Jhez were gone, Lyun turned on Xwyhr to get an honest assessment of the situation.
“Homework.. right. Need any help with this ‘homework’?” “Actually, yes. I got that essay done, and it seems like everything had been taken very well by relevant people in society. Well, in the academy at least, of course nothing has been able to go beyond that. There has been quite an outreach of speculation from such, but we’ve landed a bit of a roadblock. Everything seems to honestly point to the foundation of the void’s resourcefulness on Ruixse, the same potential that made the entire kyuemu industry rather lucrative. A lot of this involves the cycle and distribution of elements between solar seasons, but finalizes upon what made such a thing so rich. That.. that would be the foundry’s greatest secret. The academy is now certain that this path had never gotten conjecture before because the foundry had ensured it never would.” “There is no chance the foundry would be willing to spill such a secret and endanger their profits just simply for the sake of historical research.” “Yeah, that. The foundry even really hates the academy right now, making that even.. less likely somehow. The only chance we have in learning more is to outright take the foundry’s greatest protect-secret from them.. without their consent.” Lyun could see where Xwyhr was going with this. Someone would need to break into some of the most secure sections of the entire foundry and actually directly and explicitly steal such priceless information. This wasn’t even a matter of just wandering into some underground vault to steal some boring shell of a rock, nor was it breaking into some floating legacy to take a book no one knew about. This would be the foundry’s greatest asset, possibly the biggest heist historians had ever recorded.
Just as certainly, this would have definitely been recorded by history, Mheridz would be well aware that it was due to happen.
“I.. I.. I don’t know, this just seems impossible. I’ve tried going up against the foundry before.. all my life even. Going up against a group took everything we had. Going up against the entire collective at once, I…” “Girl, have you learned nothing? You aren’t alone, this isn’t all on your shoulders. Sure, you might have a pretty big role to play, but not everything. The future of the world is everyone’s responsibility, right? Never just one person’s, everyone’s. If this is a number’s game, you have to keep in mind that you have Luna and the entire citadel. Beyond that, you would be surprised how much the academy has taken an interest in your ersatzi friend. There is already another division of the academy who has been providing even more ersatz stuff for the girl to work on.. possibly why she looked so overworked when we visited. But beyond that, yes, don’t discount the entire academy as a whole. The foundry has been treating us like garbage, there has been quite the growing resentment here. Learning that such a vital part of global learning has been kept from the academy, why.. it has most of the departments absolutely seething. If you could then organize all this ambition into one unified momentum…” Lyun was still hesitant, but could see Xwyhr had a point.. again. The girl was an outright social whirlpool, bringing people together instead of just doing things on her own. Actually, that was even a resource Mheridz had too, a mass collection of people who had her back. Such an idea might still not be enough, but such a collection of their own would at least be a prerequisite.
“I don’t know, let’s just talk about it during breakfast.” “Oh, it’s okay, student budget, I don’t have breakfast very often.” “Don’t worry, my treat. I owe you anyway, something about losing a bet.” “Oh my! Girl, this I have to hear about!” Lyun brought Xwyhr to the food market, not even paying attention to the food Xwyhr recommended. Even as the two ate and talked, Lyun was more distracted by this sudden involvement of the foundry. The more she thought about it, the more it simply continued to worry her. More than just having to account for her own success, this would make her responsible for any mistakes that would impact anyone involved. Thinking about it that way, everything actually felt like it was even worse than she had originally anticipated. However, the entire time she was worried, Xwyhr just sat there supportively smiling with the occasional giggle at matters of discussion. The result left Lyun still feeling concerned, but not actually as stressed as she would have expected of herself. Such continued right up until they finished eating and found the need to move on. Xwyhr, of course, hadn’t actually been lying about having homework to do, she just hadn’t been inspired to look into such stuff right away. Not having done any homework by the time Axln finished her outing could very well come back to bite her eventually. As such, Lyun quickly found herself suddenly left on her own once again.
Alone had actually been a norm for Lyun for quite a long time by now, ever since achieving her own independence. Sure, Yhzia had been around occasionally, her best friend through her entire life, but even Yhzia slipped out frequently to do stuff on her own, leaving Lyun to her own devices. Starting a workshop had just been her own thing. Even so, her greatest obstacle to success had always been the foundry putting a stranglehold on her resources. The foundry’s products were thus always the best because they were the only ones who could finance a product of enough quality. After all, with how rare kyuemu shards are during a noctal, they were the only ones who could provide a seemingly endless supply of the stuff, the greatest source of their fiscal might. Such was exactly what had always held her back too, never having a supply of the stuff, since she certainly couldn’t make her own shards.
At least, not back then.
The sudden revelation was startling, that she held a financial vice grip that exceeded even the foundry. Using science, she could convert any quality of the ashen wastes into actual shards. More incredible, the ashen wastes were filled with ashen as fine as sand, the most compact shard imaginable, which could be seated into any instrument. Additionally, if she completely ionized such a thing as far as possible, draining it of every last drop, it would be the purest product imaginable. Collecting more than a small sample of the stuff, she could create an almost industrial capacity that would resound in the fiscal community. However.. she wouldn’t have the time to make the most of it, such a thing would demand far too much of her presence. She could sell it to a business, but that would put power in the hands of another, which could be its own problem if it was someone she didn’t trust. However, this would also be a direct ticket into some of the depths of the foundry’s greatest closed doors. Being rich like that would set her into a seat of influence, making the whole operation a slight bit less impossible.
Xwyhr was still correct, there was no way she could achieve this alone. She could store her work on the citadel, but she needed a business liaison for all of the transactions. The academy wouldn’t work for that either, as that was too expansive of a business. Ezhyrae’s little company on the other hand, that might itself actually work. Having several ersatz for transactions would even make such stuff a whole lot easier to process. This in turn would get them enough details on where they needed to go. Additionally, having Ezhyrae a third party, their own success or failure wouldn’t even jeopardize such a fiscal connection, letting them possibly reuse such in the future. They could possibly engineer a ruse too, with the academy’s help, giving an opening to where they needed to go. Certainly, Mheridz wouldn’t fall for it, but there would be no way she could prove a case to the rest of the foundry. Render the entire competition into a counterplay, counter finances with finances, influence with influence, and numbers with numbers.. that would thin Mheridz’s options to something far more manageable. Mheridz might have a lot of counterplay against both of them, but she still wouldn’t have any counter to the newest secret their aspect of chaos held.
Meanwhile, Lyun knew this wasn’t the time to start working on her side of the plan, she herself couldn’t do anything right now. Converting ashen would require applying a scientific shift, which would very certainly have an impact on Axln’s day at the fair. Destabilizing instruments with science might even have a few very unfortunate results. If she could do nothing for herself, then she would start her plan off by working with others. Her foremost idea was checking with Ezhyrae and seeing if the girl had a problem with becoming rich and popular all of a sudden. Maybe she could even request ersatz help getting a bunch of ashen dust brought to the citadel. Luna would need to be properly informed as well, but didn’t seem to be the type to complain to anything she would ever request.
「Do you want Axln to also be informed about your plan?」Oh, what? Ah, that would be her feeling of chaos then, trying to communicate with her. Except for the fact that it felt like she just knew such messages, it was almost in it’s own way akin to how Holi worked in her ears. Even easier was how her replies were equally as unexpressed as her chaos had been. Axln should probably know about this stuff, but only after her outing with Jhez was concluded. It wouldn’t be right to interrupt their time with such material, it would ruin the entire occasion. 「Very well, your principled approach will be accounted for. This should be quite interesting regardless.」 Fortunately, that would even address Axln’s inclusion into matters, having things not kept from her. With such a concern resolved, Lyun made her way back towards Ezhyrae’s place, going over all of the details again in her mind. With luck, Ezhyrae might be in a better mindset to accept such an idea compared to the last time she had dropped by.
Axln walked away from the last exhibit of the fair, feeling very refreshed by the experience at least. It had actually been a lot of fun going over the various aspects of cultural history the people on this side had experienced, especially since arriving on this specific planet. The noctal and diatal flow of time really did cause a lot of notable cultural shifts through the ages, with society in a rush to secure elemental energy in time for the decline, but then having to endure a period where a wisp of elemental could ignite like dry kindling. The contrast to simply enduring a natural process of going from cold to warm and back again felt a lot less developed in comparison. The fact that the people of this planet generally got along far better was quite refreshing as well. Notably, she had actually enjoyed the whole experience with her current company, serving very well to take her mind off of other troubles that had been haunting her of late.
「Lyun has a message for you now, an effective account of what she’s been up to. She’s tracked down some kind of principled secret that is integral to the same history you had just reviewed. The secret is currently in the hands of those she calls the foundry, requiring a dramatic course of action to properly address. Her current plan is to invest into influences that could manipulate the will of such a group, what she calls a fiscal plan. The direct principled awareness might make more sense to your principled mind, do you want such information?」 Wait, Lyun has been… Of course Axln wanted to actually understand more, this sounded very serious. In a flicker of what felt like a pool, Axln felt the knowledge of Lyun’s plan as if it had been momentarily projected over their previous pools, an act which still felt mildly confusing.. but Axln did manage to sort everything out. She did however go more and more pale the more she managed to sort out in her mind. This was no simple heist, this was a seriously big deal, and Mheridz was absolutely certain to be involved. Her own daughter.. that was certainly going to make for a strange confrontation the next time she found Mheridz.
“Is something the matter?” “Oh, just reflecting upon something I had learned before. Don’t worry, it doesn’t affect you. However, it seems what Lyun figured out might be something more interesting to you. It involves Xwyhr’s essay.” “Ah, yeah, that was a very interesting essay, too. Several of the other teachers are all talking about it, considering its potential historical relevance. Did you get to read it?” “No, I only just learned what it was even about. That part about the foundry being related.. seems Lyun is working headlong towards that. Her idea to break into the foundry with enough fiscal influence.. that’s even how Mheridz had made her way in originally.” “That’s nothing as easy as it sounds, not even the entire academy has enough fiscal influence to pull that off.” “Maybe not, but the academy can’t just create qeld from nothing. Lyun’s plan involves creating enough top-quality fine kyuemu to potentially fill the citadel.” Jhez took his turn going pale, outright staring at Axln. That much kyuemu didn’t even exist anywhere within current civilization. Axln was well aware that such a quality would have been unheard of too, having at least worked with the stuff enough to know how much purity would be filled into such a thing.. and how difficult it was to get a usable piece so small. She hadn’t exactly invested much knowledge into why smaller pieces were so unstable, but she had personal knowledge of the value of microscopic power sources over larger varieties. Such dust wasn’t exactly microscopic, but it was considerably smaller than the smallest sample she had ever seen in use.
“She actually generally has everything taken care of fiscally, she just needs to put in the effort to make her plan happen. However, just having all of that kyuemu won’t be enough, we need to also get the foundry’s attention too. Such would remain difficult when we can’t even access their areas of society without things going wrong.” “You could always consider going under-cover, especially considering that shadow gift you’ve developed.” “Probably wouldn’t be enough, there is someone who would just sense it’s just really us there, predicting our arrival before it happened. Even avoiding that, getting the foundry’s attention.. in a respectful way.. isn’t some easy feat.” “Hey, I wouldn’t underestimate your own ability. Remember two girls walking into a mall, using their research in an impressive display of support and encouragement? Drawing eyes from a crowd as you saved someone from a toppling shelf, as I recall. I’m all too convinced that you could do this, you just need to figure out something that would draw more than enough attention.” Axln could feel herself going slightly scarlet at Jhez’s compliment, not having ritualistically thought she could be considered so positively in society. Conduits generally never would.. but she wasn’t exactly a conduit here.
Even so, she didn’t exactly have any good ideas for what would establish such a goal, possibly considering her lack of experience in the field of societal charisma. Even by the time the two of them parted ways, she still had no answer. This was simply something she would need a lot more time to investigate a decent enough solution. Such did leave her feeling a bit at a loss though, having simply enjoyed herself while Lyun got some real high quality work done. Lyun however wasn’t anywhere to be found, having still been at the citadel at the time when she finally settled into scientific principles for work, leaving Axln to her own devices back at the academy as she tried to get out of everyone’s way.. so that none of the instruments present were affected. With nothing better to do, Axln simply went off to the archive’s regular library to see what else she could learn or discover while she waited. This process consumed her entire dawn, with only short occasional breaks to split up the entire period. Axln knew that her job was to at least figure out her own side of the plan, but she still couldn’t make any progress with that either.
Eventually, the two of them opted for a longer break, another round of time suspended slumber. Lyun was outright exhausted by this point, but Axln was instead feeling considerably restless.
Luminaeris 