"It’s worth trying," Owen said. Privately, he knew the Arsenal would decide whether any core was compatible, and that not every core Gareth found would be. He couldn’t promise anything.
"I’m telling Father about this, by the way," Gareth added. "The Steel, and the fact that you can use both together. He should know how unusual your armament is turning out to be."
"That’s fine." Owen had never meant to hide anything his sword could visibly do from his family. Only the system behind it.
Gareth summoned his épée. "Let me feel it. Nothing serious."
He brought his blade against Owen’s in a few controlled contacts, without releasing anything dangerous.
Clang!
Owen felt the difference at once. The reinforced sword took the pressure more solidly than before, and Gareth’s point didn’t bite into it the way it might have. But on the third contact, Gareth leaned into the bind and simply drove Owen’s blade aside, and Owen had to shift his feet to keep his balance.
The sword was stronger. His arms and his footing weren’t.
Gareth lowered his épée before Owen could start wearing himself out. "That’s enough. We’re leaving tomorrow, and another night without proper sleep isn’t going to improve your swordsmanship."
Owen dismissed the sword, and the two of them went back inside.
He found something to eat on the way and went back to his room. He was tired enough to fall asleep almost as soon as he lay down, though he did it with the faint satisfaction of knowing exactly what his sword could do now, and a great deal more curiosity about what it might do next.
The next morning, the Ferrers and Mowbray contingents set out from the village for the Mowbray seat city.
Soldiers secured their field equipment, the recovered cores and the rest of the material from the operation before they left. The road back was familiar now, and nobody treated it as anything more than a road. The operation was over, though Mowbray patrols would keep watching the forest and enforcing whatever hunting restrictions were still needed.
Owen noticed what the subjugation had left on the people walking with him. There was damaged equipment waiting for repair, bandaged arms, and tired faces, and he saw the practical arrangements being made for the Mowbray soldier who had died. He didn’t go back over his own mistake again and again. But he found himself paying attention to the soldiers around him in a way he hadn’t on the way out, and to the road under his feet.
They reached the Mowbray seat city by late morning.
The Ferrers airship was already being prepared on the estate’s military landing grounds. Steam escaped from its machinery every so often, the crew were securing the last of the cargo, and the silver Ferrers crest stood out against the dark hull. Mowbray soldiers in forest-green coats were supervising the departure alongside Ferrers personnel.
Owen, Gareth and Edmund gathered near the boarding area with Mercer and the officers. Edith was busy with the departing detachment, moving between groups of soldiers and checking their arrangements.
Lord Mowbray arrived with William, his eldest son, and a few attendants to see them off.
He went to Edmund first. They began with the courtesies expected between the heads of two Great Families, but it didn’t take long before they slipped back into the same familiarity Owen had seen when they arrived.
"Thank you for coming," Lord Mowbray said, and he meant it. "And for bringing your soldiers into my territory. Without you, we’d still be guessing at what was driving those monsters out, and that village would still be paying for it."
He didn’t dwell on the man they had lost. He only mentioned it once, briefly, and moved on. But it was clear that he knew what the operation had cost and what it might have cost if he had needed to pull more of his own soldiers away from their other duties.
"You’ve done the same for us before," Edmund said. "I wasn’t going to ignore a request from you."
"I’d still prefer it if you visited for something other than monsters."
"You could try inviting me when nothing is trying to eat your villagers."
"I have. You were busy."
Edmund didn’t have an answer for that, and Lord Mowbray looked pleased with himself.
Then he turned to Gareth and Owen.
"Thank you for leading your group through that encounter," he said to Gareth. "It could have ended a great deal worse."
"We all brought it down, my lord," Gareth said. "I just happened to be giving the orders."
Lord Mowbray turned to Owen next. "And thank you for noticing how that steel was moving. William told me it was what let you find a way through."
"The others created the opening, my lord," Owen said. "I only finished it." He meant it, but he didn’t pretend his part had been nothing either. He knew what he had done in that fight, and he knew what Gareth and William and the soldiers had done to make it possible.
Lord Mowbray seemed pleased with that answer and left it there.
He gestured to one of his attendants, who came forward carrying a small gold chest. When the lid was opened, Owen could see that it was filled with neatly arranged gold coins.
"A gift," Lord Mowbray said, turning to Edmund. "From House Mowbray to House Ferrers, in gratitude for your help."
"I didn’t come here expecting payment," Edmund said.
"It isn’t payment for our friendship. You brought soldiers, equipment, supplies and an airship into my territory. I want that acknowledged properly."
"You could have just invited me to dinner."
"And you’d have found a reason not to come." Lord Mowbray held the chest out a little farther. "You’re always this stubborn whenever someone tries to give you something. Take it, Edmund."
Edmund looked at the chest for a moment longer, then accepted it and thanked him. He passed it to Mercer to be secured with the rest of their belongings rather than carrying it onto the airship himself.
"If House Ferrers ever needs help," Lord Mowbray said, "send word. We’ll come just as you did."
"I know," Edmund said simply.
While their fathers went on talking, William drifted over to Gareth and Owen. His manner loosened the moment he was standing with them. He and Gareth were both third-year students in their final year at the academy, and their friendship clearly went well beyond this operation.
"Only you," William said to Gareth, "could turn a visit to my territory into a monster hunt that nearly got us all killed."
"Your house asked for us."
"That’s hardly the point."
"Have you kept up with your training over the break?" Gareth asked. "Because when we get back, you’re going to suffer."
"I’m not the one who’s going to suffer," William said.
Then he turned to Owen. Something in the way he looked at him had changed since the forest. Owen wasn’t just Gareth’s younger brother who had recently awakened anymore.
"That was a strange first subjugation," William said. "A lot more dangerous than anyone expected. You handled that sword of yours well."
"I’m hoping the next one has fewer surprises," Owen said.
"They usually don’t," William said, and Gareth snorted.
Lord Mowbray turned toward them and then looked back at Edmund. "Has Owen’s academy letter arrived yet?"
"Not yet," Edmund said. "I expect news soon, now that his awakening has been clarified. The ceremony complicated matters, but he’s shown a working sword since, and he’s advanced through his cultivation."
The mention of the academy made Owen think about what came next. He had grown up expecting to go, just as Gareth had. Anyone who joined the military without officer training began as a Private and had to work their way up through promotion, while someone who finished the academy’s three years could enter commissioned service as a Second Lieutenant. Not every awakened person could afford that, and some enlisted directly or went off to work as hunters instead. Owen had never needed to worry about the cost, but after his ceremony, he had started to wonder whether his strange awakening might keep him out anyway.
"You might arrive just as we’re finishing," William said. "We’ll be graduating while you’re still getting lost on your way to class."
"Don’t believe half of what he tells you about the academy," Gareth said.
"Only half?"
"Less than half."
William objected, and for a moment, Owen caught a glimpse of the two of them as they must have been at school, not as heirs or soldiers but simply as two friends who had spent three years irritating each other.
"I’m sure he’ll do well once that letter is settled," Lord Mowbray said, with a nod toward Owen. "Given the training he’s had, and what he did out there."
Edmund didn’t take it any further than that. "We’ll deal with the academy arrangements once we’re home."
Mercer came over before anyone could say much more. He confirmed to Edmund that all the Ferrers personnel and cargo were accounted for and that the airship crew was ready. Around them, the last soldiers were boarding, and the remaining officers were saying their goodbyes to their Mowbray counterparts.
Edmund and Lord Mowbray clasped forearms, the same way they had when the Ferrers delegation first arrived.
"Don’t hesitate," Lord Mowbray said. "Whenever you need us."
"Next time, I’ll visit when nothing is on fire," Edmund said.
"I’ll believe that when I see it."
William and Gareth said their own goodbyes with a lot less ceremony, since they would be seeing each other again at the academy soon enough. Then William turned to Owen.
"I’ll see you again," he said. "Whether it’s on another visit, or once you’re at the academy yourself."
Owen nodded, then turned to Lord Mowbray.
"Thank you for your hospitality, my lord," he said. "And for letting me be part of the operation."
He meant every word of it. The operation had been far more dangerous than he had expected, but it had also been the first time he had seen another Great Family’s territory, fought alongside people who fought differently from anyone he had trained with, and seen for himself what a real military operation could cost.
Lord Mowbray inclined his head, and Owen followed Gareth toward the airship.
On the way to the ramp, his thoughts went back to the night before. His sword held both fire and steel now, and Gareth wanted to find out whether it could take a third power once they were home. Owen couldn’t predict what the next compatible core might do, but he was looking forward to finding out.
Then there was the academy. Gareth and William were about to finish their final year, and Owen was still waiting for the letter that would let him begin his first.
He reached the foot of the boarding ramp, where the rest of the Ferrers party was finishing their farewells. He was leaving Mowbray territory with a second power in his sword, a new possibility waiting for him at home, and the academy ahead of him.