"Issvako was an Archon of Stone," Othala continued. "She said that stone resists the conduits' power well because it knows it's supposed to be the way it is, while other elements change. I suspect that's why the conduits have lasted as long as they have, even inactive. Until I was disabled, either Issvako or another Archon performed conduit maintenance whenever the flux grew too high. Issvako could keep the flux contained longer."

Sophia tried not to show that she really didn't care about conduit maintenance. She was very interested in the Archon, even though her heritage came from an Archon of the Winds instead of an Archon of Stone. "Did you ever see an Archon of the Winds?"

"Once," Othala admitted. "When the interspace conduit was first activated, Issvako brought several other Archons with her. One of them was an Archon of the Winds."

Othala didn't audibly prompt Scout, but the image Scout was projecting shifted and took on a greenish tone. The outer circle seemed to turn into a ring of feathers made of light and fog, while the creature in the middle became green with white wingtips instead of blue and gold. It was still a bird, or at least a creature with feathered wings made of light, but the tail looked more like the end of a tattered robe than the feathered tail Issvako had.

All Sophia could think was that if that was the same sort of being as one of her ancestors, interbreeding with humans had changed them a lot. She'd never met her grandmother's grandfather, but from what her grandmother said he simply looked like a human with white wings, and that was the last time the Archon influence showed itself overtly in her family. "How much do they influence their own shapes? If they're really made of light, it could be a lot…"

"I do not know. That is not in the records," Othala answered calmly. She didn't seem all that interested in the Archons. "Despite the way the interspace conduits were created, I do not think you will need multiple elemental specialists to repair them, so do not worry about that. You may need someone skilled with either spatial magic or enchantments; those were the specialties of the technicians Issvako trained to perform minor repairs without her. I can provide you with all of the information she provided before you leave."

Sophia stared at the picture of the Archon of the Winds for a long moment before she stopped to consider Othala's request. Entering a space where you needed shields and were safe until they were too damaged seemed fine, but Othala didn't really know what was there. She only knew what the space was like over sixteen hundred years earlier, before it was "broken." Whatever that meant.

Sophia was certainly not an expert in either spatial magic or enchantments. She'd never done more than the normal projects a homeschooled kid did when her family taught her magic, and only Aunt Red did much with enchantments. Even then, most of it was dealing with antiques that were possibly damaged by time and figuring out what they might have done and how to more-or-less safely activate them.

Well, actually, that might be exactly the right sort of experience for this, now that she thought about it. Sixteen hundred years was older than many of Red's antiques but younger than others. Of course, none of them were spatial magic; spatial magic had an unfortunate tendency to discorporate violently if it was destabilized in the wrong way. People other than Red called that exploding, so even when stuff using spatial magic survived long enough to reach Red, it didn't usually survive her first attempt to restore it.

The only ancient spatial magic Sophia had ever examined closely was the Well of Souls, and that multi-world teleportation network was really weird. She didn't really understand it, but that was fine. Neither did anyone else. It wasn't built based on modern principles of magic and was very finicky.

Sophia wasn't sure anything in the Broken Lands was based on the modern principles of magic she knew; if it was, she hadn't seen it yet. Unfortunately, the enchantments she'd seen also didn't seem to be based on the old principles she partially understood. Someone who was actually good at enchanting could probably figure it out, but that wasn't Sophia.

No, she'd have to ask someone here who knew something about enchanting. That probably meant Xin'ri; while she wasn't a crafter, she was the best option available. It might be best to see what was there first before they pulled Xin'ri in. Sophia was pretty sure Xin'ri was a Professional, which meant her shield was less capable than Sophia's.

"What will you do for us if we do this for you?" Volat translated a question from Lan'ti while Sophia tried to figure out where to start.

"I will do what I was designed to do," Othala answered coolly. "I will manage this installation and provide records to those who need them and are authorized to have them. Those who repair the conduits are obviously authorized."

"A research facility from the Kestii Empire," Lan'ti muttered after Volat gave him Othala's answer. "One with the most complete records of the Empire we've ever found and someone who can at least say what she saw, even if she doesn't fully understand it. That's more than enough to make this trip worthwhile, more than enough to make it worth sending people to set up a long-term camp here. It might be enough for a settlement with craftsmen. Trade with Izel would be possible most of the year. I wonder if Uncle Los'en would be happy running a place like that? It would keep him away from the Templars."

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"Research and crafting," Othala corrected Lan'ti. "The first few of everything discovered here was also created here. Some of those supplies still exist, and with repairs more of them could be created. Many things would require additional materials, but restoration of the otherspace conduits should allow the consolidation of secondary mana residue into a long-lasting solidified format that can be used for item creation and enhancement."

Sophia raised an eyebrow. Did Othala just say that she could essentially 3D print with magic, specifically with essence? That was what it sounded like, but Sophia doubted it. It was far more likely that Othala was talking about making some sort of precursor material that could then be used for a lot of things.

The thing about magic was that it was directed by the mind. Purely mechanical processes didn't do much. Runes worked because the person who drew them knew what they meant. Copying a runescript without understanding could work, but it often introduced significant errors. There were ways to mostly overcome that, like having someone who knew what they were doing activate a runescript created by less skilled practitioners, but-

"We fix you and you work for us? That sounds like a good trade." Lan'ti paused for a moment while Volat translated, then continued. "Are you certain that's enough? Is there something more you want from us?"

Sophia suppressed a laugh. Lan'ti obviously felt like he'd just been offered everything he wanted in exchange for doing something he wanted to do anyway. Sophia didn't really care about the reward Othala was offering; while she'd definitely check out Othala's records, especially anything on Archons, Sophia wasn't that interested in crafting items.

The interspace conduits, on the other hand, were very interesting now that she thought about them more. They might be a way to get home or at least to send a message home. She didn't know for sure, but it was worth a look. Interspace could easily be just another name for the Origin. Sophia hoped that was the case, because if there were people here who knew how to reach the Origin, it would help immensely when it came time to reach home.

If she could find a way to the Archons' homeworld, Sophia was pretty sure she'd head there first. They might be able to chart a safe way home for her and Dav, and that was something Sophia didn't know how to do.

"It is what I was made to do," Othala answered. "If you can provide additional workers and materials and perhaps request assistance from the Archons, those things would help."

Sophia shook her head. Othala needed hobbies or something. Its entire focus was on the work it was supposed to do. That made it incredible that it was even remotely sane after more than a thousand years without being able to do that work.

Maybe that was why it was so intent on being able to resume its work?

"You said the Archons came through the Gateway, didn't you?" When Othala's positive answer was translated by Volat, Lan'ti shook his head. "We can't reach them. No one has gotten through the Maze to reach the Gateway since the Tower fell. We don't even know if the Gateway is still there."

Sophia's glared momentarily at Lan'ti before she forced herself to relax. A Gateway was exactly what she was looking for to get herself home, or more likely to reach Terra to visit Dav's home and meet his parents. She knew there was a Gateway inside the Maze; that was in the papers Registry Master Jessamine gave them before they left Casterville. She shouldn't blame Lan'ti for not mentioning it when he didn't even know if it still worked and she already knew about it anyway.

She really shouldn't blame him when she wasn't sure she was ready to head home yet anyway. For all that she seemed to keep running into massive problems, she kept getting out of them. It was far more varied than doing a few dungeons every day, which was nice, even if some days were just trying to stay on a horse for ten hours. That experience made Sophia long for proper portals or at least some form of entertainment other than talking and hunting.

And yet she loved her life in the Broken Lands and didn't really want to go home. Sophia couldn't even really say why that was. Maybe it was the people?

"Then you have nothing else that I want," Othala said coldly. "I will gather the records Issvako left on the interspace conduits. For anything else, talk to Scout."

Sophia frowned as she heard Volat translate for Lan'ti again. Wasn't Othala missing the obvious? "Don't you want to learn English? It would let you talk to everyone, not just Volat and me."

Othala's pause was almost but not quite long enough for Sophia to give up on getting an answer. "Fine. Yes. I also want to learn your language."

It took far too long to settle on a plan for Sophia's taste, but they finally had one. It was a simplistic plan but it ought to work, even though they'd recently discovered that it wasn't one conduit that was broken; there were four. They'd have to take them on one at a time.

Volat was teaching Othala English. It was quite simply boring to watch as they slowly made their way through vocabulary. Sophia was surprised it wasn't faster; even though Othala could easily look up the words it needed, it sounded wrong even when the words were right. Volat seemed pleased with Othala's progress, though, so Sophia kept herself out of it. She was no linguist; she only knew a handful of languages, and she'd learned those as a child.

Sophia and Dav were the scouts, heading in first to see what was going on and if they needed more people. They were the two people Othala thought were the most likely to survive the conditions in the otherspace conduit if it was worse there than Othala's records indicated. Sophia's manaform was similar to an Archon's, while Dav's was similar to the otherspace itself.

Xin'ri would either follow them when they established it was safe enough or give them advice whenever they left the conduit.

Most of the rest of the group was handling ruins apparitions throughout the complex, taking care of daily tasks that had to be done, rebuilding the still-damaged upstairs, or otherwise busy with things that couldn't wait, but everyone they could spare waited with Xin'ri for Sophia and Dav to call for help.

That meant that Xin'ri, Ci'an, Taika, Lan'ti, Horus, and Azalea were the only people who accompanied Sophia and Dav as they followed Scout to the first broken interspace conduit.

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