“Is it not dangerous to allow my thoughts to roam too freely in Zor’Aguhastra?” Krahe questioned, expecting this to be a catch of some sort.

  “Under normal circumstances, yes. You can sense the solidity of this place, no? Your thoughts, weighty though they may be, shan’t distort the fabric of our realm unless we permit them to.”

  With permission given, Krahe began considering what to say, where to start. It was one thing to be asked to identify oneself, but she couldn’t very well recount her entire life’s story before the royals, and she didn’t intend to do such a thing even given infinite time.

  At the moment she had decided to agree to the royals' request, she noticed a set of golden scales upon an altar below the throne alcove. Somehow, she knew that they had always been there, yet she had not noticed them until now.

  Even this brief few moments of consideration, not enough to begin deciding on where to start, was apparently too long for the King of Many Colours. He reached up, grasped his index finger, and tore it off at the base.

  “This Imperial Majesty bets that the petitioner shan’t be able to fulfill the criteria within ten words or less,” he said, and threw his finger onto one side of the scales. They tipped, just a bit, and Krahe felt a compulsion to speak, to say anything. Countless options bubbled up in her mind, all at once truthful, all a suitable descriptor of who and what she was. She had experienced such compulsions in the past; under the effect of drugs, hijacked datafeeds, and others, but a compulsion such as this one was not beyond her ability to resist. There was no point to resisting it, and Krahe was certain the compulsion was not even remotely close to the King’s true power, tantamount to a mere nudge. After all, he knew that the accord must be fulfilled one way or another, and the relationship was beneficial to both sides, so he had no reason to pointlessly exert himself in the attempt to prevent it.

  “I am a murderer of murderers,” she said, releasing her thoughts from the fetters she had held them in up until this point. The ground to her sides shuddered and the vast majority of the throne room fell away. In an instant, the grand chamber had been made into a narrow walkway suspended above a desert of smoldering cinders, littered by mountains of burned corpses. Innumerable crows and ravens pecked at the piles, and, wherever one looked, white flowers blossomed from the devastation, not dense enough to cover it, but enough that one couldn’t miss them no matter where one looked.

  The King of Many colours emitted a sound that Krahe could only interpret as being one of amusement as he glanced about. With a snap of the Queen’s fingers — the first substantial movement she had made so far — the throne chamber reverted to its previous state.

  “I’ve decided,” said the King, putting on a grin of teeth that were like the shards of oil-slicked mirrors. His eyes were gone. When had they disappeared? Krahe couldn’t remember. “Y——kh.”

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  There was no sound, not in truth. Krahe merely got the impression of a Y and kh sound, perhaps as a result of her associating part of the Word with the name of some fictional entity. Even so, the Word, spoken with no voice of mortal word, carried with it a distinct meaning. It was that of a corpulent and cold body, as of an aspiring fullborg who has neglected his flesh as if the onset of necrosis were a fashion statement. It was also savage and lustful at once, a deranged druggie who enjoyed biting people.

  “Be not so hasty, I do not believe our visitor has been so uncouth.”

  “I mean this with no malice. He shall serve her best of our offspring — and she, alongside that thing in the guise of our kind, shall rein him in as none have thus far.”

  “I must warn you, Y——kh has driven hosts to violent rampages in the past. Others who were already bloodthirsty, and even those whose natures clashed with his own. We’ve had to render considerable compensation as a result; in order to prevent any such incidents in the future, we would entrust you with our dear Y——kh under a somewhat nonstandard master-disciple contract. Simply use him as you see fit, and rein him in when he misbehaves.”

  “What makes you think I would accept- no, before that, what makes you think he won’t drive me to violent rampages as he has done to others?” Krahe questioned.

  Both of them spoke at once.

  “The fangs in your belly are far sharper, far longer, and far more thoroughly bathed in viscera than those upon Y——kh's hands. He shall behave as a dog behaves before a tiger, or his stay in your company will be long and excruciating indeed. Your raven would take great joy in meting out punishment, of that we are sure, but we bid you to only punish him when punishment is merited. Miscreant or not, Y——kh IS our offspring.”

  “I cannot help but feel that what - or I suppose who - you describe sounds far more like a True Eidolon than the Lesser Eidolons I had anticipated,” Krahe said.

  “I would not give him such merit, not yet, but she has a point, dear husband. Y——kh would easily fall into the middle of the surfacers’ Greater Eidolon classification.”

  “If not her, then who? Bring Y——kh and… Hm. F———a, perhaps.”

  “F———a also falls under the surfacers’ Greater Eidolon classification, albeit just-so.”

  “It would fulfill the accord of ancient times and grant us the leverage to justify also contracting Y——kh. Surfacer, it galls this one to say this, but, if you would, call out your familiar.”

  “It would be most helpful for us so that we may better determine which of our family best suit you; it matters little for the beasts and children you call Lesser Eidolons, but those who stand above them do well if they are matched not only with the correct contractor, but also the correct… Compatriots, let us say.”

  “Speak it as it is. Two eidolons of overly clashing characteristics will tear the contractor’s astral body asunder. Now, if you would, show us.”

  Krahe, rather than risk the two royals descending into another exchange, summoned Barzai. Even here, he emerged from her shadow. However, taking the form of a bird, Barzai manifested twice as tall as Krahe, with waterfalls of smoke cascading from his body and geysers of liquid fire trailing stickily for meters behind his eyes.

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