“What questions has Flowing Silver Emperor for His distant wayward vassal?” I asked politely, bowing to the small Portal that hovered at eye level and about fifty feet away from Flowing Silver Emperor. The massive Nine-Tailed Silver Fox had no problems setting it exactly where He wanted it.

-I SPOKE WITH YOUR THUNDERBIRD, AND WE TALKED OF MANY THINGS. THINGS BEYOND BEASTS AND WORLDS. IT SEEMS WE EMPERORS SHOULD SPEAK MORE.

-I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH OTHER EMPERORS AS WE NEED, EVEN IF THEY ARE BEYOND RANGE OF MY MIND, AND ESPECIALLY TO THE OTHER EMPERORS WHO SURROUND THE BREACH.

-HOW WOULD YOU MAKE THIS SO, HEALER FAE?-

I considered the problem, also noting that He was asking ME to take care of a problem there, without me even being there! “Your Imperial Majesty, there are several ways to do such that do not involve needing this one to open Portals next to Portals that both Emperors may speak through. Fire Phoenix Emperor confirmed that He could feel His Will moving, even in the Beast Plane. This one also believes that range is not a factor in feeling Will in the Beast Realm itself.

“Having an item with the Will of the other Emperor upon it should be sufficient for Your Imperial Majesty to use your Psychic Magic on it and contact them. Your Majesty would simply need to gather items with Imperial Wills upon it, then. This method, however, would all be on Your Majesty.

“Another method might be to use the Mortal World as an intermediary. By establishing a Formation charged with Psychic Magic, His Majesty might place items with the Wills of Emperors upon them, and then they could speak to any other Emperor whose Will is inside the Formation. His Imperial Majesty would not be ‘required’ to be at the center of things... or be bothered by Emperors who might want to speak to one another, but not Him.

“If His Majesty has the patience, this one could instruct Him on how to make such a Formation Himself and simply secure it in a safe cave somewhere, adding Tokens of Will to it as He wishes, and leave the Mortal World out of it entirely.” I weighed my next words carefully as He considered my last ones with equal thoughtfulness.

“This one may also have a way for His Imperial Majesty to use a Portal to travel within the Beast Realm.”

I had His immediate and undivided attention. -HOW?- He /asked simply, His pale blue eyes fixed upon me.

“This one is capable of making a Portal large enough to pass an Emperor, but there is no way for a being as powerful as an Emperor to pass through to the Mortal Plane without disrupting the Portal.

“But if this one were to make another Portal to the Beast Realm, and then simply push the two together...” I made circles with my forefingers and thumbs and moved them together, “There is no such resistance or interference when traveling between points on the Beast Plane.”

-THAT WOULD BE A POWERFUL METHOD TO ATTACK AN ENEMY... OR REINFORCE THEM.- He /observed knowingly.

“Or, perhaps, for His Imperial Majesty to pay a social visit to Crimson Dream Emperor?” I said with a straight face.

He actually blinked at that one! -SLY LITTLE HUMAN. I WILL THINK ON THIS!- He /laughed at me, and the Portal was closed smoothly.

Reynard’s father Winkle had let that bit slip when I’d asked him about Flowing Silver, and who was the mother of His pups. The Crimson Dream Fox Emperor held Her court three whole domains away, however, and so them visiting one another was a great investment in time and energy.

Maybe not so much now... and it would be a good trick if He sprang it on Her!

-------

“My workload is increasing! Please lengthen the day to forty-eight hours so I can get more done!”

I flopped on Sama’s comfortable couch and promptly started to half-doze. I had my own quarters, of course, but why use them when I could be wrapped up safely in the Null of the most dangerous Hag in the world?

“I’ll send a Memo to Father Time,” Sama agreed. “It may take a few ages to get to Him, but I’m sure He’ll seriously consider it.”

“See that you do!” I ordered mock imperiously.

“It’s your own damn fault for being such a busybody,” Sama pointed out cheerfully.

“You sleep two hours a day because you must. I know your damn schedule!” I retorted to her.

“Travel times,” she replied loftily. “I need you to get to Thirteen Magos so Fuzzy and I can get Teleport without Error and no range limits! Show them idiots with the Teleport Pads what’s up!”

There were powerful Teleport Formations and Devices that were used to skip through space and save going the intervening distance, especially if such distance was through dangerous territory. Most of them were used to send mining loads through, and thus only able to transport unliving matter without crushing them. The expensive ones could transport people, but were naturally restricted to the very rich and powerful who owned them, and others were allowed to use them only grudgingly.

Man, those people were going to be pissed when they learned that Nine wizards could Teleport around so easily, and it only got better with Mana boosting the spells...

“Watcha watching?” I asked lazily.

“Your vid on Fire Phoenix taking over the higher spells. Wow, is there some very mixed messages in there... although I have to admit, He’s a big gorgeous Bird, He is!”

I’d naturally shown Him all of my Fire, Chaos, Blessing, and Healing spells, and He’d been more than happy to play the filter on the higher-tier versions of them. Again, going to see Him wasn’t necessary, as Mage was the tier where you could start making your own spells to do stuff... but if you wanted the BEST stuff, it meant seeking an audience with Fire Phoenix or His representative!

“He planning on handling it like Thunderbird?” she asked, as the vid finished up with my apologies and excitement that yes, the spells existed; no, I hadn’t invented them; yes, you could go get them, but...!

Thunderbird had basically ordered one of his Stormcrown Eagles over to Michigan to watch over the Whitecrowns who’d taken up nesting in the Refractory Towers there. One Aural Lens to allow the fellow to study those supplicants who showed up at the arranged site once a week, a Ring of Truth on a talon, and he could impart knowledge of the magic as he saw fit.

He was also handing out a bunch of to-do lists to said supplicants, which I was pretty sure he was laughing about as he did so. Cleaning up the environment, tracking down polluters, poachers, and other idiots, or sending them off to serve in the Littoral Zones or other areas with lots of attackers from the sea before they could earn the spells was practically a given.

The shorelines of America, if not elsewhere, were being buttressed nicely.

Of course, the people of our Allegiance had been doing that all along, so them popping up with the new spells was basically a given... and, yes, the devoted spells were indeed better than warping the nominal spells to try to do something similar!

“Yeah, there’s an entry valley to the Firelands being set aside for meeting with Fire-users. We don’t have to worry about it being camped. Any dwellers in the Firelands know there’ll be a Phoenix there every Sunday, so if they need to be Healed or Blessed they traipse on down there and wait for him to show. For some reason nobody wants to camp an area that is crawling with Fire-using Beasts too much, and if they go hunting them, woo-eee. That isn’t going to end well for anyone.”

“I trust some people have tried it, and proven they taste good barbecued?” Sama laughed.

“Know Humans well, you do. Studied, you have!” I congratulated her. “Also, a convenient point for young Fire Beasts to possibly get a Contractor, although we aren’t exactly making that public. Red and Sunny are out there helping keep things organized, and helping the recalcitrant into the jaws of their would-be victims, if needed.”

Red could have made Archmage in Fire by now, following behind The Mick, but had held off until all his Elements were topped off, no longer so eager to do so when there were so many other things to improve on and do. It was a given that he would succeed when he tried, and bring Sunny right along with him to Noble-rank when he did so, which alleviated much of the pressure to do so.

It didn’t stop him from Firejumping to the Littoral Zones to do his share, or to relieve some of our Mexican holdings if the alarm was sounding. His combination of protective, offensive, and healing magic was greatly admired.

He was calling his combination of Healing and Fire Magic ‘Phoenix Magery’, and had a trio of other Mages with those Elements under him now. Strangely enough, those Mages had somehow gained a Burning Swallow, a Dawn Jay, and a Sun Raven as Contracted Beasts!

Red also had open leave to communicate with Fire Phoenix Emperor or His Vassals about things going on in the Firelands. If things started going sour and idiots started getting greedy, well, said idiots weren’t around too long after a Noble Fire Mountain Bear or Smoke Owl or something wandered over and ate the problem.

Most amusingly, how could the Acropolis protest about the Healing and Blessing spells when a Phoenix was the one dispensing them? Although I’m sure they wanted one of their pet Unicorns or something to have the knowledge, too.

Too bad, so sad.

“What’s up with the Emperors that’s got you in such a mood?” she asked, always perceptive. Making a Council of the True Emperors was a Big Thing, especially if at least some positive views of Humans could be included in it.

“Auric Tyrant wants Heavenly Fire in the meeting.”

Sama spun around on her chair. “Seriously? Isn’t He like the biggest prick among the Emperors?”

“All three High Emperors are Dragons, right? He’s the most powerful Fire Dragon in the world, and he’s not a High Emperor. Probably the only way he might become one is to kill and eat Fire Phoenix Emperor.”

Doing so would get Him on the shitlist of basically every non-High Emperor on the planet. As the most powerful Healer in the world, Fire Phoenix had ministered to dozens of other Emperors at one time or another. Heavenly Fire killing Him meant no more Healing! They’d gang up and murder Heavenly Fire just for costing them their Healer!

“His domain in Kamchatka is basically a cinderland of ash and lava. Not even other Fire Dragons or Drakes like living there!” Sama rolled her eyes.

“And there’s absolutely zero chance of any Sea Emperor daring to intrude on His domain. He could not give a damn about The Great Flood. Ice Emperor is almost His uncle!”

“I think the White Death should just wander over and freeze Him solid,” Sama snorted.

“Well, He’s not much friendlier to Humans, but White Death doesn’t like The Sea or Ice Emperors. The very idea that Humans can break The Great Flood will probably piss off Heavenly Fire to no end.”

Because He couldn’t, of course!

“While I imagine it would be fun to listen in, I’m sure I’d totally miss a bunch of the context simply because of the amount of time these Emperors have been around. Are you expecting any trouble?”

“Not really. Even the Emperors respect the Wills of another Emperor, especially someone bearing so many of them. Pissing off another Emperor without reason is not wise. Pissing off numbers of them is even less wise.”