"160 mindstones." Sielle said, holding up a mote in the shape of a beetle.
"180." A hand went up near the front.
Kael sat in the same seat he always took, far in the back. He watched in silence as the auction unfolded. He hadn't placed a single bid in twenty visits.
Not much had changed. The same regulars filled the same spots. The woman with the cane. The man with the unkempt beard. All of them. Today was slightly different though. It marked five years since Sielle's auction had opened, and he had announced early on that he would hold a small celebration.
At its core it was a way of making people feel more emotionally attached to him and to the auction specifically. The regulars didn't seem to mind. Whether they recognised it for what it was or simply didn't care was difficult to tell.
Kael had continued wandering the sewers in the time between. His map had at least doubled from his own exploration. But he still hadn't found another auction, and he was hesitant to ask Sielle directly, even though Sielle almost certainly knew. Competition among underground auctions was fierce. Every year roughly sixty percent of auctioneers disappear completely. When the goods on offer stopped meeting expectations the buyers moved, and with fewer buyers came fewer sellers, and slowly the whole thing collapsed, its people shifting quietly to wherever the next one had set up.
Kael turned at a gentle tap on his shoulder.
"Are you staying for the after party?" A young man asked with a wide smile.
"Was that a bid I heard from the back? Little Luke?"
Sielle pointed toward him without looking up from the item in his hand.
Luke stiffened completely and dropped back into his chair. "No. I was just talking with mister Eireindaile." He stressed the last word.
"The bidding isn't over. If you're not going to bid, stay quiet."
Luke sat back, fiddling with his fingers.
Kael watched with indifferent eyes.
If the auction had a comedic relief, it was him.
Luke was genuinely gifted and had awakened early, but without backing or anyone to guide him he had eventually drifted into the sewers. His age and lack of standing meant he was either looked down on or laughed at, often both. He had found some quiet comfort in sitting near Kael. Not only did Kael always make time to talk with him when he worked up the nerve to approach, but the way people behaved around Kael was something new to Luke. It was evident he was fond of him.
"I'm planning on staying, yes. Can't wait to see what grand celebration Sielle has arranged." Kael winked and smiled at him.
Luke smiled and turned his attention back to the auction.
The auction ended and the chairs were pulled aside, replaced by tables filled with sweets and appetisers and a selection of finer beers. Conversation and laughter filled the space. It was quite the spectacle given that they were standing in several centimeters of water with nothing but a few candles spread across the tables for light.
"So what's it like growing up as a noble?" Luke asked.
"We had to read for hours every day without exception. And when that was done, we read some more." Kael laughed and shook his head slowly. He was eerily convincing.
"What about motes?"
"We earned them, in a sense. Though it was obviously very different from how most Luminaires come by theirs. Compared to you we had them handed to us on a silver plate."
The longer Luke listened the brighter his eyes became. He asked about the blade, the military cape, the family crest. Kael was so different from what he had expected. So unassuming for someone his age and status.
Others came over to talk to Kael throughout the evening, and each time Luke would wait patiently, looking around at nothing in particular, and when Kael was free again he would pick up exactly where he had left off. Kael answered everything without effort. To anyone other than perhaps Syleena, he looked exactly like what he claimed to be.
Kael set his coffee cup onto the saucer he was holding and looked at Luke thoughtfully.
He noticed and stiffened slightly.
"Is something on my face?" Luke ran his fingers across his cheek.
"Where do you sleep?"
Luke blinked.
"I rent a place down here, actually." He said with a nervous laugh, as though the gap between them had suddenly become visible again.
"Would you like to work for me? I can't offer much in the way of payment, only a few mindstones. But I can offer a roof and food on the table."
Luke nearly lost his footing at the words. A noble was offering him work and paying in mindstones, which was already more than he currently had. He had only been coming to the auction to pass the time, something Sielle had allowed out of what seemed like pity.
"What kind of work?" The excitement was already visible before the question finished.
Kael let out a small, slightly embarrassed laugh. It sounded flawless.
"Nothing much. I'm setting up a small clinic. For mortals and Luminaires alike."
"Mortals?"
"Yes. I've always been at odds with my family over how they treat them, which is partly why I find myself without their funding at the moment." He laughed softly. "The truth is I won't always be able to be at the clinic myself, so I need someone to look after it in my place. Treat it as your own if you like. I'll cover whatever it needs."
Luke was stunned. It all made sense now. He had always felt that this Valerian was different, but he had never been able to say exactly how. Now he understood. He actually was.
Kael watched him struggle to find words. He had asked, but there was never really a question. He already knew the answer.
And Luke gave it.
"Ye— Yes. It would be my greatest pleasure, Mister Eireindaile."
Kael laughed from the stomach and gave him a few friendly pats on the shoulder.
"Then it's settled. Find me after the ceremony and we'll go together. I'll have to excuse myself for now though, I have some business with Sielle."
Luke nodded and walked over to find something more to eat.
Kael's eyes moved to Sielle. He was studying the wall again. A strange way to get to know his customers, but it was what it was.
"Sielle."
Sielle turned with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, Mister Eireindaile. I hope the festivities aren't too underwhelming for your taste."
"Not at all. This is about as pleasant as a sewer can reasonably be made."
Sielle had always paid particular attention to Kael. It made some of the other regulars somewhat resentful, though they understood it completely. It was less the attention Sielle showed Kael and more the attention Kael showed Sielle that gave them cause for jealousy.
"The truth is I have something I think you might find interesting."
"Oh?"
This was the first time Kael had initiated anything at the auction. Even a minor suggestion would have been considered a win by Sielle.
"Do you have somewhere private we could go? Preferably somewhere with a high ceiling, like this one."
He pointed upward.
Kael followed Sielle out of the party and through several tunnels until they reached a room much like the one they had left.
"This should do."
Sielle smiled, but something underneath it was already growing restless.
Kael looked around and nodded.
Then, with the ease of a practiced magician, he raised his hand. Wherever it moved, a miniature stone coffin appeared, one after another, until six rested spread across his fingers. Then in the same motion a massive stone coffin materialised behind him.
"Wha—"
The colour left Sielle's face. He took two steps back and sat down hard.
"What are you doing, you fool."
"This is called the Stone Coffin mote." Kael ignored the reaction entirely. "I'm a refinement pathway Luminaire, and I alone hold the recipe for it."
"I don't care what you are, those are soul pathway—"
"Hear me out first." Kael raised a finger. "I'm offering you a deal. Through my monopoly, your auction becomes the only one able to offer these motes. It's a storage mote. One that can hold enough material to fill a house if the user wants it to."
"Sir Valerian, I understand you want to make money, but this?"
Kael looked at him steadily.
The news had finally spread that the Royal Noble families had been forced to act because of this pathway, and he understood the fear. It was never confirmed but widely believed, that the Royal Noble families resided somewhere within the sixth layer. What Kael was doing here was essentially placing meat at the feet of something large enough to erase an entire continent.
But even if they did live there, they wouldn't act immediately. There was no chance they were unaware that noble families spent considerable resources studying the soul pathway. And when it came to the Stone Coffin specifically, it was soul pathway in name, but it was rank one, and a storage mote at that. Hardly the kind of thing that demanded immediate intervention.
Though of course he would never summon it on the surface. That would be a death sentence.
"If you take this offer I'll give you fifteen percent of all the mindstones generated from selling these. Consider it a royalty."
Sielle didn't protest this time.
"I'll bring you new motes each month for auction. They'll open at a set bidding price of 180 mindstones, and when you judge the time right, you'll raise the floor by another twenty percent. I'll trust your judgement on that."
One of the most important parts of making a deal was never letting the other party feel threatened, and speaking to them as an equal even when that wasn't the truth. Kael made sure not to miss either.
Kael placed the stone coffins into Sielle's lap, building a small pile. Then he summoned a seventh and held it out.
"Accept this deal and this one is yours. For your own use."
Sielle looked at the mote in his hand, saying nothing.
This was a gamble. For both of them.
If Sielle wanted to, he could report Kael and have him killed. Theoretically. That was if he managed to escape before Kael killed him first, which was part of why Kael had wanted privacy. But the deeper reason was something else entirely. This was one of the most reliably binding deals that existed. Dealing in soul pathway motes meant that either of them could destroy the other with a single word, but the longer they kept the secret together the more that danger inverted itself. Eventually, enough time would pass that knowing about someone cultivating the soul pathway and saying nothing would make you complicit. The silence would become its own kind of protection. That was what made this deal surprisingly fair, given how dangerous the goods were.
"What do you say?"
Sielle placed the coffins beside him and stood, water dripping from his clothes.
"Refinement pathway, eh?" He sighed. "You make this offer with a smile and those precise little movements of yours, but I suspect I don't really have a choice. Do I?"
Kael smiled warmly.
Sielle wasn't stupid. Kael had known that from the start. And somehow, standing two full ranks above Kael, he seemed to suspect that Kael had some means of killing him regardless, or perhaps that the rank on display wasn't the real one. Either way it didn't particularly matter. Both conclusions led to the same outcome.
"You do have a choice. But I would be pleased if you agreed. I've tried to make it as fair as I could." Kael said.
Sielle rolled his neck with an exaggerated exhale.
"Fine." He held out a hand.
Kael nodded and shook it.
This was the best possible outcome. And an inevitable one.
None of the people down here were truly righteous. If they were they would be plowing fields somewhere. They were here for a reason, and that reason usually came with a price tag. Some lacked funds. Some simply wanted more. Sielle was the latter. It had taken a month, but Kael had finally become confident in his reading of the man.
"Then let us prosper together. Not just as Luminaires, but as businessmen, Sielle."