Chapter 27: Aerial Surveillance, Delegates from Xavior and Mirabeth’s Return - The Empire of the Wretched Son

Personal System Calendar: Year 00015, Day 1-28, Month III: The Imperium

Imperial Calendar: Year 6859, 1st to 28th day of the 3rd Month

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Everything That is Moving at Once

The third month of Year 6859 was a busy one.

Inside Maya Village the farming families were already well into their planting work. Zone 4's fields were being turned and seeded, the livestock moved to pasture, the greenhouses back to full production after the winter slowdown. The new beekeeping program was being organized alongside all of it, it was especially more relevant now with Terrence's Mossback Honeybee discovery with it still fresh in the Agriculture Department's hands.

Terrence himself was still out in the south-eastern territory with his escort team. Whatever he was finding out there he was still finding all he could about it.

The imperial settlement two and a half kilometers from the forest entrance was also continuing its construction. The core buildings were already up. While the surrounding infrastructure was being filled in. The garrison had settled into a working rhythm that no longer required the same frantic pace of the early months.

Outside the forest the world was also moving into its own rhythm. In particular the Xavior Bloc had sent an envoy two weeks prior and that envoy had recently made port at Kirka Village. Almost the same time Mirabeth Flamespyres made port there too after her long journey up from Papila.

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An Unexpected Meeting at Kirka

Mirabeth had traveled the short way around.

With Arwen's land routes closed by the war she had taken the river route instead. From her hometown of Arabaya in the Sovereign State of Papila she had traveled overland roughly a thousand kilometers northwest to the port of Rakisha, her point of entry onto the Great Central-Western River. From Rakisha she had boarded a river vessel and sailed north the full length of the river, bypassing Arwen entirely by water since the merchant groups controlling river traffic had kept that route open even when the land routes were shut. The river stretch ran approximately eight thousand five hundred kilometers from Papila's river settlements up through Boris, Swolenburg, Kirios, and into Ogind before reaching Kirka Village's river docks. That leg alone had taken roughly a month at the pace a loaded river vessel moved. Combined with the overland stretches, border crossings, and necessary rest stops, the full journey had taken just over two months. She started that journey when winter was still prominent in the north, but considering where she was at that momeme it was relatively hot there.

She had arrived at Kirka the previous evening and stayed the night before catching a caravan heading toward the forest entrance the following morning.

That was when she noticed the convoy.

Around fifty well-dressed people had recently disembarked from a privately owned ship that had arrived roughly a day behind her. They were clearly not merchants, the quality of their clothing and the bearing of the people in charge of them made that obvious. Mirabeth had spent enough of her life around people of influence to recognize the type immediately.

She walked over and called out one of the leading people.

"You there. Are you saying you are heading towards Maya Village?"

The man who turned to find her was the convoy's retinue leader. His name was Minstrif Entt, a man probably in his seventies, which made him quite young by Mirabeth's scale of reference. He took one look at her bearing and her clothing and adjusted his posture accordingly.

"Yes madam, that is correct. I am an envoy for Lord Xavior who wished to open a dialogue with the place called Maya Village."

"From Arwen I presume?"

"Yes madam."

He could tell she was not an ordinary woman. The emblem on her cloak confirmed it for anyone who knew what to look for — a Grandmaster mage, affiliated with the Arabaya Magical Tower.

"Very well. I have a caravan I was supposed to ride with that is also heading in that direction. We will probably arrive there in around two weeks time. If you and your party are interested you could join us."

Minstrif paused to be polite about what he was about to ask.

"Ah, yes madam, but forgive me — I would like to confirm your position at the village first, if you don't mind."

"I've recently moved there, I have colleagues already there who know me well. The village also built me a magical tower of my own. I am Mirabeth Flamespyre."

Minstrif went quiet for a moment. The name rang something within him but couldn't quite get it then and there. Then it clicked.

"Ah — are you perhaps that famous magician, madam?"

"Well, yes."

"Forgive me for my lack of knowledge. If the offer still stands then me and my party will be happy to accompany you."

Mirabeth had a very satisfied look on her face. In her mind she was convinced she had done something very good for the village.

And so they joined the same caravan and traveled together. The journey to Maya Village from Kirka ran approximately eight hundred kilometers in total — six hundred kilometers along the route to the highway crossing area near the forest entrance, another fifty along the road crossing stretch itself, and a final hundred and fifty kilometers along the forest interior road to the village. With a caravan it took the better part of three weeks. The Outland Waycamp they passed on arrival sat only five hundred meters from the forest entrance. Close enough to see the entrance gate from the camp itself.

When they arrived at the forest entrance Mirabeth was immediately surprised by what she found there. A full settlement outside the forest. The entrance guards briefed her on what had happened during her absence. The Arwenian crisis, the refugee wave, the Outland Waycamp that the village initially had set up for the refugees had grown to fifty thousand at its peak. The envoy took note of all of this and listened carefully. Many of his fellow Arwenians had passed through this place. Some of them were apparently still here.

They were then escorted further inside. Even Mirabeth was surprised by how much had changed. Zone 2 had new and upgraded buildings she didn't recognize. And Zone 4 on the west — before she had left for Arabaya, Zone 4 was still on its wall building process. But now she could hear the bustle of that place similar to the more established Zone 2 even if they are far from it.

At the entrance she told the guards to take the envoy to the guest house and notify the council that they had important visitors from Arwen. Then she left them and went to find her own tower.

It could be seen from the entrance. That was the first thing she noticed when she entered the village gates at Zone 2. She had expected something tucked away somewhere. But what she found was a structure that gladly announced itself. She smiled at that and kept walking towards it (Zone 1).

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Mirabeth's Revised Route

Departed: Month I, Day 1, Year 6859 — Arabaya, Sovereign State of Papila

Climate note: The southern regions from Papila northward through Boris, Swolenburg, and Kirios maintain a tropical to desert climate year-round. No winter slowdown on the early legs. The cold only sets in properly around Ogind's territory and further north.

She had two routes available to her. The decision wasn't difficult once she laid them side by side.

Route 1 — Full Overland (Rejected)

|---|---|---|---|

| 1 | Arabaya → Papila northern border | ~1,500 km | ~22 days |

| 2 | Papila → Duchy of Swolenburg (R16) | ~1,000 km | ~14 days |

| 3 | Swolenburg → Duchy of Kirios (R14) | ~1,000 km | ~14 days |

| 4 | Kirios → Arwen southern entry | ~500 km | ~7 days |

| 5 | Through Arwen territory (active war zone) | ~2,500 km | ~50–60 days |

| 6 | Arwen border → forest-oath corridor north to Maya junction | ~3,600 km | ~51 days |

| 7 | Junction → 50 km curve south → 150 km forest interior → Maya Village | ~200 km | ~4 days |

| — | Delays, detours, rest stops | — | ~15–20 days |

The full overland route required crossing Arwen's collapsed war territory on foot or by wagon. Active fighting. Banditry. No reliable passage. The 3,600 km of the forest-oath corridor that followed would have to be covered on land as well. An early spring arrival would have been impossible. A summer or later arrival was the best case. Personal risk throughout was significant.

She crossed it off immediately.

Route 2 — Land → River → Land (Chosen)

|---|---|---|---|---|

| — | — | Delays, border crossings, rest stops | — | ~10 days |

The river bypassed Arwen's collapsed territory entirely. Merchant guild vessels were still running the route even during the war — controlled, reliable, and not subject to the chaos on the ground below. The same total distance. Three times faster. No war zone exposure. The only real risk was securing guild passage, which her status and funds resolved without difficulty.

She arrived at Maya Village approximately in the middle of the third month. The coldest stretch was the final overland leg from Kirka south through the junction and into the forest.

The Aerial Survey

August was not in the village at the moment.

He and Talon One had been out since the start of the month conducting the river site survey. August handled the aerial reconnaissance from above on his eagle while the ground team assessed the sites up close. The combination of the view from the air and the hands-on soil and terrain assessment from the ground produced a much more complete picture than either could have managed alone.

The first weeks were discouraging. The cliff terrain along the river's edge was exactly what the earlier discussions had described. High faces dropping to water with nothing gradual between them. They ruled out location after location. Some had too much loose rock. Some had no accessible grade to the waterline at all. Some looked viable from the air and turned out to be useless from the ground.

August also found the spot he and Andy had rested at years ago on that first trip outside the village. He recognized it from above. But from the ground team's assessment it was clear enough. It was not viable for a settlement. Good for a rest stop, not for building anything permanent. He flew away from it visibly disappointed.

Gradually they found three positions that passed the initial assessment.

For each viable site the team spent a week on the ground. August brought specialists with them — people from the construction teams with soil knowledge, farming families who knew what productive land looked like, and Sibus who could assess structural viability. A week at each site, making a thorough observation and documentation of the area.

Three sites. Three very different situations.

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The Three Sites

|---|---|---|---|

Northern Site — 80+ km north

The smallest of the three. A two hundred meter wide mouth opening into an eight hundred meter deep space between two raised plateaus. Natural defenses on both flanks. The tightest approach of any of the three, winding roads before you reached the low ground, large boulders at the entrance that would slow any hostile approach considerably. From a defensive standpoint this was the strongest of the three by a significant margin.

The concerns were also the most specific. Those same raised plateaus on either side raised the question of what happened if someone attacked from above. The cliff faces looked stable but none of them knew how the rock behaved under earthquake conditions. The collapsed geology that had created the accessible low ground in the first place was evidence that movement had happened here before. Water flow from the upper plateau in heavy rain was also unknown. Living here for a full year would be the only way to get real answers on any of it.

Capacity at full development: probably three hundred to five hundred permanent residents. A fortified checkpoint and fishing hamlet more than a town.

Southern Site — 300+ km south

The most balanced of the three. A seven hundred meter wide entrance opening into a U-shaped valley running seven kilometers deep. The entrance was narrow enough to defend comfortably. The interior opened up into something considerably more workable. Rolling hill terrain at the upper zones dropped gently to a low-lying area with river access at the base. The soil on the upper portions looked genuinely farmable. Not the rocky situation of the coastal site — actual productive ground that could support agriculture.

At three hundred kilometers from the current northern entrance and a similar distance from the planned southern or western entrance to Zone 4, this site was roughly equidistant from both access points. A farming and trade settlement here would serve both directions.

Conservative area estimate: four point nine square kilometers. The valley likely widened further inside than the entrance suggested.

Southern Coastal Site — 600+ km south

The largest and most strategically significant of the three. A two kilometer wide shoreline with three kilometers of usable depth, sticking to the initial target area. It had a rocky foundation with fallen stone debris across the surface — workable if you brought in topsoil. The base structure underneath was solid, which was the more important factor for building anything heavy.

Natural defensive rises at both ends of the two kilometer width gave the site flanking protection without requiring construction. The distance from the imperial highway was three and a half kilometers. The distance from the forest edge was six kilometers. That gap between the forest edge and the water was the settlement's working space.

It was also the most direct route between this site and a planned western Zone 4 entrance that would require crossing several Beast Lord territories that hadn't been negotiated with yet. That was not a small problem that could be easily spaced and would need to be addressed before any construction commitment. Road access from the south wouldn't be straightforward either — the terrain between this site and the existing highway would need surveys of its own to plan a viable wagon route that could handle loaded cargo.

But if those problems were solvable this site had the clearest long-term potential. A port town and trade gateway on the Great Central-Western River, directly on a route used by the Empire, the Xavior Bloc, Ogind, and Kirka Village alike.

Recommendation

All three sites required a year of ground observation before any building commitment. Seasonal flooding, soil behavior through wet and dry periods, water levels, wildlife patterns, earthquake behavior where relevant. One survey pass identified the locations. The year of living on them would tell you whether they could actually be built on.

The proposal: fifty to one hundred willing volunteers at each site for one full year. Observe, document, and report back.

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Inside the Council Chamber

While August was still out in the field, the council convened to receive the Xavior envoy.

Minstrif Entt presented the Xavior Bloc's position clearly. Count Zain Xavior understood the current state of Arwen well enough to know that restoration to its former position was not a near-term possibility. The six territories of the Xavior Bloc were focused on stabilizing what they had, securing their defensive line, and building from there. What they wanted from Maya Village was a relationship. With the possibility of trade when the Arwen route became viable again. Next is support from the imperial garrison that is currently based here. And an acknowledgment that the Xavior Bloc was the most legitimate surviving framework of the Arwenian state that anyone was going to find.

The council listened. The questions they asked were practical. What did the Arwen route actually look like right now in terms of safety for merchants. What was the Xavior Bloc's current capacity to protect trade convoys through their territory. What kind of timeline were they looking at before any of this became operational.

Minstrif gave honest answers where he had them and acknowledged where he didn't.

After the formal discussion the envoy was taken to see the Outland Waycamp. That was the part that stayed with them. Seeing what had happened to Arwenian citizens and understanding that those citizens were now living in better circumstances than they would have been in most of what remained of Arwen itself was not a small thing to reckon with. Some of the people in that camp were still there after months. The village and the Empire itself had been feeding them through winter.

The envoy was satisfied with what he saw. He said so clearly and without qualification.

Chapter 409 - Chapter 27: Aerial Surveillance, Delegates from Xavior and Mirabeth’s Return