The Hurricane Wars

As Talasyn gets dressed for the banquet, she wonders why Alaric nearly kissed her, as she believes they hate each other. Jie helps prepare her and muses about Alaric’s handsomeness, which makes Talasyn flush. Elagbi and Urduja arrive and explain why they did not tell Talasyn about the Void Sever and the Night of the World-Eater. Talasyn accuses Urduja of keeping it a secret to lure her back here with Alaric, but Urduja says she kept it from Talasyn to make Alaric trust Talasyn. If she knew and he didn’t, he would think she was keeping things from him. Instead, he now thinks that she is as much in the dark as he is.

At the banquet, Alaric waits for Talasyn, feeling uncertain after their almost-kiss. When Talasyn arrives, he finds her beauty breathtaking, but he sees uncertainty in her eyes, too. They sit beside each other, and Talasyn cannot focus on eating because of the fluttering she feels while looking at Alaric in his formal garb.

Alaric stumbles through conversation with Urduja’s courtiers, one of whom accuses Kesath of having ulterior motives for the alliance. Instead of presenting a united front with Alaric, Talasyn makes an awkward comment about the soup, diverting the conversation to a polite discussion about the cuisine.

Some of the courtiers tell Talasyn the story of her birth and how her father spent the night of her mother’s labor frantically running around the palace. Talasyn laughs, and Alaric finds the sound so enchanting he brushes his finger along her sleeve, which Talasyn sees and believes is intentional. The banquet is interrupted by the arrival of Surakwel Mantes, the nephew of Lady Lueve and an opponent of the Night Empire.

Niamha Langsoune stands and tries to calm Surakwel, who accuses Urduja of making a treaty with a tyrannical despot. Despite numerous attempts to stop him, he challenges Alaric to a duel without limits. If Surakwel wins, he insists that Alaric call off the wedding and leave the Dominion in peace. If Alaric wins, all he asks is that Surakwel respect him and cease his vocal complaints. They fight, and during the combat, a knife dislodges one of the sariman cages, bringing back Alaric’s powers. Before he can seriously injure Surakwel, Talasyn steps in front of Alaric, and his shadow spear scrapes her arm before he can fully divert it away from her. He decrees that he has won the duel. He demands that Talasyn see a healer, then reminds Urduja about the importance of their alliance. He also demands that the sariman cages be removed and Talasyn be allowed to go to the Light Sever with him since she could have protected herself better if she could make a shield. He also decides that the next day will be the last of negotiations; they can either make the marriage happen or prepare for war. Urduja nods.

The court devolves into chaos as soon as Alaric and the Kesathese delegation leave. After the healer applies a poultice to her arm, Talasyn reminds the court that she is choosing this marriage of her own free will, as she knows in the matriarchal Nenavarene culture, the courtiers must know she is an active participant. If she doesn’t protect the alliance, the world is at risk from the Void Sever, and the Sardovians are at risk from Kesath. She asks that the court treat Alaric with respect.

When she returns to her rooms, she hurries across the garden to Alaric. He quickly drags her inside his rooms and pushes her against the wall, aggressively asking her why she’s there. She tries to apologize, but she becomes distracted by how close he is to her. He questions why she risked her life to stop him from killing Surakwel, and she tells him it was to protect their alliance. He asks her to leave even as she tries to help him with his wound from the duel. She leaves, though she doesn’t want to.

Once the sariman cages are taken away and he can access the Shadowgate, Alaric enters the In-Between to discuss the negotiations with his father. Gaheris shames him for falling under Talasyn’s spell. Still, he demands Alaric go through with the marriage and try to use Talasyn for the goals of the Night Empire. He also tells him that wherever Talasyn is, the Sardovian survivors are likely to be, and he should search for them.

During the final day of negotiations, Alaric agrees to marry Talasyn, and they become engaged. Alaric then makes a demand to search the Dominion for any sign of Sardovian survivors before he takes Talasyn to the Belian Light Sever to train. Talasyn is angry and worried, but she hopes Urduja has a contingency plan in place. Urduja agrees to the search, and Alaric wants to take Talasyn with him on the second day of exploring the Dominion, though she must remain in the city during the rest of the search; Elagbi demands to accompany Talasyn.

After the meeting, Urduja shows Talasyn the secret technology they’ve been working on, based on the abilities of spectrals, small primates native to Nenavar that can vanish via planar shift, appearing temporarily invisible. The Nenavarene have managed to harness this technology and are sending an envoy to temporarily hide the Sardovian forces while the Kesathese prowl the Dominion airspace. Talasyn realizes the Hurricane Wars aren’t over, and with Nenavar, Sardovia still stands a chance.

The Kesathese ships led by Commodore Mathire find no evidence of the Sardovian forces as they search the isles. Alaric’s cruise aboard the stormship Deliverance through central Nenavar is a formality, but he welcomes Talasyn and Elagbi aboard the ship.

Talasyn feels uncomfortable in her tight, low-cut gown, but she notices Alaric nearly choke on his tongue when he sees her. Alaric perfunctorily invites Talasyn and Elagbi to have wine while the ship cruises, and Talasyn accepts and insists that he join them. Talasyn likes the cherry wine better than the redcurrant wine of Nenavar. As they drink, Elagbi raises the issue of the wedding night, telling Alaric and Talasyn that Nenavar custom dictates they spend the night together after the wedding. He tells Alaric that coercion is not acceptable and that they must discuss expectations, as they will eventually need an heir down the line. Then he leaves them alone.

Talasyn is mortified. Alaric offers to spend the night sleeping on Talasyn’s settee. They argue, and Talasyn’s insults of Alaric hit hard, especially when she throws his prior compliments of her beauty in his face. He demands that she cooperate with him and threatens Nenavar if she does not, and Talasyn tells him that she hates him. He leaves to help with the search.

On the ship’s bridge, Alaric complains about Talasyn to Sevraim. Sevraim says there’s no sign of the Sardovians anywhere, so Talasyn is not deceiving him, and Alaric should cultivate his relationship with her. Alaric decides to keep searching the world for the Sardovians, to show that the Night Empire will always crush its enemies.

Talasyn prepares to sneak out of Eskaya to the Storm God’s Eye to meet with the Sardovians, but as soon as she opens her bedroom door, she finds Alaric waiting. He reminds her that she’s not allowed to leave, and she lies about wanting to sneak out to the Night Market for food. Alaric says he’ll join her to ensure she’s telling the truth, and because he’s hungry. Talasyn leads him as they sneak out of the palace and down into the city. They traverse the crowded streets until Talasyn sneaks off to get them food. As they eat, they overhear men drunkenly plotting to take down the Night Empire, but as the men’s conversation continues, they call both Talasyn and Alaric outsiders to Nenavar.

Talasyn is deeply hurt, as she often worried as a child that she didn’t belong anywhere in the world. She runs away from Alaric, fighting tears, until he catches up with her. He tries to comfort her, and she asks him why he never killed her during the Hurricane Wars when he easily could have. He doesn’t have a good answer, other than it would have been an unceremonious end. They again argue over the morality of the Hurricane Wars, and Alaric tries to tell Talasyn that he can believe his side of the conflict was right and be sorry Talasyn lost people close to her. She calls him a hypocrite and tells him the Night Empire will always be built on blood.