Lurching away from the coastal station under the unleashed Kinetic force of sigils scripted on heavy wheels and axles, the train started its day and a half long journey inland carrying plenty of people and goods - but also particularly two very different women. The sliding door that muffled the noise from other passengers to something tolerable and single essence lantern were the only real attractions other than the window outside.

Nysoi had booked a partitioned area with bench seats that faced each other for herself initially. Now, Corde hez Iralev herself sat with her back straight against the hard seat, watching the port town shrink through the window. In the time available before departure she’d had a meal and a bath, changing clothes brought to her by the younger woman that annoyingly fit perfect.

Annoying because the dark haired woman knew that it meant there was a ’future’ that never truly came to pass... where she had been asked and correctly answered about the necessary sizes. At the edge of her senses, she was starting to get a better feel for when the young woman was using her Astralism - and threads of an idea of how to destabilize the tiny touches of spirit slipping through her Shield to pull ’her’ into the future reading ability.

The warrior’s namesake sword rested across her thighs out of habit, even though no threat was likely to board a passenger train in peacetime. Unlike the pirates at sea which were as bold as ever, a fact which almost made her want to change careers. Or perhaps purchase a ship with her savings, contract a sigilist to make improvements, and then hire a competent crew to learn how to counter-pirate themselves.

’Without an official navy patrolling past certain distances from the coastline, a lot of crime is going on based in relatively nearby island chains that are being overlooked. We are not any kinder to the occasional bandits and highwaymen here, so why should we ignore the sea routes this much?’

It was an idea she mulled over for a while as the rail clacked, perhaps the sixth time since she first boarded to cross the vast water. At least as more than a passing thought. However, before she made any such decisions she resolved to get permission from her adoptive father - as the Iralev name would want to know if her military career and ’heroism’ was pivoting toward such a new direction.

During her thinking, she’d noticed the stack of trade manifests that was arranged beside the reddish-blonde haired woman, who was using a contraption made of a thin wooden panel with a leather neck cord to work on things through the journey. Something that Corde had only seen wandering artists use... but was now questioning why more individuals hadn’t thought of this case. If she ever did hire an adjutant, she resolved to have a nice one of these crafted for them.

To prevent inkspill, the merchant was actually using a pencil - though one a lot different than those that the swordswoman had seen carpenters using in her time. The graphite core was wrapped with dangerous bluestone, or copper sulfate, purely for its striking looks. Then that was studded over with little diamond nubs of potassium alum, to protect from the toxicity of the colorful material and provide a crystalline texture.

While she was capable with enough effort of making it herself, considering both of those components qualified as a Salt... and that little fact was also the only reason she could use it with focus, whereas it would be ’ruined’ by leeching hydration from other’s hands... it was still an item she had needed help with.

Nysoi actually requested for it to be polished off in the last, refining crafting steps by Ondua er Goltbred. Done without question as a favor, as thanks for the merchant’s unflinching arrangement of a number of things for the man and his daughter. From back when they stayed in Qat’s new territory while Yatrel was hunting the Saltfire Storm Alliance’s rogue members.

Though it had only been made more recently as the merchant learned more about the dangers and uses of certain Salts thanks to her relationship with the healer Zonnel. A woman who hadn’t been all that pleased that the young woman’s idea of a ’good’ personal tool was one that might poison someone that stole it. Or that, when asked what her mother would think, the young Valmenf daughter had unthinkingly replied that she would be ’proud’.

Soft scraping of unhardened graphite on paper was the only sound in the cabin between them for the better part of an hour. Surprisingly, it was the swordswoman who broke the silence first. At least in reality, as Nysoi had already attempted to break the icy social state with the Frozen Duskblade in about three dozen ways that ended up being rejected.

"The new settlement- though I guess it’s not that new anymore. How large has it grown?"

Lilac eyes slowly looked up from a column of numbers after writing a word in notation to remind her of her place. The question was one that she had actually offered information about, in one or two of her Clairvoyance attempts. Which stung a little bit, considering she had just gotten a few small sounds that the woman was listening but not follow ups... but that was almost par for the course with the ability. Sometimes *timing* meant a lot more than the content of a conversation... and it was clear if Corde was speaking now it was because she was finally in the mood.

"Quite a bit, even since you left. All throughout the original central district of the competition grounds... are buildings that might rival plenty of older, more well established cities. I’m sure you know she was planning for long-term despite that explosive early growth."

"Mhm."

The merchant’s eye twitched a little, as that was the exact sound she’d heard in her head for every single affirmation that proceeded the dark-haired warrior just growing silent. But it didn’t matter to her anymore... just talking and actually changing the potential of the next set of uses of her ability was worth narrating Qat’s achievements.

"Proper roads that any caravanning merchant can appreciate run in and out of it. All the way through the still low defensive walls around the core of the settlement. There’s still talk of expanding them some day, but focus is shifting to the ground preparation for the newest fortress location in the plains."

She also wanted to make mention of the rather novel seeming set of outworks that dotted the plains, a series of what the Warden Patrician called ’hidden lunettes’ that served more as little buried military outposts than anything else. Placed in hilly spots near some of the vast ditchlines, they were mostly meant to keep an eye on any traffic that wasn’t sticking to the main roads. However, she figured she’d let *someone else* discuss them.

It didn’t really hurt to think about Leysah anymore - they’d long gone past that period of awkward behavior. Yet, the design had been a mix of that past-life disciple’s idea with some of the architecture and notes that the Goltbred heiress had left her husband-wife. So it only felt right to let the woman brag about the approval of it on her own.

"And Qatrand?" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Doing well. Generally overworking herself. Nothing that new."

She’d been sworn to secrecy regarding the timeline of Elua’s return - just like anything to do with the Astral Exclave - and had no intention of providing the information for real. Though she *had* tested with a few people here and there during her Clairvoyance uses. Just to see how some certain cultivators would react.

Interestingly, most who knew the brunette even a little just sort of took it all on the chin. Those who had heard of her but never spoken to the then young girl seemed to disbelieve things a little more, though if they had a good opinion of Qatrand then they were willing to accept a certain amount of ’so that is how it is’. Corde had just made that same affirmation noise from before and then nothing for too long that the person engaging the divinatory Aspect grew bored... so it was really hard to judge her opinion!

More small questions followed at the swordswoman’s very unhurried pace that frustrated the merchant. Questions about territory security, Guild movements into the region and across the continent, trade conditions along the routes the reddish-blonde had been traveling. Nysoi answered each one as clearly as possible, distinguishing supposition from what she’d verified as truth.

For Corde, it was easy enough to forget that the woman across from her was barely into her twenties. Her grasp of the interconnected nature of the regions’ commercial and political landscapes was considerable enough to impress. The type she would consider hiring on the spot if there was any chance at all she would move away from the mercantile trade and into bureaucratic aid work.

By the time the conversation paused at a station stop, passengers boarding and disembarking in the corridor outside their partition, Nysoi had been almost exclusively being the one talking for a while. Vendors called out offerings of wrapped food and drink through the windows and Corde called one over to the window to purchase two portions without asking if Nysoi wanted any, setting the second thoughtfully on the side of the bench opposite the merchant’s papers.

"...Thank you."

It was a small gesture, one that precipitated dozens of short uses of her ability again. With advice gathered from Elua during that visit, she’d been refining the way she used it and perhaps much more recently growing a little too used to relying on it as an emotional crutch. Especially when eating in a companionable quiet that was different from the earlier professional silence.

Something had shifted between them... the kind of minor threshold that comes from one person showing a casual kindness and the other trying to accept it without fuss. A step closer towards friendship than acquaintanceship that colored in a difference between sharing a space together companionably and merely occupying the same one dutifully.

Returning to her work after eating, the sky darkened toward evening outside before Nysoi knew it because the other woman had managed the essence lantern at the perfect time. Putting her manifests away, she began looking out the window at the passing farmland and wondering if she should say more things... before sleeping on a bench in the same room with another woman. And her lips parted even without relying on looking ahead to the future.

"I have a romantic partner. Sort of. I think."

"...Okay."

Corde wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but it did seem like things were taking a turn into more personal territory. Which meant she was seriously considering that it might be less trouble to jump off the train and run to the destination rather than be sociable. She’d tried a lot of that with her former Guild member during her stay at her homeland and rarely had it gone exceptionally well!

"She’s a woman. You’ve met her."

"I see."

...And that little nothing answer, said without any judgement purely because the Frozen Duskblade *really* didn’t care about the passionate feelings that could exist between others...

"I’ve upset her because I’m not sure I want to join the Guild she does and I keep using my Clairvoyance to stage and prevent arguments. So we are kind of on a break because she wanted space, but I’m not that good being apart from someone I care for and I *really* miss her touch... oh, but it can’t just be anyone so don’t worry I’m not hitting on you or anything. The thing is that-"

Was the key to unlocking an emergency floodgate full of half-hearted girl-talk that she could have gone the rest of the trip without... instead of going until midnight with!