"Suddenly had the idea to work out when Nerat - started being a mask. And then masks. Assuming all the stories have some of his lies mixed in. I think about 250 and then 320, but it's not recent so I don't think it's likely to be helpful. If it was fairly new he might not have caught all the vulnerabilities and protected against them."

"Mm-hmm.  Good to know."

"Not very, but, well, history's good for something occasionally. Normally magical knowledge is more practically useful, but Archons - no one understands Archons, including themselves."

"I had a thought - can I feel when Barik's in serious pain? Does it hurt me? And the other way around - we should check if he can feel me at all, I think Eyes must, if that's what's up."

"...I think that's worthwhile to test, though if you've felt Barik at a time where he was not in constant pain I'd be surprised.  That armor's not pleasant to wear, by all accounts.  Are you saying we should broach the subject to him, or should I just gut-punch you and see if he doubles over?"  She's joking.

...She's mostly joking.

"He complains more like it's uncomfortable and unpleasant than actually painful, though his whole stoic shtick might hide it. I'm pretty sure you'd need to at least knife him for him to feel it."

She's not really joking.

"Worth asking, I suppose.  ...Hey Lantry, how do people actually find out new Sigils, anyway?  Speaking of things that might be worth trying to see what happens."

"Hard to do without a lot of time studying an Archon - not always one with a new element, the triplets of Frost taught observers some new modifying sigils - and preferably some good biography. Working out the sigil itself usually involves taking their name and personal symbols, munging them together in a variety of ways, and meditating in an undirected way until you find something that works - the psychoactive inks I prepare were originally developed to aid in that. It's never quick, and without the help of the Archon rarely reliable, either. For some of the more esoteric modifiers, they come from trying to do the same process to other things - great artifacts, Edicts, particularly famous stories some of which never actually happened. For example, a particular modifier that makes a rain of projectiles to be larger but spread across a broader area was first reported as a modification to the Sigil of Lightning by someone studying the Edict of Thunders, which called constant lightnings across a mountain range for seventy years starting in 303, until a rebel mage-guild of illusionists was wiped out. I'm not sure whether that's anything other than luck, in most cases, though I personally believe the theory that the Sigil of Force, a basic sigil which was independently discovered a dozen times across the continent and multiple centuries, is derived from the Spires rather than an Archon."

She nods.  "Well, I think we certainly have the opportunity to find not one but two, at minimum, along this route.  Perhaps even three.  It would be quite a coup to steal Nerat's Secrets, I expect that Verse will find a Sigil of her own given luck and compatible narrative, and then of course there's me.  I'm expecting that something will definitely happen when I claim the Spire; there's some precedent that Spires do some weird things.  Possibly even Edicts, actually; Cairn wasn't stupid, just overconfident in his own power and ability to withstand Kyros's displeasure - and when the Edict of Stone hit him he went right for the local Spire, all the way from Plainsgate, like it could help him."

"It seems possible. Kyros is planning something. We're not likely to get new sigils soon enough to be useful, but we can be on the lookout."

"Indeed.  I think that's all that I'm keeping especially close to my chest, at the moment; if we're going to plan on taking down Nerat we should probably invite Barik in.  Should probably also read him in on the experiments Verse wants to run, actually...and I'm really quite unsure if his sheer persistence is externally supplied, since we're already thinking of Exarchs.  I wonder if...but it's not wise to force such things."

She has an idea, you see.  Barik could well become an Exarch of Iron or Endurance, with a little narrative push and the belief of his brothers and sisters.

...Blast it, this is another thing she should have discussed with Ashe!

She may have to return to him after whatever comes out of this.

"The sole survivor of an army in the face of an Edict does sound like the start of an Archon's story. Well, let's ask him. Unless?", he says, turning to Verse.

"He was a stubborn one even before. But nothing more from me. Sounds good."

She'll go grab Barik, shall she.

"Fatebinder. Is everything well?"

"The present moment is well; the future holds inevitable bloodshed, and it's that that we are presently preparing for.  Given that we expect the source of that inevitable bloodshed to be Nerat, though...

"I know you did not wish a promotion to Iron Walker, Barikonen, and even now, especially now, this motion I will not - cannot - force upon you.  But I would like to promote you to an Exarch."

"I am unfamiliar with this term."

"It means 'baby Archon'."

He goes still. "Do you think it necessary?"

"Do I think it necessary.

"...I - cannot say that I know."  And it pains her to admit it.

"This future...

"So much of what is about to happen is - incredibly uncertain.

"Mayhap it is that Nerat is the sort of Archon that is felled by a single mortal blow.  Mayhap it is that what comes when I take the Spire will leave me kin to Kyros, and my words will be entirely sufficient to judge him unable to continue to exist.  But it is wise to bring Archons to fight Archons, when you meet upon a battlefield.  And I expect that we will need to face him.  Bleden Mark is far away.

"But there is - something else that I believe you should be aware of.

"Insofar as Exarchs and Archons are figures of myth and legend...

"You've already trod a step upon that path, in surviving what you did.

"I am sorry that circumstances so press me that I must make you aware of this.  I know that all you wish is to serve loyally with your brothers and sisters in arms, and - even knowing the potential exists can change things, for which I can only offer an apology - not a true remedy.

"I do not think that you should let whatever we decide here bar you from that aim, to be clear.  But it would - complicate matters, somewhat, to be another simple shield-brother, should we make this known - more than the going theory that the armor is the source of your present obduracy.

"It seems to me that that's backwards, really.  Your endurance is what upholds your armor, Barik.  I've seen the effort you put in upon maintaining it, by now, and if that is a relic except through your work I'll eat my hat.

"That said...

"Even should I spin tales around you, cloak you in stories of iron and stone - you could still serve alongside the Shields.  You'd just do it differently."

His voice is strained. "I can see how it might apply. ...I certainly won't do it without the General's approval."

"I was not imagining to tell your story in a way that would supplant the General's, if that is what concerns you.  If anything...

"I daresay we could harmonize yours with his.  Perhaps build upon the stone-magic of the Earthshakers, as well, who'd quite benefit from a new and more - constructive - Archon; Cairn was...very much otherwise.

"Still - fret not.  I will not begin this without your permission, and your permission evidently runs through his.  You are a loyal soldier, Barikonen.  That will not change, no matter how you serve."

"I confess I've never liked working with magic. But if I can indeed harness something of what happened to me as a weapon, well, it is not the traditional reading of 'Honor Your Weapon' but I suspect the General will agree with you that I ought do so to the best of my ability."

"Magic is as much a tool as any other; a lesson I learned from working alongside the Forge-Bound.  And...Well, there's a sense in which you are less using magic, and more making magic for the rest of us, if that helps."

"It does not, but I appreciate the attempt."