Despite the Sahevin attacking, I wasn't worried.

After all, they'd landed on the very exposed and very lacking in guardrails landing pads. It was almost as if someone had designed those pads to be a trap for the unsuspecting.

I didn't even have to give the order. The Tethered stationed to either side of the doors pulled the heavy release levers that sat along the outside of the frame. With that simple motion, the guards sent the Sahevin tumbling with unholy screams.

Sirens of the deep, those mermen weren't.

Some of the awakened managed to catch themselves, though their efforts were hindered by cylinders raining down on them.

It would've been more useful if those cylinders had exploded on contact, but even just getting beaned by an enchanted brick was enough to knock most of the awakened Sahevin out of the sky.

And when one of those cylinders did explode? Well, it turned out the Sahevin's casters couldn't manage flight and barriers at the same time.

While the Sahevin recovered from being dumped from the sky, teams of Tethered started hauling at the ropes attached to the pads, pulling the lightweight platforms back into position.

"Inertia is pleased to see that the landing platforms are performing as designed," Tresla said as they joined me.

"Of course, they are. We didn't get a bunch of moody Shapers to handle their design. And we made sure to test them," I said, turning away from the Tethered who had satisfied grins on their faces as they made jokes about fish not belonging in the skies. "There's at least one canister design that seems to be exploding on contact with nearly every strike. I think we have a winner, but no reason not to drop them all."

Inertia nodded as Bevel and Arizar walked towards us.

"How was the view from the bridge?" I asked.

"It was fraying awesome!" Bevel said, making little explosion motions with her hands. "So many booms."

"While there is certainly potential, their timing leaves something to be desired," Arizar said, shaking her head. "An excellent display from those who do not specialize in such, however."

"Pretty much my thoughts," I said, waving them after me as we returned to the bridge they'd just vacated. "Though this was a lot less effective than I'd been hoping. Looks like we're going to have to drop the Show Stopper, Inertia."

My large mechanical friend let out a hiss-whistle of laughter, clapping her hands together. She took a single step towards another lever set off to the side of the captains chair before turning to look at me, shifting a single metallic eyebrow upward.

"Yeah, you can release it," I said, waving her forward. "You put most of the work in, I just enchanted the contact enchantment."

Inertia gave a smooth nod as she pulled a pair of heavy pins free, allowing the lever to move. Then she put her body into it. A heavy creak echoed through Aeternia's Shield as the clasps on the Show Stopper was released.

At the same time she was doing that, I'd gone over to the command chair and placed my hand on one of the enchantments, sending the arming command through.

Arming might have been slightly misleading, though it felt appropriate. Technically, it was just a simple filter enchantment, overcharged.

Most of the time, the Show Stopper wouldn't be anything but an extra pouch, one of four that could be pulled free to be put in place for emergency repairs to keep the Shield airborne. But the thing about being able to fill those pockets with whichever gas we wanted was… well, we could pack a lot of the one that went boom really quickly.

Detonating it after wasn't exactly challenging. Even without enchantments. Thankfully, we weren't going for an actual fusion bomb. Just a nice superpowered firebomb.

The Show Stopper lived up to its name.

All the canisters that had been in the air were sent careening away. We probably should've gotten them to stop dropping those.

The explosion was nearly invisible, though the heat caused the air to distort wickedly. The shockwave washed over us with barely a ripple, the pilot having wisely activated the air resistance enchantments just prior to the explosion.

We did get hit by a couple secondary explosions from canisters that got caught midair, which was entirely my fault.

"That was so… fraying… awesome!" Bevel cheered, grabbing my arm and jumping up and down while pointing out the window. "And you did that with just air!"

"I mean, there was a little more than… do not do experiments with air trying to replicate it without at least an Aegis protecting you and either me or Arizar present," I said, grabbing Bevel by the shoulders and turning her towards me. "Promise me."

Bevel seemed shocked by my sudden shift, but she nodded slowly. Then she nodded again, more decisively. "I promise, Papa."

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"Good. That worked out but we had a lot of enchantments to keep it from hurting us," I said, ruffling her hair. "I'll show you how to do the enchantments when we get back. Might help with your experiments."

"Thanks, Papa," Bevel said, grabbing my hand out of her hair and holding onto it instead.

"The real shortcut to a girl's heart, teaching her to create massive explosions," Arizar commented lightly, tone amused.

"Yeah, is that how it works for you?"

"It's certainly one route," Arizar admitted, gaze returning to the devastation below. "That was far more effective than I expected. Those were only tier-1 enchantments?"

"Yep. And some applied physics," I replied as I searched the remains, Eagle Eyes letting me pick through with ease. That single bomb had taken out more Sahevin than every one the Shapers had come up with combined. We'd successfully scoured the upper reach of the Golden Halls clean.

"I think the Shapers pride will be shaken by such a display," Arizar replied, gaze shifting behind us.

Sure enough, all six cadres had come out of their respective pods and were arguing with each other, Master Stand one of the few still wearing a smile.

We went out together, and soon I established the winner was Stand's personal cadre. That didn't surprise me, since he seemed to have the most practical side of all the Shapers. He might've been the only one who'd understood the importance of the contact trigger.

"I almost wish we hadn't won, after seeing your own display," Stand admitted as the rest of the Shapers gathered in groups, discussing their results. Despite working for us, none of them had been allowed to see the enchantments on the Show Stopper prior to launch.

I hoped they'd think it had held a unique enchantment compared to the other spare pockets. Otherwise they'd probably realize how simple the bomb was to make.

If they were part of our crew, that might not be a bad thing… but…

Well, it might be a good idea to put people on figuring out ways to counter or shield against our bombs before others used them against us.

With the winners decided, I announced the next competition, this time for designing more efficient Water mana to Earth mana enchantments. Not nearly as exciting, though the guaranteed rewards for any successful design, even if they didn't win the competition itself, ensured they were all going to take part.

Would be nice to put more of the free mana in the ocean to use. Would let us make better use of the Sahevin materials too.

Aeternia's Shield didn't turn back immediately, instead doing a slow patrol of the cliffs surrounding Cape Aeternia.

When we passed the Wyvern Peaks, we had a visitor come to poke its head at us. The curious wyvern hadn't gotten any less curious than the first time I'd seen it, though it did seem to be getting more comfortable approaching us. It didn't attack but it did fly alongside us until we left the Wyvern Peaks behind.

I asked one of the Tethered to send a message to Selvi. If it was that curious, we needed someone to make contact with it, and maybe even establish a bond. Which would need one of Vaserra's people too, but I was certain she'd help.

After, our personal group kept mostly to the bridge, with the exception of Inertia, who was interrogating Stand on the design of his bombs.

It was approaching evening by the time we reached Verdant Point, where we disembarked. The airship would continue its patrol in the morning, moving around the rest of our border.

In fact, the plan was for it to be on a near constant patrol, now that it had cut its teeth. We'd need to rearm it, but that could be done near almost any Waygate.

The day had been normal in a way I needed. A reset after all my time on the Dauntless.

And now I got to spend the evening with Tamrie.

For once, we spent it just the two of us. Not even Bevel or Arizar were allowed along. It'd been a while since we'd done so, not counting our walks along the forest paths.

Funny that we chose the halls just outside those paths for our evening rendezvous.

"Wait a dredging minute? Six months? How in the Holds did you spend six months going 'round about inside a trial? Just…How?" Tamrie asked, staring up at the starlit lake above us, her head on my shoulder. "That's… that's longer than we've even know each other. Perry, I… and you're sure it was real. No gaps in your memory?"

"Unfortunately not. Mind's better than ever," I replied, tapping my forehead. Even without checking my stats, I knew the six months had pushed me further in that regards. It'd been good for my growth in another way I hadn't expected too. Halfway through the patrol around the border, simply messing around with Bevel, my second Pegasus slot had unlocked.

"Well, fishguts," Tamrie said, pouting.

It was a rather adorable pout. One I could definitely do with seeing more of.

But then, that felt true of seeing Tamrie in general.

"Was talking to Arizar about it today. About how much compressed time I've been going through. And about how you could join me," I said, staring upwards. "We've both got ideas."

"Perry, you know I wanna go away into your magical palace with you, but I'm not close, not even a little," Tamrie said, leaning against me. "Barely even a real Shaper, what with my first slot and all."

"Wait, you have your first slot? Tamrie, that's great. Congrats," I said, squeezing her against my side and giving her a peck on the top of her head.

"Didn't I tell ya?" Tamrie asked, tilting her head so her messy curls fell across the side of her face as she looked up at me, nose twitching as one of those curls tickled it.

"No. You most certainly didn't. That's great, the next four shouldn't take you too long. I mean, it'll be a few months, at least, but-"

"Perry… I don't think I'm gonna need four more," Tamrie said, interrupting me.

I stared blankly at her for a second.

"Remember how I asked you to keep it natural as possible. 'Cause it felt more right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I remember. We used a tier-3 material and everything," I said, nodding.

"Well, you know how I've been avoiding having a scan taken?"

"You have? I just thought you were getting Nexxa to do it," I said, shaking my head. "After how embarrassed you were about me 'seeing my insides like that', I thought you wanted a girl to do it."

"That's nothin' like how I sound," Tamrie insisted, pushing my shoulder.

"Of course not," I reassured her. Poorly, judging by the glare she sent my way. Since she'd been so kind as to line herself up, I darted in for a kiss, which melted the glare away.

"Anyway, I think I'm more like Bevel. What we were hoping for, but I was scared to check cause… well, if I wasn't, then I'd need to be a regular wizard like you. And I don't find studying runes all day interesting. I'm sorry, I tried to. Really, I did but I just… don't," Tamrie said, her voice breaking.

"Oh, Tamrie," I said, pulling her close. "I… I only wanted you to grow 'cause I want you to be safe. Well, and now 'cause I don't like being apart from you for so long."

She nodded against my chest, taking a deep breath. "And now, I think I can. Except… I don't right understand what I'm s'posed to do. If'n Bevel's thing is understanding the wind… well, I'm Ocean and Nature. What in the depths even is that?"

"We'll get your scan done and find out," I said, kissing the top of her head. "Tamrie, if it's anything like Bevel… well, I don't think you're going to be lagging behind much longer."

"Good. 'Cause I been thinking about what I'd do if I could have you to my lonesome for a good thirty hours, and I'm pretty sure I'd be breakin' ya here in the real world."

"That, my dear Tamrie, sounds like a challenge."

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