A/N: I have a discord channel you can follow using the invite code: X6WeHRn

A selectable version of this code is also on my profile.

"Welcome to the Iris Clan in Barin. "

The group of half-blood servants bowing to them with the group of proper Iris also bowing at the end was a surprise. The formal but honest welcome he heard was another.

The smile on Yan's face was the biggest.

Then Landar's father's eyes glanced down to the bracelet on Cato's wrist and his smile gained a tinge of smugness.

After a long and uneventful cart ride, a little faster than before due to better roads and faster carts, Cato would welcome a little interesting times. But this was starting to look a little too interesting. Kupo, who had followed them citing she had business with the Iris, looked around with interest, not caring about Cato's plight at all.

Yan headed the group of Iris at the main door of the guest compound. Flanking him was the rest of Landar's family, presumably the two men standing next to her mother, Ari, were her older brothers. Behind them was a smattering of mismatched families, possibly cousins or political allies. Cato spotted Chakim in the crowd too, Landar's one time guard back when Cato was just starting out.

All of them wearing formal Iris dress, with their flowing black hair and sharp Tsarian features. Added to the controlled artificial atmosphere of the Iris clan compound's architecture and decorations, it was like stepping into a different world altogether. Cato thought this might have contributed to the isolation, something he had speculated on ever since his first visit to this place.

Landar wasn't dressed in Tsarian style of course.

"I have returned, Father," Landar said, bowing so smoothly that none could fault her. Though Cato did not miss the glittering defiance in her eyes as she looked at her father.

She led Cato through the doors, looking around at the gathered Iris all looking at her, occasionally looking at Cato oddly respectfully.

"Welcome home, daughter. Landar. Your accomplishments have been greatly received and a banquet has been arranged tomorrow night in your honour. " Her father smiled at her.

What. Who was this and what had he done to Yan? Cato had to restrain himself from staring too much at the older man.

Landar didn't conceal her confusion, frowning openly.

Perhaps he picked up on their feelings, Yan gestured to his wife, "Ari, please guide her to her rooms. Cato may follow her. " He nodded as Landar's mother gestured for her children to follow her.

Yan turned to Kupo, "I am sorry that such an honoured guest has to stay in the outer house but the clan has not agreed to letting me host you in the main house. After you have settled in, will you join my immediate family for a short discussion before dinner?"

Kupo, having never met Yan before, simply nodded her assent. "No offense taken," she said politely, "I am a guest after all. And Pastora doctors travel frequently and have had to stay in much worse conditions. Your guest house is more than enough. "

The little procession broke up and the servants scurried to levitate their luggage inside, because of course wasting magic was a sign of good training, and Kupo was guided to her room. Meanwhile, Landar and her immediate family plus Cato were headed to their branch family's house.

"It's been years, little sis," said the oldest of her two brothers. "You're doing well, I hope?"

Landar smiled wryly, "yes, we both seem to be quite busy and I am sure you are doing as well as I am. Ah, right, Cato. You have met my parents before but this is Akuo, my oldest brother. Riki," she pointed to the other man following them, "is my second brother. Don't mind this one, he's a stick in the mud. "

Cato suppressed a sigh at Landar's attempt at provocation. Riki's eyes flashed with annoyance but Yan, her father, just snorted.

Judging by the lack of shock of everyone but Landar, her father's good mood was not a surprise to anyone outside of the Iris clan.

Just what had happened here?

The family didn't answer his curiousity for the entire walk through the twisty maze of gardens and homes. The miniature gardens, each as well taken care of as the next, and the wood and stone houses looked exactly the same to Cato's eye as the last time he came. Rather unlike the rapidly changing face of Minmay or even the staidly shifting of diplomatic power in the Inath capital, as described by Morey.

Eventually they ended up in a little tea room in the next building to where Landar's room was.

Guided to sit on the woven straw mat floor, they sat around the table for their family meeting. As soon as the maid had prepared the tea and left, Landar slapped her hand against the table, "All right, I want to know what is going on. What have you done now, Father? And Akuo, weren't you at Fort Yang? Why are you back?"

Her mother rescued a rattling teacup and took a sip, "well, Landar, we are simply announcing your engagement to the most important man in the Iris?"

They looked at Cato, who hid behind his own sip of tea. Landar stared back at her mother with incomprehension then looked over to her father.

There was a knock on the door and the maid outside opened it to show Kupo in. She glanced around at the casual tea table and took a seat opposite Yan.

"Hey Yan, are you sure that room is fine?" Kupo said, with not a trace of her earlier formality, "I think you gave me the wrong one. "

"No, you deserve that. Of course, it would have been Cato's without that bracelet but he's with us now," Yan replied.

"Isn't that a room you give to major nobles of the country?" she asked him incredulously.

"You deserve it," Yan repeated. Kupo hesitated, thinking about whether to retort, but visibly gave up thinking about the matter.

She poured a cup of tea for herself.

"Will someone explain?" Landar asked snappishly, "Kupo, you sound like you know what is going on, why don't you answer?"

They looked at Landar and Kupo asked back, slowly, "didn't you read my report on the Iris power training? Both of you were the ones who came up with the magic energy ratio measurement that the Iris took, remember?"

That? Wasn't that the power measurement by way of determining the ratio of magic energy to mana density in a spell casted by someone? Sure, the Iris had ordered a number of measurement boxes but Cato hadn't received any reports on that.

He looked at Landar and sighed at her guilty expression.

"I... might have skipped a bit. " She admitted.

Cato patted her shoulder. "Landar, you can't just skip reports because they're about your family. In fact, it's all the more reason not to skip them. You know how important the Iris are to the defence at Fort Yang. "

While spell cannons had the roughly the same role and power as a strong summoner, said summoner was one person with a green rock rather than a heavy weapon and power supply wagon. And the summoners could also use the supply wagon if needed.

"So, Landar, I have been working with the Iris on improving their training methods and investigating lifeforce. That is why I am here actually, to review the results of the new training program as well as check on a hypothesis. "

Kupo gestured for Yan to elaborate.

"We have two major improvements in the power training exercises," Yan said, holding out a hand. A ball of magic wafted from his palm, collecting into a ball of power. "Your device, Cato, let us measure both the ratio of magic energy to magic density and the total density of power within a person's body. After trying many different traditional exercises, we found that the light meditation best improves the energy ratio. "

The ball shone in the magic sense as Yan poured more and more power into it, eventually compressing it down into a droplet of liquid light that shone like a brilliant star. "You improve in your power density by using power ratios above your normal level. A simple exercise to concentrate more power into less magic will force your lifeforce to improve. Exercising our magic by using it does this automatically but being able to measure the power ratio lets you know whether you are doing it correctly. "

He let the ball of magic disperse.

"However, as your power improves, training gets more and more difficult. We already know this, strong summoners get less benefit from training the same amount of time as weaker ones. The device let us know that this training improves everyone the same way, the power ratio you command is directly related to how fast you can expect to improve from training.

My clan, in cooperation with Kupo and her suggestions, created another exercise that improves the total magic density in your body. This lowers your power ratio but the greater pool improves your total power anyway. " At that, Yan held out a hand to his wife, who took it and began to power her magic into Yan's body. She let off once his body began to glow slightly in the magic sense.

"Overcharge," Landar whispered.

Indeed, Cato could see the sheen of sweat on Yan's forehead and the slight flush on his skin, signs of a very light fever.

Kupo took up the explanation, "holding more magic than you can normally contain causes your total pool to expand, it is a slow process but the greater the overcharge, the faster the expansion. And with a lower power ratio from expanding your magic density, you can return to the normal power training to bring your power ratio back up. The combination is faster than just a simple improvement in power ratio training, after all, improving your power ratio grants you more magic when you have a larger pool and the rise in your ratio is not slowed by increasing your total magic density.

The drawback of course is that overcharge is risky because it gives you a fever. The Iris have tried enduring greater overcharge while soaking in cold water, using your cold wind blower and various other methods to control the runaway heat as well as maintaining that charge at a stable level; but in the end, it is a fever and therefore dangerous. I really cannot recommend this as a Pastora but if the Iris are going to risk their health, they should have someone to watch them.

We worked together to create a training regimen that balances the time spent in overcharge and meditation against the expected improvements in both. We haven't found the limit to total magic density in a human body, but I expect the Iris to reach that eventually. Yan is already at double the human standard. Observing that development process and hopefully seeing something change in their cells under the microscope could be very useful to studying lifeforce. "

Kupo paused, then turned to Cato with a frown, "which reminds me Cato, you owe me a better microscope. Ten times magnification is not good enough. "

Cato grimaced and waved a hand uncertainly. To get higher would require improving the precision of the tools yet again. Not insurmountable but Kupo would just have to wait.

Cato looked around the room. Landar's older brothers and mother looked perfectly unruffled, having already knew all this. Landar was still digesting the information. Yan however, looked smug and happy.

The man took out a fist sized rock from under his clothes and set it, with mounting and the sturdy necklace, on the table.

Landar blinked at the ancient magical device. It was huge, around the same size as Tempest Bolt.

"Is... Is that Frostfire?" Landar asked incredulously, looking up at her father. Despite her professed disbelief in the Iris, she did grow up here and the sight of another Ritual class stone still made her impressed.

Yan's smugness only increased.

"How did you even get that?! We're only the third branch family, why would the clan give you this!" Landar exclaimed, almost involuntarily.

"Because I can use it, alone. Even if I barely have enough power, it is still Ritual class," was her father's immediate answer. Ah, that explained his smugness. He grinned, "you're also looking at the First Family. From our family's introduction of the new training methods, the relation to Cato and my achievement in reaching the greatest power of any currently living summoner and probably the strongest person in the entire world; we're the strongest branch in the clan.

For now. Because I was powerful before we started this training, I could reach this level in a year with a partially developed training program. The next generation of Iris will be so strong as to be able to tear down mountains and part the seas, just like the legends of the old Tsarian heroes. The Hero's attendant, Ereli, is still young enough, I suspect her power in twenty years will make me look like an untrained child. "

His gaze dropped to Cato's engagement bracelet on his arm and nodded, "I admit it, Landar. You chose well. Your work brought us this new training method and with the obvious benefits, none of the other branches can object. "

Yan admitting he was wrong and being happy for Landar? Cato frowned in confusion. Then he noticed Ari, sitting next to Yan, nudge him a little.

"I shall not bring up your lack of training any more, your contributions to the clan have been worth far more than that," her father dutifully said, "continue your study, any improvements will be welcome. "

Ah.

Well, as they say, every aristocrat's daughter had a price, and it looked like Landar had just reached hers in the eyes of her father. Or was it Cato who had reached that threshold?

That was interesting though, Cato had wondered how Landar had ended up in the third branch family when her mother was from the second and her father from the sixth. He hadn't dared ask Landar, knowing her likely reaction but it looked like that number was an ordering of intra-clan influence; now that Yan was the most influential, his family had the number of one.

The rest of the talk and the family dinner afterwards was about smaller inconsequential matters where Ari fussed over Landar's health and her brothers caught up Yan with gossip from the frontline. They would return soon after Landar's engagement's official announcement to the clan. There was the matter of the upcoming push northwards of Fort Yang after all, and many of the clan's summoners were joining in.

That night, after the rest and bath in the wing for travelling family members, Landar and Cato shared a late night cup of tea before bed. She sat beside him, both of them looking out the balcony to the quiet pond and garden under the calm evening moon.

"I still can't believe it," Landar said after pouring the tea for both of them. "My father approving an out of family marriage is impossible. "

Cato sighed, there was Landar's willful blindness when the topic was her father. "You could at least try to bury the hatchet. That means to make peace with him," he clarified the idiom at her confused look, "your father has approved of your work. You should be proud. "

"I still don't understand, how does my father even approve of a marriage without political benefit?"

"I don't think his only motive is to gain an advantage in the Iris clan," Cato explained, "he does look out for your wellbeing, in his own way. You should remember that the last time I visited here with Minmay, your father did try to set us up together. You might not have believed him, but I certainly thought he was being serious. "

He saw her disbelieving look and had to explain himself.

"Your father wanted a marriage with a strong Iris clan member because he felt it was the best way he could ensure your status. I think. Magical strength is also a very strong indicator of intra-clan status too, hence his insistence that you train. Now that you and I have been credited with helping the Iris create a new training program that increases the power of the clan significantly, our engagement will only cause your stock to rise in the eyes of the Iris. After all, your investigations into lifeforce and mine into magical power storage was the genesis of that training program that they will all be using.

Even before that, our cooperation with Minmay gives you significant political power with Ektal country, and no matter how isolationist the Iris are, that is worth something. Plus it helps that we're rich enough your lifestyle is basically guaranteed.

Think about it, if your father marries you off to another Iris branch family, that will only make his position as the first branch more secure by acquiring a potential allied family. Your cooperation with me is unlikely to change in any case, so the Iris still benefit there. Instead he supports your marriage to me, which improves your position at the expense of your branch family within the Iris. "

Landar snorted, "there's also the fact that I won't be listening to him and he knows it. "

"There is that," Cato said.

They shared a moment of silence that the night filled with the chirping of insects. The tea was nice.

"Well, enough about that craziness. I won the argument, I proved I can stand on my own, that's all that matters. Yes, yes, I will play nice. It's the least I can do after he quietly ignored the requirement of testing your magical strength. "

Landar leaned on his shoulder and patted Cato's hand before he could raise a protest about her stubbornness. "We should talk about something else," she said.

"What do you want to talk about?" Cato asked, feeling a little strange. Was she in one of her more forward moods? The fact that she had turned their engagement bracelet into a weapon was still fresh even many months after that picnic.

"Talk about Earth. What was your life like there? What are your parents like? Are they going to be surprised to find you're married if we get a way back?"

Cato mused, thinking about what to tell her. Come to think of it, he hadn't really spoken much about his life on Earth.

"I grew up in the United Kingdom. We're an island nation, though the island is quite big. The capital, London, probably has as many people as the entirety of the Inath Federation. My parents were academics, they met in university, the final stage of education, got married, went to work in the same University of London and never left. I grew up in London, went to school in London at six years old all the way up to University. also in London, and only left to study a doctorate.

I can't describe to you what it is like to live in a city like that. Minmay at its busiest does not come close to the daily traffic jams or the sheer density of people at King Cross at rush hour. I remember I had to travel half an hour by train to go to school and come back home, five days a week, when I was just eight. My mother used to send me to school but as I grew older, I had to take the train myself.

That's pretty much the story of my entire life. Each day, my parents go to work, I go to school. We come home in the afternoon, have a family dinner and that's all. We have a pretty huge fiction collection however, my room has an entire wall dedicated to my own personal bookshelf, and my parents and I share our books with each other all the time. "

He mused to himself. Yes, that omitted a huge amount of detail but he couldn't just dump it all on her without explanation. The idea of a public transport system was nothing more than a gleam in the eye of Minmay, a shiny project that probably couldn't be usefully implemented on a scale smaller than all of Ektal. Talking about his hobby of computer games and programming was also too far ahead for Landar to really understand.

Cato continued, leaning back on Landar, "my parents should be fine. They'll be too relieved that I've returned to worry about my getting married. They're certainly less complicated than your family. My mother has two siblings, my father has one, I have a few cousins but no brothers or sisters myself.

More than that, my mother would be very interested in interviewing you about the Iris and the overall Tsarian culture. She studies these things. My father is an engineer, like me, and would be more interested in our work on magic and technology. And now you know where I got my..."

Cato looked down, noticing the lack of sound from Landar, and found that she was sleeping lightly against his shoulder.

"Come on, at least sleep in your bed," he shook her gently. She murmured and cracked open an eye before sitting up.

"Oh, did I fall asleep?" she muttered, "we should sleep then. Leave the tea, we can clean it up tomorrow. "

Cato nodded and helped her up, "so, do you mind showing me back to my room? I still can't find my way around this very... large house. "

Landar frowned at him, "we're sleeping here of course. " She pointed at the bed in the adjoining room.

"On the same bed?" Cato asked skeptically.

"Well yes, we're engaged right?" she said plainly.

The completely nonchalant way Landar said that made Cato pinch his nose. "All right, I think there's a cultural difference here again," Cato sighed, "on Earth, if a man and a woman share a bed-"

That got her to look away in embarrassment, though the dim moonlight wasn't enough to see if she was blushing like Cato was. "Oh, if we have sex before we're actually married, we're expected to keep it quiet. But if I get pregnant, the marriage happens immediately. But, we, are, waiting. Understand? The other families will laugh at us otherwise. "

Cato nodded. Perhaps he ought to clear up any particular cultural quirks now... "And is there any expectation that we sleep together for the first time after marriage?" He sighed as the idiom once again failed, "sleeping together is a euphemism for sex. "

Landar just stared at him, "I have no idea what your world thinks about sex but it's not like that. We are expected to have children or try for children within a few years however. Marriage is a union of politics. And love if you can manage it. " She huffed and turned to the bed, "but it's late. I'm too sleepy to have a discussion about all the weird quirks you might not know about or have yourself. Later!"

Was the act considered less significant here on Inath? Or perhaps that was just the Tsarian outlook. Though Cato had noticed that red light district in Minmay seemed to be more tolerated than on Earth. Strangely enough, there were male prostitutes too but Cato had never really thought about what that signified about Inath other than a surprisingly high level of equality that he had attributed to magic covering the differences in martial ability.

He really needed to have an open discussion with Landar about cultural expectations on this sort of thing very soon. Before the year was up at least.