Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel gained entry to Sun City by claiming she was Lord Kaguolet’s sister, and the guards escorted them to an inn while the townspeople stared at her. In their room, they wondered why the city seemed to have no women and how its ruler maintained control despite the unequal distribution of resources.

• Uchiha Madara told the guards that Lord Kaguolet had entrusted him with hiding his younger sister, Alustriel, and promised they would be rewarded for helping.
• The guards welcomed Uchiha Madara and Alustriel into Sun City and led them to a prominent inn, where townspeople stared at Alustriel.
• The innkeeper arranged a quiet room for them, and Alustriel complained to Uchiha Madara that his plan had made her feel tricked.
• Uchiha Madara observed that they had not seen any women in the city and speculated that they might all live in the palace.
• Alustriel said she knew women lived in the city but were very scarce, and she wondered why the people accepted the ruler’s control of them without resisting.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed how to find the Magic Stone in a country where women seemed unknown to its people. Madara planned to use Alustriel’s appeal to gain an audience with the city’s lord and ask directly about the stone.

• Alustriel and Uchiha Madara speculated that the country’s people might not know women existed, which could explain its unusual social order.
• Madara explained that people or animals near the Magic Stone became demonized, giving them a way to search for it.
• Madara proposed that Alustriel use her beauty and influence to get the city’s lord to reveal the Magic Stone’s location.
• Alustriel objected to acting as bait but agreed to consider cooperating so they could leave sooner.
• Madara said the city’s people had reacted to Alustriel as if she were their ruler, and predicted that the palace would soon summon them.

Uchiha Madara outlined a plan for Alustriel to approach the city lord and ask about the country's Magic Stones. He remained confident they could secure another stone easily, while Alustriel warned that finding the rest would be far harder.

• Uchiha Madara praised Alustriel's beauty and said she was the key to their mission.
• Alustriel objected to using a honey trap, but Uchiha Madara explained that she only needed to get close to the city lord and ask where the Magic Stones were.
• Uchiha Madara argued that Alustriel's beauty would make people unlikely to refuse her request, and Alustriel recalled that the country's people seemed inexperienced around women.
• Uchiha Madara revealed that he already had three Magic Stones and had given one to Xing En; obtaining one on this trip would bring his total to five.
• Alustriel cautioned Uchiha Madara that the remaining Magic Stones would be difficult to obtain, and he replied that they would proceed one step at a time.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed the Magic Stone they hoped to obtain in Sun City and the dangers awaiting them there. Alustriel revealed that two elven investigators had vanished in the country, while she and Madara prepared to enter it.

• Uchiha Madara said he had five Magic Stones, and Alustriel pointed out that he currently had only three because he had given one to Xing En.
• Alustriel told Uchiha Madara that an elf and her male companion had disappeared in Sun City after investigating the country.
• Uchiha Madara said the investigators had likely been killed and warned that a noble elven woman would attract dangerous attention in a country full of men.
• Alustriel asked whether she and Uchiha Madara could disappear from the Elzeran Continent, and Madara said her strength and intelligence made that unlikely.
• Alustriel explained that Carter Binda's country-freezing magic could be matched by grand magic, which dozens of grand mages on the Elzeran Continent could wield.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed how they would protect each other while seeking information about the Magic Stone and a missing elven hero. When someone knocked at their door, Alustriel prepared to use her influence to help them get what they wanted.

• Alustriel and Uchiha Madara discussed their reluctance to fight and agreed that Madara would protect her from threats.
• Madara explained that they had entered openly so the city lord could help them find the Magic Stone.
• Alustriel questioned their partnership, and Madara said he would watch over her if the city lord tried to keep her in the city.
• Alustriel hoped a surviving elven woman could tell them about the past and the Magic Stone, and said she would bring the hero back to her homeland.
• Someone knocked at their door, and Alustriel said they could set out and get what they wanted by nightfall.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel were summoned by the ruler, and Alustriel insisted that Madara accompany her. After their female escorts left them to get ready, they speculated about why women had been sent to handle the invitation.

• Uchiha Madara and Alustriel argued over which of them had noble status as urgent knocking sounded at their door.
• Uchiha Madara opened the door and found two women who said the ruler wanted to see Alustriel.
• One woman dismissed Madara, but Isaral arrived, introduced herself politely, and explained that the ruler had invited both guests.
• Alustriel agreed to go only if Uchiha Madara could come with her, and Isaral accepted her condition.
• After the women left to wait, Uchiha Madara and Alustriel wondered why the ruler had sent women to summon them.

Alustriel and Uchiha Madara speculated about why the city’s officials were treating them coldly before Isaral came to escort them to dine with the city lord. They left their room and found a carriage waiting to take them to the nearby Imperial City.

• Alustriel and Uchiha Madara discussed whether their identities or a possible grudge explained the unfriendly treatment they had received.
• Alustriel and Uchiha Madara agreed that being summoned to the palace fit their plan to meet the city lord.
• Isaral knocked and told Alustriel and Uchiha Madara that the city lord was waiting to dine with them.
• Alustriel and Uchiha Madara left with Isaral and saw a carriage drawn by two unfamiliar animals waiting outside.
• Uchiha Madara asked why they needed a carriage when the Imperial City was nearby.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel traveled with Isaral through a city where women were rare and held high status. Isaral asked about Kaguolet and revealed she had known him personally, then implied she suspected Alustriel was his younger sister.

• Isaral explained that the carriage was meant to keep people from gawking at Alustriel, and Madara noticed the locals were wary of the women.
• Madara and Isaral discussed the city's unusual imbalance between men and women as they rode in the carriage.
• Isaral asked what Kaguolet had done and whether he had joined forces with the Night Elves, and Madara explained his account of the events.
• Isaral said she had spent a long time with Kaguolet and refused to believe he could change, while Madara cautioned her against trusting a stranger too much.
• Isaral suggested Alustriel must be Kaguolet's younger sister and told Madara that their location was safe for now.

Uchiha Madara claimed that Kaguolet defected because of the Magic Stone and warned Isaral about its corrupting power. Isaral revealed that Sun City had its own Magic Stone, sealed in a dungeon beneath the city.

• Uchiha Madara told Isaral that Kaguolet's defection had another cause besides killing the eldest prince.
• Uchiha Madara brought up the Magic Stone and claimed it had triggered the events surrounding Kaguolet's departure.
• Alustriel asked whether the Magic Stone was connected to her brother's defection, and Uchiha Madara confirmed it.
• Uchiha Madara explained that the Magic Stone held great power but could corrupt people and cause disasters if uncontrolled.
• Isaral confirmed that Sun City had a Magic Stone sealed in its underground dungeon.

Uchiha Madara persuaded Isaral that Kaguolet’s family could control the Magic Stone and suggested testing the girl claiming to be his younger sister. After arriving at the Royal City, Elminster felt an unusual familiarity with its white buildings, and Isaral revealed that they had been built only several years ago.

• Uchiha Madara told Isaral that Kaguolet’s pure heart meant he could control the Magic Stone and proposed using it to verify whether the girl was his sister.
• Isaral said the city lord would decide their identities when they reached the Royal City.
• Isaral brought Uchiha Madara and Elminster to the palace, where Madara remarked on its unusual all-white architecture.
• Elminster said the buildings felt familiar to her, and Isaral said they had been there for several years.
• Uchiha Madara noticed that fewer men appeared the deeper they went into the palace and asked Isaral about Sun City.

Isaral explained to Uchiha Madara that Sun City was a matriarchal society led by women and kept isolated from the outside world. Madara learned that the citizens revered their City Lord and had prepared for possible conflict, while Alustriel asked whether the city had always been this way.

• Uchiha Madara asked Isaral why the Royal City seemed to contain only women and why its people looked at him with disgust.
• Isaral explained that Sun City was a matriarchal society where women led and men served, and said the arrangement reflected the people’s will.
• Madara questioned the city’s gender imbalance and leadership, then accepted that the current rulers were the people’s choice.
• Isaral said Sun City kept its gates closed to avoid outside rumors and influences, and that its people trusted their City Lord to lead them into a glorious era.
• Madara observed that the City Lord had become an object of faith, while Isaral said the city had prepared for war from outside or within.
• Isaral said Madara would soon meet the City Lord, and Alustriel asked whether the city had always been like this.

Alustriel asked Isaral about the origins of the country’s architecture and matriarchal society because the place felt strangely familiar to her. Isaral explained that women had overthrown a patriarchal order that treated them as commodities, while Madara challenged her belief that all men were alike.

• Alustriel asked when the country’s architectural style and female rule began, explaining that the place felt familiar despite her never having visited it.
• Madara tried to deflect Isaral’s suspicions, but Isaral said the information was no secret and described a reform from a patriarchal society to a matriarchal one a few years earlier.
• Isaral explained that women had once been controlled by nobles and treated as expensive commodities, and she rejected Madara’s suggestion that sympathetic men had helped them.
• Isaral said she believed all men were no good, while Madara argued that men across the Elzeran Continent differed and pointed to the holy knight Kaguolet.
• Isaral said Kaguolet was different because she saw him as a holy knight rather than as a man, and Madara said her distrust of men was understandable after her country’s oppression.

Uchiha Madara praised Isaral’s fight for freedom, while Alustriel struggled with a growing sense that she had visited the country before. Isaral led them to meet the City Lord, and Alustriel’s familiarity with the place deepened as they entered the dining hall.

• Isaral explained the suffering behind her people’s struggle, and Uchiha Madara said he understood and admired their fight for peace and freedom.
• Isaral said her City Lord would want to meet Uchiha Madara and Alustriel, while Uchiha Madara reconsidered his assumptions about their society.
• Alustriel said she felt she had been to the country many times, though she could not remember visiting it.
• Two women returned and told Isaral that the City Lord was waiting in the dining hall, so Isaral led the guests there.
• Uchiha Madara praised the lavish dining hall, while Alustriel felt increasingly certain that the place was familiar.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel waited in Sun City’s palace restaurant after the city lord failed to appear, and they suspected something had changed since their invitation. As they ate alone, Alustriel remained uneasy about how familiar the place felt and warned that retrieving the Magic Stone might not go as smoothly as expected.

• Uchiha Madara praised Sun City’s refined restaurant, while Alustriel stared at a decoration and wondered if they had come to the wrong place.
• Isaral told Uchiha Madara and Alustriel that the city lord could not meet them, and Uchiha Madara chose to wait rather than begin the meal without their host.
• Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed whether their identities had been discovered, while Alustriel said the palace felt familiar and warned that something seemed wrong.
• Isaral returned and confirmed that the city lord was still busy, offering to arrange company and rooms for the guests.
• Uchiha Madara accepted dining without the city lord, and he and Alustriel wondered whether their host had deliberately stood them up or was genuinely occupied.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed whether their hosts knew their identities, then traded jokes about Madara’s talent for lying. Alustriel decided the meal was safe and began eating, while Madara remained wary and wondered why she was so certain.

• Uchiha Madara suspected that the woman who had not come to meet them knew who they were and was avoiding them.
• Alustriel warned that their identities might have been discovered, but Uchiha Madara said they should eat and deal with trouble if it came.
• Alustriel questioned Uchiha Madara about how effortlessly he lied, and he claimed lying was an innate talent.
• Alustriel argued that elders should show the younger generation what the world ought to be like, and Madara joked that he should leave history’s stage.
• Alustriel said the meal could not be poisoned and began eating, while Uchiha Madara remained suspicious and wondered how she knew it was safe.

Alustriel explained why she trusted the food and revealed she had discovered a separate goal in the city. As she and Uchiha Madara prepared to split up that night, she gave him a Paired-Wing Mirror so they could stay in contact.

• Alustriel said she trusted the city lord not to poison them because he already knew their identities, and Uchiha Madara chose not to press her for unrelated secrets.
• Alustriel revealed that she had made a deal with Ci Enyiwu and had recognized what was happening after seeing an ornament in the dining hall.
• Alustriel said she and Uchiha Madara would pursue their separate goals that night, while remaining available to help him if needed.
• Alustriel gave Uchiha Madara a Paired-Wing Mirror so their separate searches for their goals would not delay each other.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed their search for Magic Stones and planned to explore the lowest level beneath the city after nightfall. They returned to their room to rest, with Madara still unsure why Ci Enyiwu was helping him.

• Alustriel said she would come to Madara once she found the stone she was seeking, and Madara suspected Ci Enyiwu had her own reasons for helping him.
• Madara ate before their nighttime search, while Alustriel advised him to avoid force and suggested he use his talent for bluffing.
• Madara said he could locate the lowest level beneath the city by sensing it, though doing so would reveal his presence.
• After eating, Madara declined Alustriel's offer to ask about the Magic Stone, and they agreed to return to their room.
• Madara and Alustriel discussed the city's female-led society and whether capable people should govern, regardless of gender.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel settled into their lodgings while discussing his plan to seek the Magic Stone that night. Isaral arrived to invite them to dinner on behalf of the City Lord, despite Alustriel saying they had already eaten enough.

• Uchiha Madara and Alustriel left the restaurant and were escorted to an elegant room arranged by the City Lord.
• Alustriel offered to help Uchiha Madara find the Magic Stone, and he told her to come if he called while warning that he hoped to retrieve it himself.
• Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed the City Lord avoiding them as night fell.
• Isaral visited their room and invited them to dinner, explaining that the City Lord was busy running the country.
• Alustriel declined dinner, but Isaral said providing them with a meal was basic courtesy.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel received dinner from Isaral, who reassured them that the city lord would meet them and that no one would harm them. They discussed Isaral’s memories of Kaguolet and the Magic Stone, then spoke about desire and the possibility that Uchiha Madara might never return to the Elzeran Continent.

• Isaral brought dinner to Uchiha Madara and Alustriel and explained that the women’s hostility toward men came from past suffering.
• Uchiha Madara asked Isaral about Kaguolet, and she said they had met years ago and that he might have forgotten her.
• Isaral told Alustriel that the city lord was busy at the palace but would meet them the next day, and promised to visit them daily.
• Alustriel revealed that she had tried to ask Isaral about the Magic Stone, but Isaral had not been willing to answer.
• Uchiha Madara said people in love lost their reason, while Alustriel argued that feelings clouded judgment and that she lived simply to keep living.
• Uchiha Madara said he might not be able to return after going back to his own world, but Alustriel believed he could visit again.

Uchiha Madara and Alustriel discussed how he might return to his world and agreed to pursue their leads separately. After parting, Madara considered how to find the Magic Stone beneath the Royal City palace without alerting anyone, but had not decided whom to question.

• Uchiha Madara told Alustriel that he doubted the rift that brought him here could be recreated and said he did not want to risk ending up somewhere without black stones.
• Alustriel offered to ask her contacts about the woman Madara was searching for, and Madara asked her to help while they worked together to avoid detours.
• Uchiha Madara and Alustriel joked about his lies and promised to help each other before leaving separately into the darkness.
• Uchiha Madara felt freer alone and decided to avoid sensing across the Royal City unless necessary, since others might detect him.
• Uchiha Madara reasoned that the Magic Stone was likely beneath the Royal City palace and considered asking someone how to get inside, but had not chosen whom to approach.