"I gathered such power as I have that I might kill a man who wished me dead, for a fault not my own."

Blink. "I thought you meant sacrificing your own life for no one's sake. I'm sorry about that situation."

"It was resolved to my satisfaction."

"What happened?"

"I took the terms on which he desired to kill me and turned them back upon him. In the sight of his peers, I claimed his life and his station."

"That's an interesting promotion method."

"Strength is highly valued by the Sith. If you are neither powerful nor cunning enough to defend your position, by what right should you hold it?"

"High turnover, probably."

"Among the lower ranks, yes. That is less true at my level."

"Politics? Or is it too risky to try?"

"The politics of the Council are no less lethal than the Councilors themselves, and quicker to snare the unwary."

"I should have been more specific. I meant internal alliances and protection agreements."

"To an extent. If you are useful to others, they may expend some effort on your behalf. But the primary deterrent to killing a Sith is always the Sith herself."

"Seems lonely."

They walk in almost-silence; Occlus hears fragments of conversation when Hohenheim forgets he isn't alone and talks to one of his souls. The desert stretches on.

She keeps half an eye on what Hohenheim is doing while stretching her senses for signs of other people.

"There's a wagon heading for an oasis in about seven miles. We'll intercept it if we go this way." He changes direction slightly.

She follows. "How do you know that?"

"It is a technique I can perform because I developed a sense for where soulstuff exists and how it flows. The Xingese call the flow chi, although usually that word is used to refer to the flow of soulstuff in a human body, instead of the world. The latter is usually called the Dragon's Pulse."

"Some mythological resonance there, I assume?"

"The Xingese have maintained useful philosophical methods from before they learned alchemy, and the flow of chi is one of them. It translates as 'flow' or 'energy'. Dragons are a powerful mythological creature in Xing and the word for them is pronounced nearly the same way."

"It is not uncommon for a culture to cling to its formative stories and repurpose them to new contexts, even as time moves them away from their origin. Where did they learn alchemy from?"

"Me."

"Why did you teach them?"