Abyssal Road Trip

Amdirlain’s PoV - Outlands - Outpost of the Monastery of the Western Reaches

Kadaklan’s approach prompted Amdirlain to admit her dilemma. Though she looked forward to the morning session, she didn’t want Sarah to stop holding her.

It’s not simply loneliness, is it?

Sarah gently tapped Amdirlain’s nose.

“What?” protested Amdirlain.

“I can smell your doubts, and they’re edged with a critical sharpness,” said Sarah. “Are you enjoying the moment?”

“Yes,” huffed Amdirlain. “There was still no need to tap my nose.”

“You had it wrinkled up. Relax for a bit, sweetie. Kadaklan will be here soon enough,” advised Sarah.

“You explained what you’re looking to achieve with adding the Ki option to your enchanting, so I’m very relaxed,” said Amdirlain. “I was just thinking about how I need to expand my knowledge base outside True Song. I’ve hoarded knowledge points so much I spend them only begrudgingly. Anyway, how do you know Kadaklan will be here soon? Are you listening to his mind?”

“More just a general Dragon location sense pinging his position,” explained Sarah.

“Lair Sense,” grunted Amdirlain. “Hopeless trying to ambush a Dragon at home.”

“Mountain mine,” grunted Sarah playfully. “Ugh.”

It feels good to be held by Sarah. Does it hurt to admit that? To enjoy the comfort instead of tearing myself apart?

The acknowledgement allowed Amdirlain to relax back into Sarah’s embrace, enjoying the comfort that enfolded her. She only reluctantly sat upright when Kadaklan landed on the platform. As he claimed the seat Isa had vacated, Sarah shifted to have one arm around Amdirlain’s back.

“You two look cozy,” said Kadaklan. Relaxing in the seat, he ran his fingers across the braided leather trim along its arms.

Clearing her throat, Amdirlain untangled herself, and Sarah chuffed in protest.

“I swear, cats and dragons have similarities,” grumbled Amdirlain.

“We need to be fed on time and provided scratching posts,” snickered Sarah.

“Good morning, Kadaklan. Thanks for helping Sarah,” said Amdirlain.

Sarah kissed her cheek, drawing a blush from Amdirlain.

“I take it all wasn’t well earlier?” asked Kadaklan.

“How did you guess?” drawled Amdirlain.

“Your sheepishness and the promptness of your thanks,” observed Kadaklan. “It occurs when you believe you have something to make up for.”

“I’ll admit I had concerns about why Sarah wanted the Class, but I now understand there is a purpose that I don’t need to be guilty about,” said Amdirlain. “I’ll always be glad when someone helps Sarah safely achieve her goals.”

“You’re both welcome,” replied Kadaklan. “Even if Sarah didn’t follow my advice.”

Amdirlain raised an eyebrow. “Which was what?”

“He tried to talk me into different Tao Alchemist variants,” offered Sarah. “Some prepare potions to soak powers into items, but it's too squishy for me.”

Kadaklan put a hand to his chest and affected a dignified expression. “It’s a superior Class than scratching objects and impressing energy into them.”

“Let alone punching things?” questioned Amdirlain.

“Clearly!” sniffed Kadaklan.

“Talk to the hand,” said Amdirlain with mock haughtiness.

Kadaklan snorted happily. “Please, you knew what I would say before you even asked the question.”

“What’s on the agenda for today?” asked Amdirlain.

“You’ll need to continue the same exercise from yesterday,” advised Kadaklan. “Until you can get the sigil to expand to fill your torso. However, we’re going to increase the difficulty. Sarith should be along with the others shortly.”

“Exactly how do you plan to accomplish that?”

“The same way Master Cyrus did, by ensuring you multitask with diverse activities,” explained Kadaklan. “We’re aware you’ve got a lot of lessons to get through, so we’re going to conduct them all simultaneously to free up the most time we can for you to work with.”

“Utilising a range of psionics along with Ki isn’t exactly overly diverse,” critiqued Amdirlain.

Kadaklan grinned. “I’m glad you think so, as I’ve not gone over everything. Sarith, Nomein, Lezekus, and Gemiya will show you psionic techniques while you use Harmony to observe Dareios’ use of Change Self. On top of that, you’ll be casting spells, creating items, and trying to expand your sigil.”

“Okay, and as an encore, do you want me juggling a few hundred plates?” inserted Amdirlain. “Or perhaps sing a few dozen orchestral pieces simultaneously?”

“I’ll ask Nomein. The first might be a suitable exercise for Far Hand or another telekinetic technique,” grinned Kadaklan. “Given all the songs you can manage at once, I’d have thought it would be child’s play.”

Amdirlain regarded him sceptically.

“Isn’t it?” asked Kadaklan.

“It is, and it isn’t. Generally, when I’m supporting the most songs, they’re all facets of a whole. While the songs I know are easy to perform together in vast numbers, learning completely new things isn’t quite the same,” explained Amdirlain. “Also, I like to focus my attention when I’m learning, so we’ll see how it goes.”

“Your sigil isn’t something to learn. You need to understand it,” offered Kadaklan.

Sarah patted her leg. “You’ll manage, and we’ll keep reinforcing the lessons until you’ve ironed out all the kinks in each technique. Should I assume I’m included in this?”

Amdirlain shot Sarah a pout and received a laugh from both.

“Oh, poor dear,” cooed Sarah. “Despite your protests, we all know you’ll handle our overworking you fine.”

“We hadn’t included you in our plans, Sarah, because we knew you had your own students, and we weren’t sure about your schedule,” advised Kadaklan. “I only spoke to Sarith about it after you left.”

Sarah nodded. “Fair point, but though I have students coming by this morning, I can conduct my part of Am’s lesson mentally, so nothing is stopping me from multitasking as well.”

Kadaklan tilted his head and smiled slowly. “Welcome to the fun.”

“Really?” drawled Amdirlain.

“Do we have to let Gilorn be the only one to boss you around?” asked Sarah. “Plus, if we can compress our lessons into the mornings, that frees up half your afternoons, and we can teach you each day.”

“We continue this exercise across both morning sessions?” enquired Amdirlain.

Kadaklan shook his head. “No, we’re compressing all six sessions into one. If we went across both sessions, it would give you too much time.”

‘And here I was thinking about how to find time for us,’ projected Amdirlain.

Sarah responded with a mental snort. ‘I didn’t put them up to it.’

Amdirlain hummed. “Either fast-tracking my progress or burning time until we reassess.”

“They’re looking to pseudo-hothouse you,” noted Sarah.

“Well, I’m not a child,” stated Amdirlain.

Sarah pretended a lecherous smile and wiggled her eyebrows. “I noticed.”

“Behave,” grumbled Amdirlain, a blush going to the tips of her ears.

“Nor are we trying to raise your intellectual level through intense study. We’re trying to keep your mind challenged. Individually, none of us can keep up with you, so we’re trying to combine lessons. The goal is to challenge you, which will free up your time,” said Kadaklan.

“Best ensure you don’t pass out,” quipped Sarah.

The four ladies appeared nearby, accompanied by Dareios, whose theme mingled acceptance and hesitation. They exchanged greetings before the group motioned to each other to pick seats.

“I hope we’re not all overwhelming you, Dareios,” said Amdirlain as he moved to stand near the platform’s edge to observe the group.

Dareios shifted his weight between his feet. “There is much the wellspring didn’t prepare me for, but a big change in one’s environment requires embracing change.”

“If you get overwhelmed at all, just let me or Sarah know, and we’ll get you help with whatever you need,” Amdirlain reassured. “You’re doing me a favour, and I appreciate that help.”

The tension shifted from Dareios’ shoulder, and he inclined his head. “Thank you, Am. Nomein told me to come to participate in your lesson.”

“You’ve told on me,” grumbled Nomein.

“Was it really a secret?” asked Dareios.

“Not exactly,” Nomein said with a frown. “Just how you said that sounds like I gave you an order. I mean, I said: ‘Come along and help'. I didn’t mean it as: ‘You will do this and like it’. I’d intended it as a casual request because your participation would be helpful.”

“Perhaps it was my misunderstanding of your phrasing,” allowed Dareios. “I’ll look to learn more languages, besides draconic, instead of relying on native translation.”

Nomein dramatically wiped her brow before she sat across the table beside Kadaklan. Once settled, she nodded at Amdirlain. “Has Kadaklan gone over what we’d like to try?”

“He has. Where did you want to try this out?”

“We can stay here, and all of us will manifest techniques behind the barrier. I’m assuming it can block psionic techniques as well?”

“Of course,” confirmed Amdirlain.

“I hope this isn’t an unwelcome surprise,” offered Gemiya lightly. “We’ve had numerous discussions to find the best starting point to challenge you.”

Sarith’s slight smile carried a reassuring warmth. “With your intelligence and Psi reserves, you have to admit it will be more of a matter of if, not when, for any technique you work on. Your prime challenge will be the right imagery to connect to it.”

Lezekus leaned against a pillar near the staircase and nodded respectfully to Amdirlain. “Any technique you learn will be used under more stress than we can imagine. We don’t expect or want to approach that, this is to keep your mind busy, not approach battlefield levels. Okay?”

Amdirlain sighed. “You all have a point. It’s just that my preference for learning new things involves a more methodical approach. Gilorn’s been teaching me in an overloaded style so I don’t get in my way with past life memories.”

Lezekus nodded. “We’ll keep an open mind and scale back if there are issues.”

“I’ll try,” agreed Amdirlain. “And I’ll let you know if I’m uncomfortable.”

“We were discussing it because of the emotional days you’ve had recently, and we wanted to give you more time,” advised Sarith. “The exercises for these sessions will require you to listen to our public minds while we execute techniques. As we’re doing that, you’ll manifest the techniques you know against suitable targets. But we don’t just want you listening with only Telepathy.”

“Your Resonance Power can let you hear the music of their execution, and Harmony should enlighten you about how they feel,” continued Gemiya. “Consider it a holistic approach to training since you need to work on so much. We want to see if you can grow accustomed to utilising them all together.”

“What gave you this idea?”

“Anarch training involves weaving Mana and Psi energy together,” explained Lezekus. “If you’d been left alone another year, you would have had those lessons with us. You don’t have two energy sources to tap into, you’ve got four: True Song, Psionics, Mana, and Ki.”

“I would have put them in a different order,” snorted Kadaklan.

“That’s because we each have biases,” teased Lezekus. “Anyway, we’re getting off track. We think you’ll find the greatest potential if you can weave multiple forces together to produce a seamless result. However, that will take getting used to working with them together and seeing how they supplement each other.”

“What do you mean?”

“True Song causes damage to your flesh, correct?” questioned Lezekus.

“Does it ever,” huffed Kadaklan.

“Yes, it does,” agreed Amdirlain. “Critic.”

“I’ve seen the mess you can make of yourself,” responded Kadaklan. “The ladies have bolstered various Ki healing techniques with psionics, so we’d like to explore that. Your spiritual net might alter its effectiveness, so there will be some trial and error.”

“More reverse engineering,” offered Lezekus.

Amdirlain lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Psychometabolism techniques normally work best on Mortal flesh. However, advanced techniques allow practitioners to damage the material form of an Outsider. Once you’ve learned those, your Resonance might allow you to determine how that damage is enacted. Then, we can reverse engineer the effect of the technique and develop new ones to hold Outsider flesh together instead,” clarified Lezekus.

“Like all things, it is a matter of an individual's mental approach,” cautioned Gemiya. “It took me longer to get the healing techniques to combine with Psi energy.”

“You’ve already used Harmony and Telepathy together when teaching affinities,” stated Sarith. “So that proves that you can get a Ki-related Power to work alongside Mana and Psi.”

“So you think I need to see if I can also incorporate True Song?” Amdirlain asked.

Sarith nodded sharply. “We doubt that you’ll gain anything directly into True Song. But you might well cause an evolution in your other skills and powers given your explanation that True Song is closer to the rules that govern the realm. Our minimum expectation is you’ll tap into resources that will let you extend how much you can do with True Song by healing the damage it does.”

“That’s a good point,” agreed Gilorn. “You’ve been focusing on your songs with Resonance. By taking this approach, you should be able to hear the inefficiencies in your other powers and skills.”

“Smooth the notes in it,” murmured Amdirlain, and she shot a sceptical look at Kadaklan.

“Not while cycling,” rebutted Kadaklan. “Sarith was talking about when you’re using, for example, Ki Blast or Ki Flight. When using the techniques you’re studying, listen to the roughness and adjust your approach until the music smooths out.”

Amdirlain grunted in understanding.

“Very eloquent,” heckled Kadaklan.

“I’m thinking it over,” retorted Amdirlain. “I can see what you’re suggesting. You think by trying all these together, I’ll be so busy I'll seek instinctive shortcuts?”

“Exactly,” agreed Nomein.

“Let’s give it a go,” agreed Amdirlain. “If it doesn’t get a result in a week then we can go back to the drawing board.”

Kadaklan grinned. “If I were Isa, I’d be willing to bet on it. What counts as making progress?”

“At least twenty levels between the abilities we’re going to work on,” replied Amdirlain.

Dareios raised his hand. “Does that include Change Self?”

“If this helps me figure out that Power, I’ll count it as worth twenty levels on its own,” declared Amdirlain. “Let’s get to work. Where do we start?”

“I recommend with singing,” instructed Sarith, and Gilorn hummed approvingly.

“Of course that gets your vote,” quipped Amdirlain, smiling at Gilorn.

“It’s the strongest of your abilities, and you’ll be in the frame of mind to listen,” defended Gilorn. “I’d suggest you create items amid your psionic manifestations.”

“Should I start a group gestalt, and you can link to everyone through me?” enquired Sarith. ”Or do you think it might require individual links?”

“Let’s go with the individual links. A group gestalt causes some filtering that might influence Harmony,” said Amdirlain. She linked to Sarah first but quickly included the other ladies before including Harmony in the connections. “Well, I’m going to need a lot of constructs.”

Sarah lightly kissed Amdirlain’s cheek before she rose. “I’ll prepare for my students. It won’t be an issue if I’m manifesting among the forges, will it?”

Unconcerned, Amdirlain shook her head. “Any recommendations?”

“Have fun. You can work on duplicating the metacreativity techniques after I’m on the fifth iteration,” said Sarah. “Once you’ve got it consistently, I’ll move on to the next pattern, but you should keep repeating each while practising the new one.”

“That’s an interesting idea,” added Lezekus. “I’ll need to prepare more constructs for future sessions.”

Figures made from psionic sensitive material appeared on the platform, and Lezekus sent them floating down towards the training area. “Nomein has improved enough that she made a few training constructs for Psychometabolism techniques.”

“An improvement indeed,” laughed Amdirlain.

Nomein fixed her with a haughty glare that didn’t match the chortles in her theme. “Slime master in truth and no longer just in jest.”

Amdirlain grinned and waved her away. “Your slime mastery infamy predates your newly gained control.”

“I’ve had control over it for years,” protested Nomein lightly.

“Nah, it doesn’t work that way, since the flow of time is always absolute. You dissolved the training constructs first, so your predominant title is slime master,” retorted Amdirlain playfully.

Nomein let out an exaggerated sigh. “Woe is me. I’ll have to earn another title then to overshadow it, perhaps taskmaster.”

“I believe I’ve already earned that title,” interjected Gilorn. “Shall we begin?

Amdirlain nodded and started to sing. As her second mithril construct stopped glowing, Nomein used a telekinetic technique to shift both constructs away from the observation platform. The air glowed as another construct came into being, and Sarith started presenting a shielding technique to defend her mind against Lezekus’ attempts to access her inner thoughts.

The demonstrations were in full swing between the five of them when Kadaklan signalled Dareios to begin alterations to his form. Already mentally linked to the others’ thoughts, Amdirlain also touched Dareios’ mind and, with Harmony, tried to understand how the Power worked within his flesh. Amid the demonstrations that caused the energy to ripple into existence between mind, flesh, and even dimensions with Gemiya’s Psychoportation, Gilorn joined the others.

Though Gilorn took a different approach, instead of teaching something new, her songs brought mammoth-sized constructs into existence and mirrored the music of the others’ manifestations in unempowered songs. The music’s purity danced across Amdirlain’s skin and shivered pleasantly up her spine. It eased the strain of the sigil she’d been trying to expand to sit beneath her skin.

Among the techniques and music warping reality about her, Amdirlain caught a familiar sense of defiance, tripping every attempt to take in the shift of Dareios’ flesh. Instead of being drowned by the activity about her, the mirroring of the music executed in dimensions beyond the physical allowed Amdirlain to catch the difference. The cornerstone of fear that undercut her ability to learn yet another Power to change her flesh.

It ties back to the fear of becoming lost. Viper gaslit me about clinging to my old self, and I met her partway, which was a mistake. Is that fear of being lost what caused the spike of anxiety when I went to add the fundamentals of Protean back into myself, or did it compound an existing issue from a past life?

“Thank you, Dareios,” murmured Amdirlain.

“Have you learned Change Self, Am?” enquired Dareios, hesitating between transformations.

“No, but I’m starting to understand why I’m having trouble,” clarified Amdirlain. “I’ve not yet figured out how to get past it. Would you keep up the shifting?”

The exercises now might provide the key once I get past my emotional baggage.

Dareios nodded and resumed without asking for an explanation.

[Crafting Summary (Category: Constructs)

Mithril-composite Construct x10,872

Total Experience gained: 1,087,200,000

Fallen: +1,087,200,000

Perception [S] (169->170)

Psychometabolism [Ad] (21->23)

Telekinesis [S] (15->16)]

Despite all the extra activity involved, I managed the same number of constructs in the session. Did I subconsciously pace myself to get that result? Perception also went up. Was that from picking up on all the details in the mental techniques? The problem is that with so much going on, it’s hard to isolate what helped me improve.

When the chimes rang to end the session, Kadaklan turned to Amdirlain. “How was it going?”

Amdirlain stood with a grunt. “My sigil is being stubborn.”

“I believe you have a saying about pots that applies,” said Kadaklan. “You’re still trying to force it rather than understand it. Expanding the sigil within yourself isn’t a matter of becoming. It’s a matter of being.”

“That’s just it. I can’t get it to expand in a balanced fashion as the flames and the feathers make its expansion uneven,” grumbled Amdirlain.

“Maybe it’s not a matter of improving what you’re doing but doing what you’re not,” Kadaklan responded, patting her shoulder reassuringly before heading for the door.

“Which is?” questioned Amdirlain. “I’ve read the manual, and it explains the end goal but not the process.”

Kadaklan laughed. “Then you didn’t understand the manual. You’ll need to work out what you missed for yourself. After all, a map is not the journey.”

Sarah rejoined Amdirlain at the table after her students had departed for lunch. “No joy?”

“A bunch of experience and increases, along with finding out why Change Self is a troll,” huffed Amdirlain. “It ties back to my fear of being lost and overwhelmed, and part of it is my history of compromising with Viper about the form I used. It didn’t block my use of powers I already had, but Change Self is a simple version of the change she was trying to provoke me to make. Oddly enough, Phoenix’s Rapture was a step away from being lost.”

“Why?”

“I can’t take on a Demon’s form any longer. It brought me back to being only able to take on the form of living creatures,” explained Amdirlain.

“That might have subconsciously tipped the balance between your selection of the powers,” proposed Sarah.

Amdirlain’s mouth twisted bitterly. “True. I’ll have to work on that fear and better understand the sigil.”

“Master Cyrus said the sigil represents the core of the person’s nature,” said Sarah. “Understanding yourself better might help.”

“At my core, I’m a bird on fire,” huffed Amdirlain.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “You’re trying to recreate yourself from the flames of the curse, but you keep tossing yourself back into the fires of battle.”

“I’ve not done a lot of fighting lately,” countered Amdirlain.

“Powerful True Song rips your flesh apart while you’re creating things,” stated Sarah, “Though that makes the risk clear, even smaller songs strain your physical form with the energy traversing your spiritual net. I believe holding yourself together against an internal assault is the ultimate battlefield.”

Sarah had to do that as Sidero.

“I’m a paradox,” muttered Amdirlain. The wrongness of that statement twinged inside her, and Amdirlain shook her head. “No, that’s not it.”

“Were you looking at the Phoenix symbolism?”

“Yes.”

“While I’m glad you realise you’re not a paradox, why was that your immediate thought?”

“Burning something alive so it can be reborn seems a little extreme,” said Amdirlain. “And not exactly the most logical of approaches.”

“Falling into a logic trap is likely where you’re going wrong with that,” said Sarah. “Kadaklan would say something about that, I’m sure.”

Amdirlain nodded. “Kadaklan already told me the dangers of logic. It allows one to justify instead of understand.”

“But to point out some logic flaws: firstly, creation through destruction isn’t a paradox as destruction fuels creation all the time,” stated Sarah. “Second, the symbolism of flames doesn’t even have to be one of destruction. Every Smith will tell you of the power of flames. Flames are the foundation of metalworking, allowing you to separate materials that melt at different temperatures.”

“Kadaklan said control over the sigil was a matter of being,” said Amdirlain. “I wonder if it applies in other areas. Dareios, would you help me further, or do you have commitments elsewhere?”

“I’ve kept my schedule clear to assist you, Am,” replied Dareios.

I’m glad I’m not having to argue about using a familiar name.

“With this next exercise, rather than randomly changing, I’d like you to shift back and forth between two shapes regularly,” instructed Amdirlain. “Let’s go down to the ground floor, where I’ll have more space to move.”

“Dancing to the music?” asked Sarah.

“Would you care to dance with me?”

Sarah snorted. “I have two left feet compared to you. I’ll likely sit and watch.”

“Oh, spoilsport,” sniffed Amdirlain. “I can project the basic beat to you.”

With a groan, Sarah got to her feet.

“You sound like such an old lady,” teased Amdirlain.

“Who told Nomein that the flow of time was absolute?” questioned Sarah.

A mischievous smile flitted across Amdirlain’s lips. “Who me?”

“I’m already on my feet,” stated Sarah, holding her hand out to Amdirlain.

The smile returned and lit up Amdirlain’s gaze. She flowed to her feet and teleported them to the ground floor.

As Dareios started to shift his appearance between a Wood Elf and a sharp-featured Persian man similar to Farhad, Gilorn joined them at ground level. Before Amdirlain could provide Sarah with a mental link, Gilorn started playing a simplified version of Change Self’s melody.

“You could perform a stage piece that critics would call too suggestive to that,” laughed Sarah.

“Did you think my acts on Qil Tris were too suggestive?” asked Amdirlain, and she started them moving in a waltz she’d learnt long ago. Amdirlain gently connected to Sarah’s public mind and shared what she could of the music and dance.

“You didn’t ask my view of them before,” noted Sarah as she let Amdirlain lead her through the steps.

“I’ll admit I was sort of worried about what you’d say,” replied Amdirlain.

With Amdirlain’s careful physical and mental lead, Sarah relaxed in her arms and smiled. “I enjoyed your performances. You always looked like you were having fun, even while trying to damper Femme Fatale. The light-hearted enjoyment was part of what you needed to force the evolution, but it was still nice to see.”

“I miss Qil Tris and our friends there,” admitted Amdirlain. “Torm used to say that holding relationships with mortals was hard, and Ori’s memories show how isolating the years can be.”

“I suggest you speak to my mother,” advised Sarah. “She might change her name to avoid questions, but she’s not isolated.”

“She’s not?” questioned Amdirlain sceptically. “Besides her and the Fallen, I didn’t hear anyone through the Gate you opened.”

Sarah squeezed her reassuringly. “If she were isolated, the news of my arrival would have never reached her.”

“Good point,” Amdirlain conceded. With Gilorn’s rendition of the music flowing through Dareios quickening, Amdirlain picked up the pace, spinning them about in a dance from an old memory, her feet moving flawlessly as she guided Sarah.

“Though you’re not wrong about the location itself,” continued Sarah. “It was chosen precisely to avoid anyone disturbing her while she treated the Fallen. It’s not where she normally resides, but a remote spot for experimentation. The range of her Telepathy makes keeping in touch with people she knows easy, since all gem dragons are psionic.”

Amdirlain grunted, “Getting introduced to someone new is a matter of the new person being drawn into a mental link by someone else?”

“Exactly,” replied Sarah. “All the diamond dragons in Mechanus know her, or know someone who does. They talked about the shrinking degrees of separation with the internet, but when someone is a thought away, it’s simple for news to spread.”

“Did you make a splash?” asked Amdirlain, halting awkwardly.

“The first Dragon Torm found to speak to immediately sought advice,” replied Sarah. “They have an orderly hierarchy, and Aitherlar soon heard about me, came to investigate, and took me under her wing.”

“Have you been waiting to use that line?” snorted Amdirlain.

Sarah smiled smugly. “Today’s a good day. For so many years, I never expected you to dance with me. At least not romantically.”

“We should do things together we both enjoy,” replied Amdirlain.

“Why were we dancing to the tempo provided by Change Self?”

Amdirlain smiled. “I’m trying to learn not to fear it. Viper always tried to get me to change my flesh and seeded a fear that I think is linked to some of Ori’s old ones. So I figured associating it with something pleasant would help.”

“Thanks, Dareios. I owe you for your patience,” called Sarah, and she tucked a loose strand of Amdirlain’s hair behind her ear.

“In whatever way I might help Am,” replied Dareios modestly.

“We have that in common,” said Sarah, and she smiled warmly at Amdirlain. “Shall we dance more?”

Amdirlain resumed dancing and held Sarah close.