The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum Exterior | ??? | ???

I tred along the grass in a daze, pushing Linos's wheelchair in front of me. The three of us were quiet as we passed quickly through the field towards the opposite bioenclosure.

"It's an unspeakable tragedy," he said, so soft it was almost inaudible.

I didn't reply, staring towards the ground. Lilith seemed outwardly unaffected, marching forward with her usual disaffected, stiff expression.

"She was a truly exceptional mind," he said sadly, as the wheels rattled gently against the soil. "We might not have been close, but I worked with her for so many years, and she had to have been among the sharpest women I've ever met. It's a loss not just for us, but for all of humanity."

I didn't even manage a nod, only wrinkling my eyes slightly.

I felt emotionally numb, as if a switch had been flipped, and my ability to feel anything at all about what was going on had simply turned off. The past few minutes had gone from feeling like a strange and disturbing dream to being mundane in the most terribly cold fashion, like cleaning your tools after an autopsy.

I hadn't loved Neferuaten, and I hadn't been blind to her flaws, least of all regarding my relationship with her. For all I might try to act otherwise, I'm fundamentally unromantic in my thinking. I perceived that she'd behaved in a way that was obviously inappropriate and took advantage of me due to our asymmetrical power dynamic, and I'd never truly understood her feelings in regard to me or what she derived from them; whether it was some strange reflection of her sentimentality towards my grandfather, or something more mundanely deviant. In some regard, I knew I was probably being exploited.

I just hadn't cared. Hadn't wanted to care, because she'd been one of the few sources of actual comfort I'd had in the past decade, who seemed to understand the sort of coddling affection I'd desired. When dying of thirst, you don't care for the composition or origin of water, only it's sweetness. I'd accepted her kindness towards me in deliberate aversion to critical thinking, silencing every internal voice which pointed out her sometimes questionable traits.

And I'd wanted the asymmetry, for how much it allowed me to reveal nothing of myself. To simply be mothered, even knowing how pathetic such a notion was.

Now that this had happened, it almost felt funny how strange and pathetic it all was. How casually I'd betrayed my convictions to never use this body to do anything obscene out of a vapid desire for affirmation, only for it to end in such an awful way.

What I'd seen with Kam paled in comparison. The sheer brutality of the image was unlike anything I'd ever witnessed, regardless of if she'd been dead before any of it had happened.

"We'll make sure everyone is safe over at the abbey, then go and find the others if they don't see the note we left," he said. "They're probably at the tower or back underground. Then we'll shut off the lockdown, and try to piece together what happened. Whether it was suicide or something else."

The words were confident, but the tone betrayed his uncertainty. Even without having seen the body - I'd had to stop Lilith on her way up the stairs after I'd cried out, then explain it to him - the experience had clearly left him shaken, his face pale and eyes harrowed in a way I'd never seen before. For my part, I wasn't even confident the others would be at the guest house, at least alive. Right now, it felt like anything could happen.

At least we didn't appear to be in much immediate danger. Linos had confessed to having a refractor pistol under his wheelchair (which seemed pretty odd, but I wasn't about to complain) which he now bore in his right, while his scepter was held in his left. He apparently had a simple artificed sensor attached to it that could detect when use of the Power was blocked, so if it suddenly returned, he'd be able to get a barrier up in seconds.

Even if he didn't have much of an intimidating aura compared to the rest of the inner circle, he was still a tremendously talented arcanist with nearly five centuries of experience. Unless you had a trained mob at your disposal or caught them completely off-guard, you couldn't just kill someone like that without a fight; even someone like Zeno would have to whittle down his defenses in an elongated duel.

We arrived at the gateway, and Lilith pulled the lever before Linos or I had a chance. The seal detached and slid open as usual, and Linos breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Good," he said. "We're still only at a stage one lockdown, then. Shouldn't be hard to sort things out."

I nodded mutedly.

We started forward again, the abbey house, with its bright lights, looming just ahead. But by this point, I'd begun to notice something rather peculiar. Even with the lighting present here, I couldn't see the water beyond the boundaries of the sanctuary at all anymore. Just... Blackness, as if the world just came to a sudden stop.

"Why can't I see outside the glass?" I asked, my voice weak.

"E-Eh? Oh," Linos said, seeming surprised at me suddenly speaking up again after having been silent for so long. "That's because of the barrier that goes up when the lockdown begins. It doesn't even let in light--"

There was a sudden click from his scepter as the block-sensor triggered. Without so much as missing a beat, he started speaking Eme at an incredible speed, which rapidly twitching his three middle fingers on both hands. Before I could even take a breath.

E n e r g y - N u l l i f y i n g - P r o j e c t i n g

"...𒁽𒅅𒈪𒈪𒀩𒀖𒂊, 𒄿𒄿𒄿𒂷𒌍𒀾𒄷𒌫𒄀𒊹.𒁺."

It was a synthesis incantation, weaving multiple together at once - one to stop the passage of energy, and one to project it back outwards, weaving something engraved with a manual element. The result was a quick, efficient barrier that would reflect or at least disperse any sort of attack.

What I wondered was why he'd have something I understood as largely combat-specific on his scepter. Maybe there was a an application for it in Transmuation arcana I just didn't know about.

"That should suffice until we get there, at least," he said, warily. "Whoever did this must have only set the nullification field in place for some of the bioenclosures, for whatever reason. Once we're inside, I'll try to use some Divination to see if I can figure out what's going on."

"R-Right," I said, distant.

"I'm sorry, Utsu," he said. "I'm sure this is a lot for you to have to deal with, right now. Hopefully this is something we'll be able to deal with once we're all together. If there is a killer, we'll find them."

If there is a killer. He was really entertaining the idea of it being a suicide. It was certainly a possibility from the state and the position of the body, but I couldn't imagine what reason she'd have to do something like that, let alone in such an intentionally awful and public way.

That's a silly thing to think, one of the grimmer parts of my brain pointed out. You yourself know how easy it is to hide what you're thinking, and how bizarre what feels right can seem to someone who doesn't know you.

And I hadn't known her. Not in any meaningful depth.

We passed through the garden and approached the abbey, the symbol of the order barely discernible amidst the shadows between the windows. I was eager to get inside, to finally be safe enough to get some answers about what the hell was going on, but a part of me was also worried someone would try to shoot us dead from the other side the moment the door slid back.

Regardless of my feelings, Linos didn't hesitate in wrapping his knuckles against the wood the second I pushed his chair close. He hadn't said anything, but I had the sense he was probably eager to establish Theo's well-being as soon as he possibly could.

The response came quick. We heard footsteps close to the door, and then it creaked open, revealing Seth, still dressed as I'd seen him last but with the more complex components of his outfit from earlier now removed. He looked at us with an expression of confusion, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, hey," he said, then stiffened slightly as he processed the presence of Linos. "Uh, I mean-- Good evening, sir. Lilith, Su." He rubbed his eyes, seeming disoriented. "What's going on? Something wrong with your rooms?"

He doesn't know what's going on. That made sense. After all, if the Power was still working here, then all that would have changed would be the exterior lighting, and if they were indoors, that'd be easy to miss.

"I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that, master Ikkuret," Linos said, with a serious expression. "May we come in?"

"Yeah, 'course," he said, stepping back. Linos wheeled himself through the entrance, and Lilith quickly followed. I entered last, closing the door behind me as Seth stepped away.

Theodoros, who looked to have been sitting in the lounge - the area was still well lit, and there were some drinks on the table - stood up upon our arrival. Unlike Seth, he seemed to have changed into a pair of dark blue pajamas. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Theo, you're here," Linos said, all but exhaling along with the words and smiling slightly for the first time since I'd told him of Neferuaten's death a few minutes earlier. How quickly human beings could put awfulness behind them. "That's good." He glanced around the area. "Is anyone else up?"

"Don't think so," Seth said, with a yawn. "Maybe some of the girls. Me and Theo were just hanging around out here on our own. What's going on...?"

Theo drew close, and the two of them both looked at Linos expectantly. He furrowed his brow for a moment, then looked up, his voice stern.

"I don't want to alarm you, but something serious might be going on within the sanctuary," he said. "I need one of you to go and wake up everyone and bring them down here."

"What," Seth said, suddenly looking worried. "Even the girls?"

Linos looked like he was about to say yes, but then hesitated, biting the edge of his lip. "No, it would probably be better for one of the girls to go-- I hate to ask, Utsu, but could you? Just knock on their doors and tell them to head down here. Or you can just wake up one person and have them do it."

I was staring vacantly, my eyes fixated on some point on the wall.

"Utsu?" Linos said.

I blinked. "Oh, uh..." I nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"I guess I'll go get Fang, Bardiya and Ezekiel," Seth said. "Might be tough to make the last one happen, though."

"If anyone doesn't take this seriously, I'll come myself," Linos said. "I'll only be at ease when we have everyone in one place."

With that, Seth headed down the hall, and I went up the stairs. The second floor was only dimly lit by gaslight, with portions of the grand mosaic shrouded in darkness. If I remembered right, the first door to knock on was Mehit's. I struck it a few times, and then a few times again, until I heard movement from the inside.

"Yes, what is it?" Mehit said, sounding a little flustered and irritated. "What do you want?"

"It's me, ma'am," I said. I didn't feel in the right state to be trying to talk calmly and normally, but there was no helping it. "There's an emergency. Linos wants everyone to head downstairs."

"An emergency?" She replied, her tone suddenly urgent. "Is my daughter alright?!"

"Y-yes, she's fine," I replied. "We came over here together."

She was silent for a moment. I heard movement, but couldn't infer anything about what was going on.

"I'll get dressed and head right down," she eventually replied, her tone firm.

"Uh, alright," I said, and stepped away.

As I was proceeding down the hall, I noticed something at the far end. There was a section of the floor which seemed to have been somehow damaged, the wood splintered along several long cracks in a manner that looked just about unstable enough to be concerning. It looked like it probably ran into a few of the rooms, though the only one I could see from where I was standing was my own.

I took a heavy breath, taking this knowledge in.

The next door belonged to Ophelia. I only had to knock once this time before the door was opened. She was already up and fully dressed, only seemingly sleepy as she addressed me. "What's going on, Utsushi...? I thought you'd moved over to the other building."

She probably heard enough from the hall to realize something is amiss. "There's an emergency. Linos wants me to send everyone downstairs."

"An emergency?" She asked, frowning. "What happened? Is it something dangerous?"

I opened my mouth with the intention of trying to explain, but found that nothing came out. "It'll-- It'll be easier if everyone's together," I said. "I don't think we're in any danger... At least, not here," I said.

She stared at me for a moment, her tall blue eyes wide with concern, but she eventually nodded hesitantly. "Alright... I'll go down, then." She stepped through the door. "Are you alright? You look very, well--"

"No," I said. "I'm not. But I need to try and focus right now. I can sort it out in a minute."

"Oh," she said. "Well... If you're certain..."

She stepped away, heading towards the stairs.

The next room was where Ran was residing. She was a deep sleeper, so it took several knocks to get her to respond. FInally, she opened a crack - just enough to see half of her face, one puffy, tired eye - and blinked in groggy confusion at the sight of me.

"What is it, Su?" she muttered, her voice slurred. "What are you doing here?"

As soon as I saw her, the conviction I had just expressed to Ophelia snapped like a dry twig under a boot.

"I--" I hesitated, my voice cracking. "I need your help."

𒊹

"You're kidding," she said, visibly shocked, from where she was seated on the bed.

Ophelia had left for a moment to wake up Kamrusepa and Ptolema, with me telling them to pass the message on that I'd explain what was happening to Ran personally, and that the two of us would come down a little later.

Though nothing came of it, this was, in retrospect, a pretty stupid thing to have done. Foremostly because there was potentially a very real violent threat at large, one which would revel in the chance to ambush two people separate from the group with their guard down.

And secondly, because there was only really one thing I was qualified to explain right now.

"She was hanging from a chain on the inside of the bell strung into a noose," I explained, my voice weak, as I sipped gently from the mug of watery coffee she'd quickly prepared for me. "There was blood everywhere from where she'd been hitting the sides. It was like something from a nightmare."

"Dying Gods, Su..." She furrowed her brow deeply, her eyes downward.

"I still feel like this might be a nightmare, to be honest," I said, shrinking inward a little bit. "I-- I really can't believe it. We were just talking a little earlier. And now it's..." I threw my arms up helplessly. "And now this has happened."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say." She shook her head a few times, the motion slow and heavy. "It's fucked up. It always is." She sighed. "You're sure it was her body?"

"Y-Yeah. I mean... I'm pretty certain," I said. "It looked like her build, it was definitely her clothes..." I looked to her. "Why, do you think it might've been someone else?"

"No, I'm just thinking out loud." She rubbed her brows. "I'm sorry. I should be letting you grieve right now, not derailing the conversation with stupid shit."

"I mean, it would be nice if this were all some weird trick," I said. I couldn't even muster a sardonic smile. "But I don't think so."

"Probably not," she replied grimly.

I stared at the floor for a few moments.

"I can't even feel sad right now," I said.

"That's how it is," she said, nodding. "Don't push yourself. You'll start to process it when you feel ready."

"I mean, I know that's what they say," I said, with a shrug. "It's just so... Weird."

She nodded silently, looking down at her hands.

"It always seemed like she was invincible," I went on. "She was so calm. Like she had everything in the palm of her hand, moving along right as she wanted it..."

Ran snorted. "If attitude equaled results, the world would be ruled by narcissists. Well, more than it is already." She frowned to herself. "...though, she did seem pretty capable. It's a shock whenever something bad happens to someone like that, even when it doesn't go as... Well, as this."

"Linos thinks it was a suicide."

"Hmm," she hummed, glancing to the side. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions, but I guess she might've saw something in what happened tonight that everyone else didn't."

I flinched a bit, pushing my lips together.and closing my eyes for a moment.

"Sorry, was that too much?" Ran asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ran," I said, digressing. "There's something else I need to talk to you about." I narrowed my eyes. "Earlier today... When we were out by the glass, and you sat up and left after I got upset..."

Her expression became subtly awkward, her nose wrinkling slightly. "What about it?"

"Do you remember what happened, after that?"

"...well, yeah," she said bluntly.

"Uh, no, I mean..." I scratched the back of my head, trying not to to look too desperate. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She stared for a second in perplexity, probably wondering if she'd misheard me. "Well," she eventually said, "when I got back, you said something weird about seeing something while I was gone and that you'd 'screwed things up', but told me you were just confused. Then we went back to the conference hall, and everybody gave their presentations except Fang."

"Everyone except Fang?"

"Mm-hmm," she replied, with increasing confusion. "Then they took us down underground to see that weird machine thing. They told us it was to observe and isolate entropy and everything - what Neferuaten had told us about, plus some other shit - and that Fang had brought a part for it, following the half-finished work they'd been left by... Another member of the order. And they told us a bunch of stuff about how it worked."

It was difficult not to panic a bit, both at the fact that a lot of what she was describing did seem to match the premonition I'd had, but also just at everything. I was trying my best, though. "And then...?"

"And then they replaced the part, and the six of them and Fang went in and did something, and then we all left."

"What about after that?"

Her frown was increasingly deepening. "Our group broke up for a bit, met back up here and had the stupid little party in the baths Seth had wanted to do, and then we went back to the inner sanctum to have dinner-- Su, what the hell is going on? Why are you asking me all this?"

I shook my head, eyes wide. "I-- I can't remember it."

She sat up a little in surprise. "You what?"

"I can't remember it. Any of it." I put a hand to my face, covering one of my eyes as I hunched over in the chair. "From my perspective, we were outside against the glass, you left, I thought I saw something strange out in the sea... And then I suddenly woke up in some bedroom over in the other building with all my stuff. Right before I met up with Lilith and found the body."

It was rare to see Ran genuinely taken off guard. But for a few moments, she stared at me unmovingly, mouth open, with a look of utter bafflement.

"...this is fucking absurd, Su," she said, after a moment.

"You think I'm lying?" I asked, wary.

"No-- I mean the situation is insane. It's like something out of a cheap thriller." She rubbed her eyes. "I don't even know how to process it."

"Did I get to see Samium...?" I asked, finally voicing the question which had been on my mind since I've been rooting through my trunk.

"I don't know. I mean, I assume so," she said, folding her arms. "I walked with you over to the tower where he was supposed to be staying from Seth's party. Then you went inside, and the next time I saw you was when you showed up late for dinner. And then when I tried to talk to you about it afterwards, you asked if it'd be okay just to come back to it in the morning."

This time, it was me who was speechless for a moment, staring at the wall. I shook my head again in a sharp motion.

"I don't know what to say," I said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Ran said, sounding exhausted.

"How did I seem, at that point?" I inquired. "At dinner."

"I mean, things got a little heated again, so it wasn't really a great environment to do an assessment," she said flatly. "...but, quiet, I guess. You kept staring into space."

"Like... I was in shock?" I said, feeling like the bottom of my stomach was on the brink of falling out.

"No, not like that," she said. "It seemed more like you were thinking really hard about something. Theo was trying to ask if you were okay, and you didn't even seem to notice." Her brow twisted a little, and she sighed, looking at the ground. "Fuck, though, I dunno. Maybe it was shock. You hear some crazy stories about what happens to people's memory when something traumatizing has happened."

"No, that doesn't seem right," I said, biting my lip. "I mean, it's not like it's just blurry or disjointed. It's like a hard cut which happened at that specific moment."

You're just finding an excuse to dismiss that theory because you don't like what it implies, a dark thought said, worming through my consciousness. After all, if it'd gone the way you wanted, you wouldn't have reason to block it out, would you?

I pushed back against the idea hard, driving it deep into the recesses of my brain.

"I can't think of another explanation," Ran said, shaking her head. "At least, not yet."

"Maybe some of it would come back to me if you told me the specifics of what happened, instead of just generalities," I suggested. "Like what exactly the 'machine' was, or what happened at the party, or..."

"I get it," looking back to me. "It's not a bad idea. But before we get into something like that, we should go downstairs and meet up with everyone else. Linos has probably finished explaining everything you told me by now, right?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. My hair fell naturally over my right eye when it was unbound like this, so I brushed it out of the way. "You're right."

"We need to hear about whatever he's got planned. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't plan on dying in a place like this." She stood up, dragging the bedhsheet she still had wrapped around her body with her. "Now let me put on some clothes."

𒊹

A few minutes later, we stepped down the stairs together, heading back towards the lounge. Everyone was there, without exception-- Even Ezekiel, though he looked pretty grumpy about it. Mehit was fussing over Lilith, probably horrified by the news she'd been so close to a dead body, while Seth, Bardiya, Theo and Ptolema were talking among themselves anxiously. Fang seemed wrapped in thought, standing away from the others with troubled eyes.

Kamrusepa was the first to spot us upon our arrival. I'd had this melodramatic idea in my head of how she'd be reacting as I'd headed down the stairs. I'd thought of her sobbing in an over-the-top way, crying about the incredible loss it would be to humanity to have lost such an influential thinker and inventor. I wasn't sure if this would've been out of a desire for social gain or because she really did care about longevity that much, but the image was distinct in my mind.

The truth was nothing of the sort. Instead, she looked quietly somber, maybe a little stunned in the same way I'd been.

"I'm so sorry, Su," she said, seemingly genuinely.

"...yeah," I replied. "It's not great."

Yet I found myself feeling a little better now, with everyone here, and having heard what Ran had to say. I felt as though I'd regained a sense of reality.

"This is so screwed up," I heard Ptolema say anxiously, as we got closer.

"Yeah," Seth said, with a nervous laugh. "Y'know, the first thing I thought when I got here was, 'Shit, this place looks like a deathtrap!' I was really hoping that wouldn't pan out."

"Let's not jump to any dire conclusions," Bardiya remarked, his eyes narrowed. He turned, noticing us. "Ran, Su," he said, with a nod.

"Hi," I offered, with a weak wave.

Ptolema stepped over and, not aggressively but also without warning, embraced me in a hug. "Gods, I'm really sorry, Su. You shouldn't have had to lose your mentor in a screwed up way like this."

I was a little taken aback by the gesture, a part of me a little angry at her forwardness putting me on the spot. Ran seemed to pick up on this two, giving her a flatly disapproving look she completely missed. "I-It's okay," I said weakly.

"It's not, though!" she objected. "This is all so weird and scary! Ughhh!" She pulled away a little, looking at me sadly. "Are you gonna be alright? Do you, y'know, need anything, like something to eat, or whatever?"

God, this idiot can't read me at all, I thought uncharitably, and shook my head. "No, I... I'll be okay for now, I think..."

"You two sure took your fucking time," Ezekiel interjected sharply, his arms crossed.over his dark robes. "We've been waiting on the two of you for at least five minutes. That's time someone could've spent moving on us."

"Calm down, Ezekiel," Seth said, with a harsh expression. Ptolema also gave him a foul look from her position by my side. "There's a whole mob of us here, and half of us have shields up. It's fine."

Sure enough, I could see them around some of the class, especially those nearer the door. Like I mentioned, all arcanists had some degree of military training. In even a vaguely dangerous-feeling situation, something like this was among the first ports of call.

The other boy snorted in derision. "Only takes one good shot with a refractor rifle at the highest intensity to punch through those pissy little paper mache barriers you and the Rhunbarder have up. Besides, I said 'move against us', not attack us. The longer we screw around, the more we yield the advantage. Give them a chance to move, to think, to watch--"

"We're all here now, one way or the other," Bardiya interjected, a little coldly. "By your own advice, it would be better to be silent and proceed with matters."

Ezekiel scowled for a moment at the words, and clicked his tongue, but didn't say anything further.

"Sir," Bardiya said, speaking up a little. "Ran and Utsushikome have arrived, so we should be ready to proceed."

"Oh, indeed?" he said, his attention drawn away from an exchange he seemed to be having with Ophelia near the table. He spoke a final few quiet words to her, and then pulled away, wheeling himself into a central position. "Good, good. Then let's get down to business at once."

Everyone else fell silent, looking to him attentively. (Save for Fang, who still seemed half-preoccupied, though that never seemed to affect their retention.)

Linos took a deep breath. "Alright," he said, clasping his hands together. "I won't lie to you. I don't know exactly what is going on, and the situation is potentially dangerous. But I believe that if we keep a cool head, we should be able to get to the bottom of things quickly, but I'll need you all to follow my lead. Is that alright?"

"Of course, sir," Kamrusepa said, with a firm nod.

"Nobody more senior or who knows the place better here, so I'm not gonna complain," Seth said. "This isn't the time for pissing contests."

"Good," Linos said. "In that case, here's what we'll do. The lockdown is enabled at the security center, but unless it's at the highest levels, it can be easily disabled via the administrative center, which can be accessed both via the underground in the main building or the research tower by any of the inner circle, The gate out of the sanctuary can be opened there, too, if needs must." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes. "My plan is to head to the tower, see who I can find, and then go down as a group to it and start everything back up again. Then I'll look over the records and try to get to the bottom of what's happened."

This seemed like a decent plan. People collectively nodded or otherwise demonstrated approval.

"What about us?" Ezekiel asked.

"Well, I can see two options," Linos said. "The first is that I go alone, or with one or two of you who are experienced with using the Power in combat. The advantage to that approach is that it keeps people without the ability to fight, like miss Eshkalon and her mother, out of explicit harms way." He narrowed his eyes. "The disadvantage is that it splits our strength. I can help lock down this place tight before I leave, but there's only so much which can be done. To the same effect, it's much easier to attack a group of three than a group of thirteen."

He's not mentioning the possibility of the saboteur being in our group. Well, it was probably wise to leave that unspoken. The last thing we needed right now was internal conflict.

"The other possibility is that we all go together - rely on safety in numbers to protect everyone, even if it's possible we're walking into danger." He looked between us. "What are all of your opinions?"

"I'm in favor of moving as a single party," Baridya said, speaking with a voice of presumed authority on matters military. "We are all students. I'm not confident in the skills of any here save for yourself."

"Gods, Bard," Theo murmured.

"Yeah, not giving us much credit," Seth said dryly.

"My apologies," Bardiya replied gravely. "In circumstances such as these, I believe it is appropriate to speak with as much realism as possible, lest we suffer the consequences of the alternative. I have lost too many friends in my life in service of preserving pride."

"I dunno," Ptolema said anxiously. "I feel real weird about the idea of taking Lili with us. She's just a kid. And if we have Ophelia with us, it could be a big problem if we run into that one guy... Maybe it'd be best to just kinda hunker down here and hope someone else from the inner circle figures things out."

Ezekiel snorted. "'Do nothing.' What an amazing plan, courtesy of our own Irencan princess."

She scowled at him. "Go to hell, Ezekiel. I don't hear you havin' any ideas."

Mehit cleared her throat. "If, as her mother, I may speak on the matter--"

Suddenly, a noise rang through the building from all directions, shrill and violent, making everyone jump. For a moment, it felt like a cacophony I couldn't comprehend; I was worried it was a product of the Power, and that we were under attack.

But then I realized. ...I did recognize the sound. I'd just never heard it in such numerosity.

Logic bridges, when used for communication, often have a whistle attached to them. When someone is trying to summon you, the bell rings, you know to walk over and attune yourself if you aren't already. There are alternative mechanisms, too, like bells or sometimes even flashing lights, but whistles had proven the most popular because they required less space on a logic engine, which were already cumbersome devices.

And now... Whistles were going off, summoning our attention. But not just from one logic bridge. No.

It was every single one in the building at once, just a little out of sync. From each and every guest room, summoning every single one of us.

We looked to each other as we realized, wary.