Icarus Awakens

“Guy, I like you. I really do. You’re absolutely crazy. I mean, you’re smart, but this is crazy. You all get that right?”

Reception to their newest member had been mixed, trending negatively amongst Thomas and no one else. Evalyn had been sympathetic, Tak curious, and Hunter guarded. For Khare’s part there was a lot of indifference, or the appearance of it. The gestalt didn’t have a lot of opinions when it didn’t come to the Grafting, the weapons Daniel made, or the handful of times they’d comment on random topics. This wasn’t one of them.

Daniel felt defensive about the person he’d just met and took issue with Thomas taking issue. “They said she could be in a lot of trouble! You told me about how this region didn’t like rare classes.”

“Not exactly what I said, Guy. And come on, is she an Assassin or something?” The answer was plain on Daniel’s face. Thomas’ incredulousness vanished. “Guy! Hand, I was kidding. Gods, I, jeez. Alright, I get it.”

“She’s an Assassin?” Evalyn repeated bluntly. “Oh, not a chance. Are you sure there isn’t a Hero you’d rather join the team?”

The sudden reversal in the two strongest opinions made Daniel take a step back. Thomas took up the charge, if reluctantly. “Come on, Evalyn. She’s a dusker Assassin.”

“So!? You were just calling Daniel crazy. Look, Daniel, I see where you’re from, but her being an Assassin changes things. Do you know what that class does?”

“I can imagine?”

“No, you can’t! They’re capable of the most monstrous ways of killing people. People, Daniel. Remember the powers Heldren used against Gadriel? That’s just a taste of what Assassins get. I shudder to think how many grieve because of people just like her.”

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to tell you,” Daniel added lamely.

“Like that makes a difference!”

“I don’t think she wants the class either.”

“So?”

“This isn’t bad though.” Tak entered the debate without any sign of wariness. “From what I see, we have no one good against other people. Not like Gadriel.”

“Tak.” Evalyn put her head in one hand. “We don’t want to fight other people! And not like that. You wanted me to tell you stories earlier? Here’s one. In Vellus, two regions hubward and twenty years back, I heard there was a human Assassin that poisoned a well just to kill one man. Hundreds died!”

“That’s it? That is a rumor, not a story.”

Daniel pulled his phone out while Thomas complained, remembered Evalyn couldn’t read it and Khiat’s feature wasn’t tagged to her anyway, and put it back. “She doesn’t have anything like that, just something that hits weak points harder.”

“Sure, she doesn’t have anything like that now. She just got the class!”

“What about this?” Hunter asked lowly, causing several to flinch.

Evalyn rounded on that opportunity. “Right. Daniel, she’d have to be close to you at almost all times. Besides the inconvenience of that, there are secrets you want to keep secret.” She stressed the words, intimating that she knew things even Thomas, Khare, and, presumably, Tak didn’t. She knew where Daniel came from.

“Well,” Daniel spluttered. That was a good point. That was a very good point. It was a shame because Daniel had just come up with a good counter-argument. Might as well mention it. “What about power evolution? Lograve told me about it once. If she rejects any evil powers she gets, doesn’t that mean she’d get good ones?”

“I thought that was rare,” Thomas commented thoughtfully. “Most people do get some powers that don’t fit them, Guy. I have a few I haven’t used in months.”

Evalyn folded her arms. “Even if that’s a possibility, you can’t guarantee she will resist those powers. You don’t even know her! Normal people don’t get that class.”

“But her-” Crap there’s probably a special word for this and Lograve didn’t mention it. “The words she heard when she got her class were ‘freedom, bows, preparation, flexibility, stealth, and weakness’. They don’t sound too evil.”

“Sounds like a sneaky archer,” Tak commented. “More like a Rogue or Ranger.”

“I’m surprised she heard those, but it still doesn’t mean anything,” Evalyn shook her head. “Ask Lograve if you want, but it’s like Thomas said. People do get powers that don’t fit with them.”

Daniel looked at Thomas, hoping the Cleric would back up him, but he just scratched behind his ear and echoed what Lograve and Evalyn had told him. “Sorry Guy. Words of awakening can just be random, even if they feel right. Not that I heard any when I got my class. Like Tak said, you could take all of those and get a few of classes.”

“Rare?” Khare asked. The gestalt pointed at Daniel, and then in the distance. They did it with two different strands of vines amidst a swirling mass of them, but their companions were getting better at decoding the slight gestures.

Thomas’ brow furrowed as he worked out the question. “Well, maybe? What happened when you got Artificer Guy?”

“Don’t remember,” Daniel answered quickly. His cover for both how he’d ended up in the region and his odd mannerisms was simple amnesia combined with a teleportation mishap. It had the benefit of being partially true, an importance when the Cleric standing across from him could detect outright lies.

“Right. Darn.”

Evalyn didn’t let the conversation go off on that tangent. “Daniel, this is like the Tyrant. Assassins are stronger in some ways than other classes. You saw the bow she carries. What happens if she aims that at you in the dead of night?”

“I’d stop her,” Hunter growled.

“That doesn’t change that she’s dangerous, and if she isn’t willing to use her powers on mortals now, just wait until someone tries to exploit her! Or kill us to get her.”

That was surely an exaggeration, but even so, Daniel was unprepared for what Thomas said next. “Evalyn, she’s a dusker Assassin.”

“You said that before, why does that matter? I’d think that’s even more dangerous since they’re normally active at night.”

“I heard about the last Assassin this region got, eight years ago. Right before I, er, went to the Thormundz. Dusker too. They killed him, Ev. I don’t know exactly why. Maybe it had something to do with what they were doing, I do know they were actively taking contracts, but the city executed them after approving all of it. If her family’s worried enough to send her with us, they’re probably worried that will happen again.”

Thomas’ use of the pet name he’d foisted on the Bard went completely over her head as she absorbed that. None of the others spoke, still on board with letting the dusker come with them class or not. What would happen if Evalyn stood her ground, they wouldn’t learn. “You can barely look at them without squirming, and you’re fine with having a dusker travel with us? You think she’s in that much danger?”

“Yeah! Have you seen how their faces move? It’s extremely creepy, like that time I saw someone get his head torn up in a monster attack, pieces everywhere. He, uh, he died so it’s not-” Thomas finally heard the sand moving behind him and saw the approaching shadow. He turned, stumbled backward, and didn’t say another word.

“Are you the one coming with us?” Evalyn asked. It was obvious, but no one else was breaking the awkward silence.

“Y-yes. I am Khiat.” The tall figure wrapped in leather that almost perfectly matched her carapace looked like a statue come to life. The bow in one hand made that a very dangerous statue.

“Don’t mind Thomas, Khiat. He’s an idiot.” She turned and kicked the Cleric to get him to drop the horrified expression stuck on his face. “Why don’t we get to know each other? It’s going to be a long walk, we’ll have the time.”

“Alright.” The eyes behind the armor were faintly visible and reflected light with a sheen. There was a pupil, but no color, and the sclera had a look that uncomfortably reminded Daniel of a compound eye. They went to Hunter first. “Oh! I think I saw this one last night. Is that your pet? It’s so cute!”

That was the first time Daniel truly worried about what he’d gotten himself into.

…

Three days later, the problems of the arrangement were very clear. Khiat was having difficulties adjusting her sleep schedule, exhausted during the day and restless at night. Since the entire point of this idea was to shield her with Daniel’s power, that also meant she was chained to where the group slept regardless of whether she was awake.

The problems didn’t end there. Hunter had almost slipped and spoke a few times. The first was moments after she’d joined when Khiat had called him a pet. It was about the worst first impression she could have made, just outshining Thomas’ own in the seconds before. Also, Evalyn had been right.

Not about the face shooting in the middle of the night, but the chilling effect Khiat had on Daniel. Even mentally, the stunted conversations with Hunter had grown quieter. He’d gotten used to having a small group of people that understood him and could be trusted. Khiat? She seemed nice. Not a psychotic murderer at least, and she was a little shy herself. Having never left her village before, that made sense.

Also, she was young. Very young for human standards, though for her people she’d come of age two months ago. She was right around the relative age he’d been when it’d all fallen apart back on Earth. That was the crux of why no one had protested about her presence despite all the inconveniences. Pity. Either way, it was an unexpected wrinkle to their journey that added the kind of anxiety that, while not as dire as he’d faced before, weighed on him.

…

Khiat’s experience fell in and out of harmony with Daniel’s. She hated marching during the day, even if she could easily keep up with the sedate pace they traveled. The people were nice, most of them. Weird though. You heard about humans and bird people, avianoids, growing up, but the moving vines were something else. She’d thought it was another monster at first, but she was wrong.

The wyvern that had terrified her village was another strange thing. It looked blank up close, and that wasn’t even counting when the bird woman who owned it turned it into sand that flowed into a bag on her hip.

Magic was all around her. So many Blessed. People who could move ice through the air just by thinking, watch everything around them at the same time, and, in one odd case, open parts of their arms to keep things inside. The other humans told her that wasn’t a normal power when she’d asked.

In all that time she’d been kept close to the Artificer and his armored beast. She had to, or that person in the city could find her. The Fate, a class that she’d never heard of before. The person trying to kill her.

Aughal was on the horizon. Four tall towers, far taller than Ytidi’s, and a wall surrounding the lower city. She’d seen the outline before on the coins in her father’s purse, half of which were sorted in a safe pouch on the inside of her armor. No one else in her group was able to see the city, their eyes not as good at night.

She sat, grateful for the absence of the slight burning of the sun. This was exactly when she should be waking up, except in an hour they’d all be asleep. Daniel was getting a head start, although he was twitching occasionally where he lay. Nightmares?

“Is he alright?” she asked the people around her. Four of them, and the beast. Their team. Not hers. Khiat was a Blessed now, but she was far behind where they were.

There was a tension that passed between Evalyn and the man who couldn’t look her straight in the face. She’d picked up on a few things. Thomas didn’t like her but liked Evalyn. The Bard didn’t like him back but also didn’t complain too much about him. The large cat definitely belonged to Daniel, but the bird man was familiar with it too. That’s the best way she could put it. The different relationships in this team were kind of strange.

Thomas spoke first. “Guy’s fine. He’s just, uh-”

“He’s training one of his powers,” Evalyn finished for him.

“Oh. I didn’t know you needed to.” Khiat mentally slapped herself. Of course you need to. She only had one power at the moment but she wasn’t using it. Critical Strikes was meant to be used when she wanted to kill something and the moment hadn’t come up yet. There was also this weird feeling she got whenever she thought about the power, and after getting a random thought about killing the one she’d learned was called Lograve, she had decided it was best to just suppress everything having to do with it.

“Not all of them.” The Bard pulled out her instrument and played a note. “In my case they require constant practice, but it does differ.”

“What about mine?” Both looked uneasy at the mention of her class. “I mean, uh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright Khiat. Assassins are just,“ Thomas searched for the word and didn’t find any that were appropriate alone. “They can be, uh, you’d have some powers that can really hurt people.”

“Poison. Disease. Maybe things that would blind or deafen.” Evalyn paid very close attention to her as she asked, “That’s what you took the class for, right?”

Suspicion and fear. She didn’t blame them for that either. She was afraid of herself, of the instinct she now had that gave her insight into a moment someone was weak. Daniel, for example, was wide open. She could kill him in seconds before anyone could stop her, and she hated that she knew that and that the thought had slipped through despite her best efforts.

Maybe the Bard was trying to make her angry. She’d told them she hadn’t wanted this. Instead, all she felt was sorrow with every step from her home. Khiat didn’t want to argue, just as much as she didn’t want to be here. What choice did she have in either? “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Would you fight back against someone trying to kill you?”

Thomas came to her defense. “Come on Evalyn, who wouldn’t? I’d defend myself and I hate fighting.”

“That’s not the point. Even Heroes can find themselves stumbling down to depraved acts through small steps of justification.”

“No!” Khiat said with more conviction, “Not Heroes. My class is what it is, but Heroes are good! Noble!”

Thomas winced and even Evalyn didn’t seem to take pleasure in proving her wrong. “There was a Hero in the Thormundz that went bad and turned into a Tyrant. He attempted to undermine a good man trying to save everyone. In the end, Gadriel beat him in a duel.”

“Actually Murdon’s the one who finished him,” Thomas corrected. “Gadriel had this whole thing about how he wouldn’t kill him. Gawper.”

“Reciprocal?” The mass of vines a short distance away spoke. Somehow. Khiat still wasn’t sure how that was possible, or why the one named Khare could only speak a word at a time. It made understanding them difficult. They also rarely talked. A lot of the time the vine person was just there, or wandering off to where the others of its kind were. Creepy.

Thomas chuckled. “Yeah, Heldren got what was coming to him. Tyrant bastard.”

“Reciprocal!” Khare repeated, pointing to Khiat and making the effort to do so with a formed arm. There was a pause as no one quite understood him well enough to even clarify. Eventually, Khare said something else. “Balance.”

“Daniel, do you understand him?” Evalyn asked. “I’m getting better but some of what Khare says still gets by me.”

A few seconds later, Daniel blinked and sat up. Hunter shifted behind him as well, the ringcat altering how they stood. What had he been training? “Uh, hold on. I was going in and out during that conversation. Reciprocal and balance? What were you talking about?”

“Just Heldren going insane and trying to kill us,” Thomas said bitterly. “Some Hero.”

Daniel thought for a few seconds and snapped his fingers. “Ah, got it. They’re talking about Khiat.”

“But that was a class evolution,” Evalyn pointed out. “I don’t know if that applies here.”

“Is there a good class evolution?”

“I mean, there’s the normal ones.” Daniel stared at her blankly, and Evalyn responded in a defeated tone. “Add that to your Lograve list. Assassins, though, I’m not sure. Nothing in my lore at least. It is a rare class.”

Khiat had to speak up before she got any further lost. “Sorry, what are you talking about?”

“Khare was saying that if there could be bad Heroes, there could be good Assassins. Which is fair, I suppose. But in the case of Heroes, they are using a generalized power set for evil purposes. Assassin powers are, by their nature, evil,” Evalyn explained, clearly trying not to pile scorn onto her words. The Bard wasn’t a bad person, but she didn’t like her either. “What Heldren did after he became a Tyrant was use evil powers for evil purposes, but that was after he changed classes.”

“There’s power evolution. I know it’s possible. If you reject a power you get, then you get a different one,” Daniel explained, assuming correctly that Khiat wouldn’t know what he was talking about. “You can’t use it or it’s stuck, otherwise you could trade an evil power for a good one. I think. If you want, I could keep checking your powers after you advance so you don’t use one accidentally.”

“What about the one I already have?”

“Critical Strikes? I think that’s a good one. Doesn’t specifically hurt people and it’s helpful against monsters.”

But you don’t know what it makes me think. She couldn’t tell him. They already had enough to hate her for. “That doesn’t sound bad, but I don’t have any more potential. I know you can read to get some or hunt.”

“Yeah, each class has its own ways. Evalyn, for example, can advance by-” Whatever Thomas was about to say was cut off by another handful of sand.

“I hate to say it, but you probably advance best by killing people,” Evalyn said, lowering her throwing arm. Despite her hatred of the ubiquitous substance, the Bard seemed adept at using it against Thomas. “Not exclusively, unless your class is truly cruel, but it’s another temptation to cross that line.” She suddenly blushed a little, the first time Khiat had seen this happen to a human. “As someone who’s made use of temptation before I know how powerful it can be. Unless you can change your class, I’m not sure you could stop yourself from becoming what it wants you to be.”

It wasn’t exactly something to give Khiat hope, but she still asked, “Well, how do I do that?” Evalyn shrugged and there wasn’t much help elsewhere.

“It’s a good point though. Monster hunting. The way my class is heading, I think that’ll be important. Is that something you think you can do?” Hesitation in the Artificer’s voice, along with a little bit of fear. It was because of her class, not her, and Khiat tried to remind herself of that.

“I think so. I’ve hunted game but avoided the dangerous monsters. Anytime one got close enough to the village we’d hide. And, I’m not good up close,” she admitted sullenly.

“Ah yeah, that armor. I get that,” Thomas nodded, brushing the sand out of his face with the smile of someone who’d gotten away with something. “I’ve seen it a couple of times. I’m, uh, surprised you stay out during the day. They die if the sun touches them, you know. Not if they hide in their shell, but, yeah.”

“Hello! I have rations.” Tak appeared and Khiat remembered he had been missing before. She felt guilty, especially since he was nice to her and wasn’t afraid. “Not as much, we’re running low. Hopefully, we will reach the city tomorrow. Lograve said we’re too close to try to hunt.” Laying in the sand, the ringcat put its head down in something mimicking disappointment. It couldn’t understand them, right?

“Thanks Tak. We were just talking about that. Hunting,” Evalyn explained, taking one of the trays. They were strange in that they were identical. Two handles and a lip to prevent things from sliding off. Some had cracks or stains, but she could tell that when they’d been new they’d been identical. Khiat wondered who’d made them, but it wasn’t important enough to ask about.

There was a break in a conversation that had wandered through tension to reminiscence to the future. As she ate, able to take off her head armor now that the sun was down, a pang of homesickness joined the dull hunger. This was old meat, scavenged from the monster horde that had attacked. Even that was getting old, and it was poorly prepared. Burnt in some places. Not good at all.

She mostly listened as the four talked about what kind of monsters they could expect here. Thomas the Cleric wasn’t keen on fighting any, but hung on every word and corrected false assumptions, usually by tying it to something someone else had told him and what he’d been doing at the time. The only break in the Cleric’s easy-going manner was when he looked her way. Assassin. Every time his smile slipped for a second, she was reminded of it.

Given that, it wasn’t a surprise she stayed silent. These weren’t her people. Some of them were nice, most of them cautious, and one she just couldn’t get. Not who she thought she’d be eating with a week ago. And then there was monster hunting. The teams employed by the city would visit her village sometimes, asking if they’d seen anything. Mostly, their presence was felt by the absence of monsters. Her father had been worried about what a horde as large as the last one said about what was happening in the city, almost as worried as he had been for her.

The others had their minds on that as well. Eventually, Thomas asked, “So, if Khiat has to stay close to you at all times, how’s that going to work? You’re both archers at least, but are you still going to fight level 2s?”

“If she wants to. Hunter and Tak could be the front line, Evalyn and Khare in the middle.” Daniel drew in the sand, small x’s forming a larger X pattern. “Since we can still locate anything within at least a kilometer we’d have some safety. Don’t know about under the sand though. Otherwise, it’s the same principle as the original team under Kob, five people with a lower level for rapid training. Assuming you want to do that, Kite.”

It took Khiat a second to realize he’d meant her. Everyone else didn’t seem to take his meaning either. “Me?”

“Yeah.”

If it was meant to be a joke, Thomas didn’t get it. “Guy, that’s not her name.”

“I, oh, sorry. I thought it was. Uh,” he looked at her, embarrassed. For someone just talking about hunting down monsters, it was an amusing and welcoming change. Khiat had to smile.

“My name’s Khiat,” she said, a little bit of laughter in the back of her voice.

Strangely, he furrowed the hair above his eyes. “Am I saying it wrong? Kite?”

“Guy, you aren’t even close.”

“Are you alright?” Evalyn asked.

“No one else thinks that sounds close to her name?” Bemused, Khiat watched as Daniel looked around to see signs of denial. Then he looked at his pet, frowned, and rubbed his chin. “Say it again?”

“Khiat.” Is he playing a joke?

“Kite. Kite,” he repeated. “Tell me when I got it.”

“You are still saying kite. Her armor looks like one, but I can’t see her flying,” Tak pointed out unhelpfully.

“No, it’s, argh. Hang on. This is something I’ve been wondering about for a while it’s just never come up. Say it again?”

Now it was getting weird. Come to think of it, Khiat couldn’t remember Daniel saying her name before now. “My name is Khiat.”

“Ok, I think I got it. Faint Y sound near the end. Kite?” He looked around, shaking heads. “Khiat?”

“Yeah, that’s it. But what was that Guy?”

“How have you not heard her name right before?”

“It’s not that, it’s just the first time I’ve said it, I think. It’s, uh, because of where I come from. It just sounds the same to me. Not only me either. Weird.” There it was again. Some kind of understanding passed between Daniel and Evalyn. A secret. Not something she should ask about though. These people were giving her so much. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure about the prospect of hunting. Up close, she knew she’d be useless, but if Daniel was confident about it then it couldn’t be too bad. Mortals were superior to monsters.

“Khiat?” A voice interrupted her thoughts. The bird person, one of the first she’d seen despite hearing they lived in the region. “Why is there metal on your bow?” She pulled it off her back, the flexibility of her limbs able to do so without moving her shoulder. Like many things, dusker weapons had to be made larger than those other races might use. This example was just under twice as long as the one carried and never used by the Cleric.

Khiat explained this, but it didn’t satisfy Tak. “Why metal though?”

“It makes the bow stronger.” By no means was she familiar with the process herself.

“Do you hit things with it?”

“No!” You never hit things with your bow, her father had been very particular about that when the thought had occurred to her three years ago. She had to admit, that part of her that occasionally crept into her mind reassessed that childhood mistake and begrudgingly approved of the damage she could do with it if she wanted to. If she didn’t care, she could easily break someone’s neck if she hit them the right way. “You shouldn’t. It gives the arrows more speed and power.”

“Why?” Tak was turning his head from side to side, looking but not touching. “I saw you kill many things with that. Strong things. The arrows are big, that makes sense, but the metal should be on the arrows, not the bow.”

Now, Khiat was lost. “It just, it makes the bow stronger.”

“Like enchanting?”

No, but- “Yes. Just, in the way it was made.” She couldn’t explain it better, and Tak didn’t seem to pick things up quickly. It was strange that someone one level higher than her wouldn’t benefit from the higher intelligence. Unless his was somehow lower than hers? The aspects of attribute advancement and leveling had been gradually spelled out for her throughout their walk, including level disparity. The group’s general recommendation was she get everything to 10 first, since the damage her bow could do alone and Daniel’s divination shield would remove the need for her to gain more powers immediately.

“I see, thank you! I was just curious. Do you think you’d want to hunt with us? We would probably need to get you more arrows.”

“Oh, not these.” Khiat held a hand protectively over her quiver. “I don’t have what I’d need to make them, and no one else would sell me one.”

“Could you get more from your village?”

“Not anytime soon, I hope.” That confused Tak and Khiat didn’t want to fully explain. It wasn’t a secret, not really, she just regretted losing the arrow she’d killed the sesel with when it could have been found. And to a simple hunt of all things! “But there are other kinds of arrows I could find or buy. If I had the right stone I could try to shape my own, but that takes a while.”

“Ah. So, you do want to hunt?”

“I wouldn’t want to slow everyone down or put you at risk to protect me.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I met most of these people fighting. The first time Daniel and Thomas almost died. They were pretty bad at it, and Thomas still is.” Thomas, eavesdropping, looked up at this but didn’t comment. Evalyn was more concerned with who was walking towards them to follow along.

“How bad?”

“We were fighting against others like Hunter, a pack. Like the one that came to your village but smaller. Twenty, I think? Maybe more. Daniel and Thomas were in the center, like that!” Tak pointed to the drawing in the sand that was steadily being erased by a slight breeze. “Big ones came around us and tried to kill them. Gadriel got there first.”

Of course he did. Khiat nodded. “Would Sir Gadriel come with us?”

“I don’t know. He’s not part of our team anymore, I don’t think. There were ten originally, but one died and the others went to Threst.”

Khiat quickly counted. “Who else was there?”

“Lograve, and Tlara. She’s the one like me, but with a wyvern. She really likes that. Too much, sometimes, I think, and she doesn’t like me at all.”

“Why not?” To Khiat, Tak could best be described as, well, chipper. She could see how he could get annoying, not that he was now. Otherwise, Tak had a simple friendly charm to him with a general lack of abrasiveness.

“Tlara is,” Tak thought for a few seconds. “She likes herself most. When we fought the first dragon, she ran-”

“The first dragon!?”

“Oh, yes, we fought two. It was bad, but we won. I missed the first time but was there for the second. I got a lot of advancement potential from that, I think. Anyway,” Tak said, as if Khiat wasn’t burning with curiosity and amazement, “She doesn’t like monsters.”

“I don’t like monsters either,” Khiat said slowly.

“Oh. Well, she doesn’t like them more than most. Except when they’re hers, and when they are a wyvern, but even then she doesn’t name them or care. Except for her wyvern, and Spinner. She is different.”

“I thought most people hated monsters. Tlara doesn’t sound too different.”

“Well, she is different too. If you talk to her you would see, not that I suggest.” Tak frowned, looking worried. “You don’t hate Spiritualists, do you?”

Khiat had never heard of the word. Even from context, it was difficult to figure out what Tak was saying. “Is she one?”

“No, I am,” he confessed in a light warble. There was fear in the voice then, surprising Khiat. He hadn’t been afraid of her before.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No! But people think it is. I had to leave my home when people found out.”

Khiat felt the pain in her chest again. “Why? What is a Spiritualist?”

Before Tak could answer, the tall, scarred man named Lograve spoke loudly. “Daniel, could you, uh, stop that?” The Artificer exited his meditation at the Arcanist’s request. “It’s time we talked about rejoining civilization and how we’re going to keep both of you from the predatory avarice of civil servants.”

Khiat looked at the horizon. They would get there tomorrow and still hadn’t talked about what the city would be like or how they should get through the gates without suspicion. This was something she’d looked forward to, only not like this, and not with these people. Either way, it was finally time for her to go to Aughal.