Caen leaned back in his chair. “I was somehow able to improve my affinity for Spirit-healing the first time I used Soul-sense.”

Zeris scrunched up her nose at the word ‘Soul-sense’.

“What? It's a fine name.”

“Meh. Could be better.”

“Well, if you think of something, this esteemed committee will be willing to hear it. Anyway, it felt like something… changed in me back then. I'd like to try replicating that again.”

Caen activated Soul-sense and felt that resistance he'd started thinking of like a barrier, like an existential hiccup. Zeris's physical body faded to a nearly transparent phantom and was, in the same moment, overlaid with her soul structure. The table, too, seemed to dim around wherever it was covering her lower half, allowing him to see the soul structure clearly, but nothing else beyond. A razor-thin black cord ran between them.

His soul structure, however, did not manifest. He frowned.

This confirms that the resistance I felt earlier had something to do with the fact that I wasn't sensing my own soul structure at the time.

He deactivated Soul-sense, and, after explaining his discovery to Zeris, tried sensing his own soul structure instead. It sprang up around him, overlaying his body — sounds, sensations, colors, and all. There was no resistance this time, and he could strongly feel the impression of a need to perceive the external. But he didn't know how to follow through on it. He fiddled around futilely for a while before deciding to try something else.

Zeris’s spirit tendrils had been extended out when first Caen had discovered Soul-sense, and he wanted to re-enact the precise sequence of events. He dove into his spirit and began scanning for each of his bloodlines.

He located the Ereshta'al bloodline, which he'd inherited from his father, then the Edict bloodline, from his mother. He found the bloodline he and Zeris shared with Magister Fermien, though he wasn't quite sure what it did yet, beyond knowing it had something to do with fire.

Then, finally, he located the fourth one with a little more effort than he had yesterday. This was the most mysterious of all his bloodlines, and he hadn't even the slightest clue what it even was.

Immediately, he called up Klaver's Variate. The ghostly apparition of a rhombus symbol glowed softly in his mind, each point as stable as they'd been the day before. In his mind's eye, a transparent sphere formed in the rhombus, swelling till it grew to encompass the symbol completely.

But nothing happened after that. What felt like a minute passed, and nothing happened still.

That first time in Redshadow, his existence had unfurled of its own accord. Now, however, he had to initiate that himself. Once more, he could perceive his own soul structure, but not Zeris's. That need to connect was still there. When he focused intently on it, hoping to somehow extend his perception to include her soul as well as his, her soul structure sprang up… and his disappeared.

Employing different approaches, Caen tried sensing his soul and Zeris's at the same time. However, this proved impossible. It was either one or the other: sense himself or sense her.

“Okay, so that’s not working,” Caen said, standing up from the table and pacing. “I’m obviously doing something wrong, but I don't think I'm missing a step.”

Zeris was spinning a pen in her hand and skimming through her notes. Being a test subject was ultimately boring work, and she'd gone back to studying. “Maybe we should try constructing the exact same conditions from yesterday,” she said. “Bloodline resonance. Going into Redshadow. Finding a bunch of Valiants willing to rob us. All that.”

“Hilarious,” Caen said, rolling his eyes.

Zeris shrugged, smiling to herself, and started scribbling in her tome.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Earlier, when he'd concentrated on that barrier, he'd noticed impressions that were leaking through from his soul structure. Even though he couldn't sense his soul structure, it'd been there, just… hidden from his perception somehow.

Which meant that even when he could sense her soul structure alone, his own soul structure was still there. He needed to expand his perception somehow.

Brushing up against the barrier had been like a guide, helping him uncover his soul structure by showing him the little pieces from the whole that was hidden. But he couldn't use that now because he necessarily had to push through said barrier to connect with Zeris in the first place.

So maybe I just need something else that can guide me, that can help me uncover my soul structure while I'm connected to Zeris.

He thought of that cord that always linked him to whoever he was using Soul-sense on. Would that work?

He unfurled his existence, pushing past the barrier. He focused on the thin cord linking his body to Zeris's soul structure. It felt like... a connection, pretty much. Less substantial than his spirit tendrils, but somehow weightier, more significant.

Caen had spent years honing his focus, and that came in handy now. He spent the next few hours just concentrating on the razor-thin, black line between them, and eventually, he noticed that when he focused on the portion of the cord directly extending from his midsection, Zeris's soul structure seemed to grow just a bit quieter.

All his attention was focused now on the portion of the cord closest to him and just like before, he started to note impressions. The more he focused on these, the more they leaked through. More impressions, sounds, tactile sensations. Slowly but surely, his soul structure filled in and his body became overlaid by complex sounds, sensations, and textures all contained within a Caen-shaped mass of colourful threads.

He smiled.

And then Zeris's soul structure vanished. A second later, his followed. His head was starting to ache something fierce, and just maintaining both of their soul structures had put quite some strain on his will. But he'd done it. Now to refine it.

He activated Soul-sense, and could see his own soul structure but not Zeris's. He was not yet connected to her. Caen focused on doing so, focused on conjuring that razor-thin, black cord between them. His mind went over those impressions he'd gotten from their connection earlier. For several long moments, nothing happened. Then Zeris's soul structure manifested.

Caen repeated the process, faster this time. He managed to perceive both soul structures simultaneously before they vanished, his focus pushed to its limits. Gritting his teeth, he did it again. And again. And again.

Caen let out a laugh, and Zeris looked up at him. “I've done it,” he said.

Zeris winced. “You're yelling.”

“Oh, sorry. I can barely hear myself above the sounds both our soul structures are making,” he said, trying to moderate his voice. “It's like if an orchestra and a sawmill had a baby.”

Zeris, of course, couldn't hear anything but his loud voice, so she looked at him like he was crazy.

Caen went on to explain his success to her. After which, he tried to get a hang of manifesting and maintaining both their soul structures at the same time.

A good while later, the ache in Caen's head forced him to deactivate Soul-sense. He furled his existence, glad to note that the barrier was now a thing of the past; he couldn't feel it any longer.

He still wasn't able to replicate that boost to his affinity yet, but this felt like a step in the right direction. He furiously jotted down his observations as he relayed everything else he'd tried to Zeris.

Once he was done, he walked over to the cooling box to grab some ice for his injuries. He blinked as he looked into the cooling box. He hadn't noticed this last night. “Why do we only have fruits in here?” he asked. There had been a tub of cheese, slices of meat, and several loaves of bread just yesterday morning.

“Tuni and her little brothers came by to make sandwiches before I left for Drenlin yesterday,” Zeris said.

“Huh.” He put some ice in another dishrag, then grabbed an apple and bit into it. Here at the commune, food was treated as a shared resource. And Tuni was very notorious for hosting picnics. She'd probably cleared out food from half the homes here.

“Do you plan on attending Magister Fermien's lecture this evening?” Zeris asked.

“Yeah,” Caen said around a mouthful of apple. “Why?”

Zeris jutted her chin at the clock behind him. “It's getting late, and I don't want to miss the train to Drenlin.”

His eyes widened when he checked the clock for himself. Almost 4 in the evening. Caen hadn't been keeping track of the time, which was very uncharacteristic of him. “Ish,” he swore. “I haven't even taken a bath.”

“I knew something was stinking up the place,” Zeris quipped.

Caen was too busy running up the stairs to retort. He needed to get ready.