Caen sat at the table in Zeris's room, scanning his spirit. He’d been at this for a few hours now. Locating his fourth bloodline always took some time and effort.

It was slippery and extremely given to concealment, but he eventually found the bloodline. It presented to his mind’s eye as a squirming mass of intertwined darkened strips with the consistency of ink. It possessed, surprisingly enough, far more ‘harmony’ than any of his other bloodlines. He wasn’t entirely sure what harmony or disharmony even meant, especially in relation to bloodlines.

Caen always felt a vague sense of discomfort whenever he examined the fourth bloodline, but now he could also feel a sense of… claustrophobia. It felt as though he were being cornered and confined and ‘acknowledged’, and he… resented that?

He persisted for a while longer, but gleaned nothing further. Caen blinked his eyes open, ignoring the many cords of connection around him and Zeris, as he pondered over his situation.

Sunlight poured in through the window off to the side. It was just past noon. Zeris, whom Caen was currently connected to, was hunched over on her bed with open tomes around her as she solved equations. Fahptis’s party was still ongoing, but the general wards kept the sounds out.

“I can feel more from it, but that doesn’t tell me much,” Caen sent to Zeris through their connection.

She flinched and looked up. “That startles me every time,” she said aloud.

After seeing how easily he could communicate with Chasma through their bond, Caen had started wondering if he could do the same with others. He’d been able to communicate with Stormsong and Blight, after all. And his current connections with people were now as strong as his connection to Chasma had been before Contract rose out of abjection.

Throughout the day, he and Zeris had been trying at intervals to refine this. Their results had been mixed so far. Caen could send her cohesive impressions and notions, even emotions. Interpretation was their biggest hurdle.

“You said the bloodline has grown into something you can’t understand? No, wait. You can see the ways it has grown, but still don’t understand it?”

“Close,” Caen nodded before saying aloud what he’d meant to communicate.

“Alright,” she said. “My turn.”

Caen paid attention and could glean impressions from her soul. “Does this… bother me?”

“Close,” she said. “I asked if it’s still causing that sense of discomfort whenever you examine it.”

“It is,”

he sent, which she understood easily enough. He went on to tell her about the oddities, though he’d had to clarify out loud because of their interpretation issue.

“This just makes the Citadel far more important to me,” he sent. Filiation magic was an entire field dedicated to bloodlines and magical potential, amongst other things. And the Imperial Citadel of Magic was usually extending the frontiers of that field. He needed to know more.

“A few more weeks and you can start right on that,” she sent, shrugging.

After she clarified out loud, Caen nodded. He felt some relief at that and was really looking forward to his time at the Citadel.

He glanced at the time construct at the corner of his vision. “Uncle Vai’s almost done with his meeting. I think I’ll head into the Astral now.”

“Don’t get eaten by any specters,” she quipped.

He snorted.

***

Cords of connection linked Caen to Vai and Hshnol as he sat with them in Vai’s Astral domain. He had extended his existence towards both of them and could see their soul structures.

“We’ve begun reaching out to them,” Vai sent, rocking back and forth on his hovering chair.

Caen could glean the man’s thoughts and notions far more clearly than he could others. He was even better at doing this than Caen was.

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“With your Patronage slot, it’s barely necessary, but some factions are better positioned to carry out a few of our goals. It makes things so much quicker for us if we can just delegate the less important work to them.”

Caen nodded in understanding. They intended to leave false trails of activity so that Caen’s presence in the Citadel wouldn’t look too suspicious. Now that they didn’t have to spend Caen’s points frugally, Uncle Vai was insistent on going all out with distractions.

Which meant more work. It was very important to speed things up. The Imperial Citadel of Magic was accepting new intake in two weeks. And there was also the situation waiting for them back in Drenlin.

“Have Sormot and her team arrived yet?” Caen asked through the cords of connection.

Uncle Vai turned to Hshnol.

“They got in just this morning,” Hshnol sent. “I prepared accommodations for them in Drenlin.”

Hshnol had said that this felt a little like communicating through his aura, and he was even better at this mode of communication than Uncle Vai.

“Thank you, Hshnol,” Caen sent.

The Vedul man had contacted a group of mercenaries that had done work for Uncle Vai in the past. According to Vai, they could be trusted to remain discreet. Aunt Vensha had also reached out to her Valiant party members, and they would be helping out as well. Even Uncle Teiro was on his way. He’d begun making his way back to Rialgar a few days ago.

Someone or something had tried to communicate with Caen in Drenlin. And he had no way of knowing if it was hostile or not. It was only wise to take all the precautions they reasonably could.

“I have looked over your contract with the grand elders, and nothing stands out to me,” Hshnol sent to Caen. “Your assessment was correct. It is certainly more complex than the magical agreements entered into with the prodigies, but the terms are not unfair.”

Caen let out a sigh of relief. Now that Hshnol had combed through the magical agreement, Caen could rest easy. He’d feared that they’d snuck in hidden terms that he couldn’t identify with his limited ability. He thanked Hshnol again, and the man merely nodded once.

“Ah,” Vai sent. “Our visitor is here.”

The grand elders had assured Caen that they would send a representative who would uphold Caen’s preference for confidentiality.

It was time to nail down the specifics of how his Patronage request was dispensed.

***

It was a chilly evening, and though Caen was completely unaffected by it, he’d still donned a thick coat to keep up appearances. He sat in the restricted section of the library opposite Rithya, while they conversed in the Sub-astral.

Various very stable cords of connection stretched out from Rithya in every direction.

“I have all the points I need,” Rithya said, shaking her head. “But if I happen to need more, I’ll reach out and ask for help. Thank you.”

“Alright,” Caen said, acquiescing. Uncle Vai hadn’t thought poorly of his idea to give Rithya some extra points, but she seemed resolute on not taking any from him.

Goat Mask and Jum had both been eliminated in the first half of the final trial, but they’d accrued quite some more points as Returned.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked her.

“Leave the island for a while. Travel a little. Solve some of my people’s problems.” Her expression grew somber. “Preferably before Gev wakes up. You should be very worried about Gevrid, Caen. Once he thoroughly examines you, I have little doubt that he will be able to determine that you are a Xihx.”

Caen had told her that Grand Elder Gev might be returning from his endeavors soon.

“How have you managed to avoid discovery?” Caen asked carefully. “It can’t just be by keeping your head down.”

“I… have a means,” she admitted with reluctance. “Something I can’t reveal. I’ll be fine. But you need to think of something. Your life will cease to be your own the moment they learn about your abilities. I’ve seen it happen. We are objects to them. Tools.

“My offer still stands, of course. If you join my hive, I will be able to extend my protections to you.”

She’d made this same offer to him before the fourth trial.

“You said my goals would always be second to yours?” he asked.

She nodded. “All my… associates retain their wills and desires, but those would naturally become subordinate to what I want. I am incapable of exerting my will inordinately against anyone in the hive as my meld prioritizes fairness.”

It felt to Caen like exchanging one form of subjugation for a less severe and perhaps kinder form. He liked Rithya and had always respected her, more so now that she’d helped him quite a bit this past month, but he didn’t know her well enough.

“I’d like to keep my options open for now,” he finally said. “But if I can’t think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“The door remains open for as long as you need,” she said, smiling softly. “So you leave tomorrow?”

“Crack of dawn.”

“Then I bid you farewell for now, little brother, and I hope you can resolve your strange… er… Klakalk problem back at home.”

“Thank you, Rithya,” he said, “for everything.”