While I wanted to carve the new catalysts for Tender’s trial immediately, Tamrie wasn’t as keen.

“My afternoon’s packed tighter than a bunker during the final Howl. If’n we don’t go now, I’ll have to go tomorrow,” Tamrie said, squeezing my hand. “Once you unmuck the Waygates, it’ll be easy as drowning.”

“We have the pools,” I said, gesturing towards the nearby room.

“And ya need to ferry dozens through, aye?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I can just ferry them first then grab you after.”

“Are ya gonna make folk wait then? Ya gonna enchant one for each of ‘em?”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t?” I asked, leaning back.

“Not saying that. Just wanna know your thoughts.”

“Right. I think I should, though I’ll want to know who wants what.”

“And find out who’s willing to put themselves through the pain,” Tamrie said, patting my hand again. “Not everyone’ll want to subject themselves.”

“Right,” I said, brow furrowing. It seemed silly to me. Pain was temporary. I’d made that argument about Memory Palace, and Tamrie had convinced me to moderate my use. Yet I felt this was different. That really was counterproductive.

“How long to make one?” Tamrie asked.

“An hour, at least, for the first one. Once I know what I’m doing… can’t really say,” I said with a shrug.

“And there’s not better things for you to be doing with your own time?” Tamrie asked, glancing towards Vendil who’d been silently listening to us on the other side of our dinner table.

He held up a page full of tasks waiting for me.

“Nope,” I said with a smile, pulling her hand to my lips and kissing it. “Not if it’s going to make you safer.”

“We don’t have time for me to answer that proper like,” Tamrie said, shaking her head, though she was smiling. “If’n you want to use your free time to carve them tonight, I’ll try it tomorrow.”

I nodded, figuring that would probably be better for the moment. She was right about me making everyone wait.

After far too many trips back and forth with the Tethered, we walked Tender’s path together. We only delayed a little when we ‘fell off’ part way through.

After splitting off from Tamrie, I tracked down Bevel and Banya, enlisting their help for our next major project.

Putting those Worlds materials to work, fixing up the Waygates.

Banya was mostly working on rebuilding the frames in the central chamber. She had two helpers of her own, newly awakened Tethered who were also learning from Xoth. I’d still need to do the final enchanting, but they were able to get everything primed.

Most of the important Waygates, such as Conflict’s and Tender’s, needed to be rebuilt from scratch on Mount Aeternia’s end.

Which meant that while they prepped the repairs for those Bevel and I made our way to the new settlement that was forming south of Verdant Point. The replacement port town.

It was still in rough shape, barely enough for the newest wave of refugees to move in. Simple stone buildings with log longhouses spaced throughout. Didn’t help that it was so far from the nearest Waygate.

Repairing the one nearby was important even if it was going to remain less accessible than the rest most of the time. The plan was to set it up so it was only used on a schedule.

The actual remains of the Waygate were little more than a pile of broken stone. Any Worlds materials or enchantments were long gone.

Bevel and I spent the rest of the day repairing it. I let her take the lead, prepared to help only when she asked. It ended up leaving me a lot of time to think through my plans, since I didn’t have to step in once to prevent any mistakes.

Much as I would’ve liked to activate it, the paired Waygate was in just as much need of repair.

“Not bad,” I said as we wrapped up our work for the day. “Didn’t think we’d be able to do even one a day. And you handled this almost all by yourself. We could probably work on one each.”

“I… uh, I don’t think I’m that good yet,” Bevel said, pointing at where the silvery veins ran through the surface of the rock. “I nearly left out the target link. Would’ve taken you an hour to fix that!”

I stared at the spot she was pointing, simply raising an eyebrow. She’d been rather calm when she’d asked me if that was where she was supposed to put it. I doubted she’d forgotten about it at all.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

No, she just didn’t want to split up. And she wasn’t ready to admit it.

“You did great. You really could do it on your own,” I said, not willing to let her malign her own work. “But I’m afraid you’re gonna be stuck with me anyway. Never know when those Sahevin might get nasty. No one’s going anywhere alone.”

“Oh. Okay,” Bevel said, looking down at her feet, trying to hide her smile. “Guess I can live with that.”

I smothered a chuckle, waving her after me. “Come on, let’s get back. Still stuff I want to tackle in the enchanting workshop.”

“Race you!” she said, taking two steps then throwing herself into the air in the direction of her glider.

Shaking my head, I followed a few hops, skips and a jump behind. Still managed to beat her back to Mount Aeternia with only a little cheating. Was a lot closer than it had been the first time we’d gone gliding together.

Didn’t help that Inertia had, at my request, stripped most of the Forgehearts out of Soaring Wolf. The extra thrust wasn’t useful at the speeds we were going. Well, unless I wanted to blast Bevel in the face with a burst of steam.

Not quite worth keeping an extra couple Forgehearts in the glider.

The evening was spent working on the catalysts. They were rather simple, though I quickly realized they needed to be custom enchanted for each user. Small deviations led to massive losses, and despite the underlying ‘Sprouting standard’ there were always variations in each person’s attunement.

For the same reason, we’d need a new catalyst after each breakthrough.

When Selvi stopped by to ask about the catalysts, apparently having heard about them through Tamrie, I realized they were a great starter project for the newly ensouled Tethered. Even those who were only dabbling in enchanting would be able to create their own catalysts.

It was proven when Bevel was able to guide Selvi through the process of creating her own.

By the time we were done, in addition to the one Bevel and Selvi had made together, we’d also completed one for me, Bevel and Tamrie.

Arizar heard about the process, and while she didn’t work beside us, she completed one of her own during the night.

Which only left actually using them. The next morning, we stood inside Tender’s hall, each wearing our catalysts.

The being had insisted on inspecting the catalysts when we’d shown up with them. It stood there, holding my catalyst in hand, the green flames of its eyes fading to near invisibility as it inspected the dark blue material that had been worked into a spiral with seemingly erratic ridges.

Silently, it handed it back before reaching for Tamrie’s, a disk with several random looking holes in it.

Bevel’s, Arizar’s and Selvi’s were variations on one of the two designs. After inspecting each of them in turn, Tender let out a long sigh. “These are… safe. They will inflict a great deal of pain until you are able to weave them smoothly with your path but they will till the fields of your flesh, allowing it to more easily absorb Kinya. With that said, an overtilled field has its own issues. Take a day to allow the fields to recover until their use no longer invokes such pain.”

“Good trade, that,” Tamrie said, nodding. “Can it be practiced without the drowning pain?”

“Once you understand where the seeds must fall, you can meditate on your experience,” Tender replied, nodding its green head. “With patience, you will get better at sowing them without pain. This will mitigate it, though not eliminate it entirely.”

“That will be important,” Arizar said, nodding her approval as she ran her hand over the ridges of her own pink and blue spiral.

“Is that some sort of special meditation? Or just sitting with our eyes closed, thinking about what happened?” I asked, holding up the blue-black spiral and staring at it, as if that would be enough.

“I shall guide any who choose to learn how to properly use this tool,” Tender said, turning its head to look over the crowd of Tethered who stood behind us. “Yet it must wait until after you have completed walking your paths for the day.”

“Right. Best we get to it,” I said, taking Tamrie’s hand.

She nodded, looking down at the catalyst. Hers was a disk made of water and nature materials. It held a single nearly flat blue-green crystal set into the band.

“Not exactly the ring I expected from ya,” Tamrie said, running her finger through one of the holes when she caught me inspecting my handiwork. “Mum did always say relationships bring pain.”

“Sorry,” I said, squeezing her other hand while chuckling softly.

“I doubt this is what your mother had in mind, when she gave that advice,” Arizar said, having apparently missed the joke.

Tamrie and I shared an amused glance. Then she took a deep breath. “This much, at least, I can do.”

I nodded, then all three of us passed inside the trial.

My own catalyst hung around my neck alongside the storage pendant I’d taken from Grivis back when we’d taken Tetherfall from him. It started radiating the second we stepped through the portal.

No pain yet.

Tamrie and I started along our usual path among the red lillies while Arizar chose to test the general path. The pain built up slowly.

Until it didn’t.

The first time it flared up, we’d climbed nearly to the top of the canopy, nearing the swinging vines. Neither of us were prepared for it. While I stumbled, Tamrie took it worse, collapsing in a heap.

Despite moving the second I saw her slouching, I barely managed to catch her leg before she could fall to the floor below.

The pain faded as fast as it came. Wasn’t even in the top ten most painful things I’d experienced. If that was the worst of it, I’d have no problem enduring the pain until I mastered the catalyst.

Couldn’t say the same for Tamrie. Gently, I pulled her into my embrace as she sobbed. “Sorry,” I said again, stroking her head.

Not for the first time, I found myself wishing I could take another’s pain for myself. Was that something Pain Clarity could help with? Maybe there was a better way to design the catalysts. There wasn’t any reason we couldn’t-

“Okay. I’m okay, let’s go,” Tamrie said, pushing off, her hands squeezed into fists as she nodded once.

Then, with a fury I’d rarely seen from her, she threw herself into the rest of the path.

While she collapsed several more times, she didn’t stop or slow for long.

It was only once we were standing atop the final cliff, with the last ripples of Kinya seeping into us, that she allowed herself to stop. Once more, she collapsed into my arms, sobbing softly.

I ran my hand through her hair, feeling horrible for having suggested doing the trial with the catalysts without testing them first.

Right as I went to apologize again, Tamrie spoke, “I needed this, I think.”

“You… needed this?” I asked, pausing and leaning back so I could look down at her. But she kept her head buried against my chest.

“Needed to be reminded proper that such pain exists. That I don’t always get to take the easy way out. That if I don’t take my fate by the fins, I’ll end up like master Temill,” Tamrie said, her hand running along the seam where my robe was buttoned. “Twas like a dream, the last month. Been pushing the nightmares down, pretending they’re all in the past.”

“Tamrie…” I said, wiping at where the tears had finally stopped, searching for words to reassure her.

“But they’re not, are they?” Tamrie asked, finally looking up at me, her eyes filled with steel. “They’re only just starting. And it’s up to us to stop them.”