Theo tackled the man to the side, not quite fast enough. Several bolts struck the Tatian man, burning through his skin and the impact drove them both to the ground. More bolts flooded from the Ichili woman's hand, devastating the surrounding fields. Other refugees began to scream and panic

On the ground, Theo was just glad that he hadn't been struck. Though his movement might have looked selfless, part of his goal had been to get the Farmguard in between him and all that raw cantae. Now the Tatian man was pushing him aside and pulling back to his feet via his staff, while Theo stayed low and reconsidered.

So the woman was a soulcrafter, most likely of the first tier. It was frustrating not to be able to see her soulhome, but without being a soulcrafter himself, Theo could only guess. He had no idea how many in the crowd were soulcrafters, though surely at least a few would be.

"Now see here, there's no need for that!" The Farmguard approached, thumping his staff against the ground. "These are peaceful lands, so we'll have none of this violence!"

He raised his staff and a warm light closed around the woman. It was the gentlest of restraining techniques... but to someone from Ichil, it must have seemed like a horrifying trap of light. The woman clutched her eyes and dropped to her knees, but she soon retaliated.

The hail of bolts tore through the light surrounding her and sent the Farmguard staggering back. Theo was surprised by the ferocity of it - he didn't think the Ichili woman was a Archcrafter, or her attack would have killed many, but she must have soulcrafted her first floor more thoroughly than the Farmguard.

Several others with staffs frowned and approached as well, beginning to surround her. Though she was blinded and still trying to shield her eyes, the Ichili woman could sense them, more power gathering in her hands. She yelled "Stay away!" in an Ichili language - she was so shocked that she wasn't speaking Tatian and probably didn't understand them.

This would only get worse. Theo had wanted to keep a low profile, but decided that he needed to take a direct hand.

"She is frightened, not angry." He spoke soothingly as he touched the back of the first Farmguard. "I have walked her world, so let me speak to her."

"Stop her from destroying the crops," the Farmguard said, but he did gesture to the others to stay back. They might hate intruders who brought violence, but they were always open to cooperation. Theo touched another of the Farmguards reassuringly on the shoulder and stepped closer.

As he did so, he whistled a low tone. It took him several tries to recall the exact notes, but it soon came back to him. A simple series of three notes that carried over the empty fields of Ichil, announcing the presence of a friendly guest. Because it drew attention in the darkness, it was a position of intentional vulnerability.

When she heard it, the woman hesitated, her head cocking so that one ear turned in his direction. "Who are you? What is this hell?"

"This is the world of Tatian," Theo said quietly, focusing as hard as he could and hoping his soul would naturally adjust to speaking her language. She froze, focusing on his location. "I want to help you. Let me give you something to help with the light."

He took a single step forward and her hand came up, ready to burn him, but she hesitated. Theo removed his outer cloak, set it down on the ground in front of him, then backed away. The Ichili woman clenched her eyes tighter, fearing some trap, but cautiously moved forward to take the cloak. She quickly wrapped it around her shoulders and face, warding off some of the blinding light.

"May I ask your name?" Theo kept his tone cool and remained at a distance. The woman shifted back nervously, but eventually answered.

"I am Fiyu. Who are you?"

"I am Jake." If he accomplished anything at all, using his real name would be idiocy. Besides, it was all alien gibberish to her. "I once walked in your world for a time."

"This place is terrible. So... so bright, so loud..."

"Others from Ichil have endured in this world, but you need more to shield your eyes." Theo found himself smiling, even though she couldn't see him. The expression felt false, and the warmth was all an act, but he did want to stop her from causing any more trouble. "No one here will harm you, and they will keep their distance now. I will try to find something better for you. Please wait here."

"I will wait, Jake." She sat down on the ground and miserably pulled the cloak tighter over her face.

The immediate disaster had been averted, but Theo wasn't sure what he was going to do next. He made eye contact with all the Farmguards individually to make sure that they knew not to approach her and waited until they nodded understanding. Moving past them, Theo looked over the group, trying to remember the Ichili people he had known and how they had dealt with the brightness of other worlds.

First, he acquired a piece of silk from one of the Deuxan refugees. They tried to make him pay for it, but he argued that none of them had any money and all food was free there. Silk was a good start, as it wouldn't be painful on Ichili skin, but it wouldn't be enough.

"You are creating a blindfold for the Ichili one." The rumbling voice took him off guard, but he saw that the Mundhin from Arbai sat nearby. It had nothing like a normal head, but a sphere of stone set with gems turned toward him.

"Yeah, that's right." Theo felt a bit of relief just to talk to someone who wasn't stumbling around in ignorance. "Are you a soulcrafter or stoneshaper? Could you help me?"

"You freely speak in many tongues, yet you are not even a soulcrafter?" The gemstones regarded him with the cool inhuman intelligence of Arbai, but only for a moment. "I lack materials, but I am a stoneshaper. I could create something from myself, if only I knew what she required."

"There's a dense black stone..." Theo wracked his brain, but couldn't come up with the details. "I don't remember the name in Arbai, but it's similar to obsidian except a bit translucent. What I need is a thin plate of it to set across the eyes, as dense as possible."

"I may know of the substance of which you speak, but it is beyond my ability."

"Can you approximate? Any dense stone would help."

"Approximation..." The Mundhin grumbled, but raised one blocky arm and began to work. In contrast to its massive frame and crude movements, the rock flowed from its body gracefully. It rapidly darkened, becoming similar to obsidian and taking the form he had suggested. When at last it was done, the stone separated from the Mundhin's body and fell lifeless.

Theo caught it. He didn't know the appropriate greetings for Arbai, but he knew that lowering himself was respectful, so he went down to one knee. "Thank you, this will be sufficient."

"I do not like this crude approximation. If you can give me greater specifications, I will craft for her a better shield against this light."

"You will have my thanks. I am fortunate to have another traveler of worlds with me."

"I had never left Arbai before today. I have merely read of these things."

That was right - Theo had forgotten, but Arbai had a reputation for scholarship. Its rocky, ponderous inhabitants lived longer than most, giving them decades to pursue their fields of study. Theo set that aside for the time being and walked back to Fiyu, wrapping the obsidian in the silk.

By the time he arrived, he had a blindfold with the plate of dark stone fixed in it. The edges might not fit perfectly, but it would be better than just his cloak. Or so he hoped.

Fortunately, nothing had gone wrong in his absence. The people of Tatian might be overly friendly and a bit simple, but they weren't complete idiots. They had seen his actions and offered Fiyu food and water by leaving them at a distance, some even mimicking the words he'd used. Their offers seemed disconcerting to Fiyu, but now that she was not traumatized by her sudden arrival, she could accept it in bemusement.

Theo approached to several steps away, then whistled the tones again. Fiyu's attention immediately fixed on him, or at least her cloak-bundled head shifted in his direction. "You do not need to greet me in that way, Jake. I understand where I am now."

"I'm glad you feel better." Theo stepped forward and set the improvised mask down in front of her. "I have something else that might help."

"I will try it later." Fiyu ignored the mask and instead shifted the cloak wrapping enough to shove a piece of bread inside, presumably getting to her mouth eventually. He felt a surge of annoyance that she ignored his work, but swallowed it as unreasonable. She was likely surrounded by as many people as she usually met in a year, unless she lived in one of the caverns, which he thought unlikely.

"I spent only a short time on Ichil," Theo said as he shifted closer. He would have preferred to speak to her without all the Farmguards hearing, but privacy was hard to come by on Tatian. "May I ask where you range? Perhaps the Broad Dark?"

Fiyu slowly ate another piece before eventually answering. "I have never even set foot on that continent. I range in the Inner Moonscape."

"I've never visited there, but that speaks well of you." In fact, it was a bit intimidating, since he thought of the Moonscape regions as highly dangerous, places where you needed to be at least an Archcrafter to survive. He doubted that she would lie about such a thing, and in any case, interrogating her would get them off on the wrong foot.

Instead Theo turned to smile at the Farmguards, who all eagerly smiled in return. "You said that there was a plan to return us to our homes," he said. "What did you have in mind?"

"We will do everything we can, of course." The lead Farmguard bobbed his head cheerfully. "For those guests who have come from Deuxan or Fithe, we will escort them to permanent gates. Do not worry, they are only a month of travel away."

"You have no weirkeys?" Fiyu asked. Though her face was covered, her voice held naked concern.

"Only Landguards are capable of using weirkeys, and we are but humble Farmguards." The leader frowned as if this breach of hospitality hurt him personally. "The nearest Landguards are many months away, and even if they were to arrive, I do not think they have weirkeys for your world, miss."

Fiyu shrank back in disappointment, but Theo wasn't surprised. Moving between the Nine Worlds wasn't easy, even for soulcrafters, so most needed to use permanent gates. With extremely rare objects called weirkeys, someone could go to a specific world at will, but only a fourth tier soulcrafter could survive them. That was laughably far beyond his current position, but unlike everyone else, he wasn't trying to get home.

"Do not worry." One of the female Farmguards moved up beside Fiyu, mindlessly touching her on the back and receiving a flinch in return. "We do not know of a gate to your world, but we will find a way. Until then, you will be given a temporary home with us."

"No. I will remain here." Fiyu shifted further away from the Tatians and put her hands in her lap. "My relative will come for me."

"Oh? Who is it? A mother or father? An uncle or aunt? A brother or sister? A parent by marriage?" The Farmguard continued throwing out options hopefully, as if one of them would suddenly get a response. Fiyu remained unreadable, but Theo thought there was a bit of confusion in her posture.

Family relationships were everything on Tatian, but not so much on Ichil. Fiyu's "relative" could just as easily be her biological father, a cousin once removed, or an unrelated man who was part of her adoptive family. Since the sides were talking past each other, Theo decided to speak up again.

"Fiyu, does your relative have a weirkey to Tatian?"

"I... do not believe so." Her bundled head sank, obviously disheartened. "I know he has a weirkey to Slest, but he has struggled to acquire one for Deuxan. But I will wait until my relative is able to retrieve me."

"That could take years!" one of the Farmguards exclaimed, unhelpfully helpful. "You cannot be without a home for so long! Come, come, I will allow you to join my family and we will care for you."

"Thank you, but no. I will wait for my relative."

"Why not prepare for him?" Theo asked. Since she couldn't see him anyway, he gave all the Tatian villagers a broad smile as if he'd just had an idea. "In fact, you could help us make our way back! If we can advance enough as soulcrafters, we would be able to return on our own!"

One of the Farmguards nodded. "We do have many sublime materials for young soulcrafters. What of you, stranger? How can we help you return to your world?"

"I fear that it does not neighbor Tatian, and I have no relative who will come for me." Theo hung his head. "I must forge my own path back home, so my only hope is to rely upon your generosity."

"We would be happy to help you, young one." One of the older Farmguards gave him a pleasant smile, but something was slightly off. "But you have not yet begun building your soulhome, and I worry that perhaps you do not understand how many steps there are to take. Perhaps our generosity must take the form of guidance."

Theo froze for just a second, smile fixed on his face. The old man was too cagey to be taken advantage of so easily - he'd been afraid of that, but he had another angle. "But I do not wish to impose on your generosity with nothing to give in return. I have some experience, however. If you helped me become a soulcrafter, I could more than repay you with the work of my hands."

"A wonderful idea!" One of the other Farmguards clapped her hands in delight. "With all these cracks in our world, there will no doubt be more demons, and our guests could help prevent the weaker ones from harming any homes."

Ignoring her, Theo instead looked toward the old Farmguard, who was still watching him. The man's expression was perfectly pleasant, but Theo saw a flicker of skepticism in his eyes. Or whatever Tatian had in place of skepticism. Just as he was considering his options, clouds shifted away from the sun, sending Fiyu flinching in the sunlight.

"I know of a technique that might be able to help you." Theo turned to her fully, putting as much compassion into his voice as he could and pretending to ignore all the others. "It would require a new chamber within your soulhome, but it would shield you from light and heat in other worlds."

Fiyu's head shifted toward him. "But I have nothing to give in return."

"Consider it a gift. There would simply be the matter of acquiring appropriate sublime materials."

"But... would they truly share anything so valuable with us?" Fiyu shifted to regard the others, her voice carrying the slightest hints of hope.

Was it an act? There weren't many things she could have said to better manipulate them, but Theo didn't hear anything but sincerity in her voice. This was exactly what he needed, since his arguments had already softened up the Farmguards around them. Even the old man was nodding reluctantly, and after the villagers conferred among themselves, he was the first to speak to them.

"So be it. We will guide you and every other guest who cannot easily return home to one of our cities. They have established a school for foreign soulcrafters there." The old man's eyes met his sharply. "If you contribute to our community, we will assist you on your path as a soulcrafter."

"Thank you, grandfather." Theo clasped the old man's hands and lowered his head respectfully, which got a chorus of positive responses from the villagers around them.

Unfortunately, many of them came to sit closer, asking questions about his home world. That was exactly what he wanted to avoid - he had cover stories planned, but there was no sense wasting them on villagers. Since they had descended on Fiyu, asking her more questions about her relative, Theo decided that it was time to retreat.

He'd forgotten how cloying people could be. Theo finally let his smile drop as he moved away and the sides of his mouth ached. There hadn't been a lot of smiling over the past forty years. But even as he adopted a more comfortable scowl, he felt a bit of optimism.

Arriving alongside so many others might turn out to be a blessing in disguise in multiple ways. Meeting Fiyu might be a particular stroke of luck, if he played his cards right. He had useful information for her, and she could be useful to him both for her strength and her knowledge. Given how uncomfortable she felt in Tatian, it wouldn't take much to create a bond between them, which could prove mutually beneficial.

Setting her out of mind, Theo wandered beside one of the fields and considered his next steps while he waited for them to move. There might not be any more immediate emergencies, but he needed to gain power as quickly as possible. He needed to be a soulcrafter to accomplish any of his other goals, plus there was always the threat that Vistgil or a powerful demon would come for him.

Though no more people emerged, when he focused, he could still see faint lines of nothingness in the air, flickering as the world repaired itself. On the other side lay oblivion, countless demons, and every other world.

He just needed to survive long enough to see them all.