As Theo soulcrafted a slightly better roof, he considered his next major step. The difficult part wasn't coming up with ideas, it was soulcrafting rooms that would give him an immediate advantage without hindering his long term designs. And there, the problem was that he had too many potential designs and he'd need to experiment to choose the perfect one.

His central chamber was far beyond what would be expected from a first tier soulcrafter, so he'd leave it for the time being. Being able to creative gravitational fields was a useful skill that wouldn't be neutralized simply because it was well known, but it also wasn't sufficient. Soulcrafters with self-enhancing chambers would be able to resist it even on the first tier, and just pouring more work into it wouldn't scale well against Archcrafters or anyone who had the ability to fly.

What he truly needed was a destructive technique to strike the opponent while they were struggling with the changing gravity. That was where he was most tempted to go with a shortcut: he could easily have crafted a ranged attack that would work better than generic cantae bolts. But if he did that, he'd be creating future work for himself, or even limiting his growth.

Soulcrafters who threw together chambers of whatever techniques they needed at the moment tended to run into limits compared to more thoughtful blueprints because there was no synergy between their rooms. His techniques on his first floor couldn't be merely useful, they needed to be components that could feed into higher tier skills. Ultimately he wanted to soulcraft a chamber that could create a singularity, but the cantae simply wasn't potent enough on the first floor, plus he needed to increase the mass of his core.

He considered focusing on the spear that Navim had crafted for him, or maybe even requesting a better one, but discarded the idea. Even after he reinforced his body, it wouldn't be wise to go rushing up to his opponents. Better to take them out from a distance, one way or another.

In the end, he decided that a new technique room would require more time than he had, leaving him with no advantages for the next match. Instead, he would focus on improving what he already had and soulcrafting some chambers to enhance himself overall. The simplest task would be to strengthen the gravitational technique to allow more than one field, which would allow for a highly useful trick. But for enhancing himself...

Theo gathered together all the sublime foods he'd collected to that point and created a feasting chamber. It would enhance his physical strength, and more importantly it would channel cantae better than an empty room. Over time he could substantially improve that chamber, but it would be useful even in its earliest stages.

Second, he decided to make the chamber just beyond his vestibule into a formal storage room. He reinforced the door frames, built some sturdy chests, and otherwise tried to fill it out. Though not the pure defensive chamber he'd planned for his old blueprint, it would efficiently make him tougher as well as being extremely useful even as he soulcrafted higher.

When Nanjuma came to take him to the feast, he was annoyed... until he realized what Nauda had understood from the beginning. Instead of sitting around a bonfire with dozens of people in a community, he arrived in a small room with a single table loaded with food. It was only the four of them, and Nanjuma left after giving them grandfatherly pats.

"These are all sublime materials?" Theo asked as he sat down. Nauda smiled and gestured over the table.

"This is a traditional meal, though a very rare one. Be sure to eat at least one of everything, because the complete set in your soulhome can be reassembled. In addition to generating cantae, it can keep you partially fed in lean times."

It was certainly an impressive table. Stacks of brightly colored fruit, heaping bowls of vegetables, sides of meat like were rarely served on Tatian. Each of them had a little house made from stiff vegetables artfully cut, which was disgustingly twee as far as he was concerned, so he decided to demolish it first. Not only were they all sublime materials, the person preparing them was a soulcrafter improving their potency, not just a cook.

To his surprise, even the stupid house tasted good. For a time they just ate, Theo making sure to absorb some of everything and prepare the meal inside his soulhome. Adding these to the more mundane Tatian foods increased the cantae generation of his feasting chamber while making him a bit tougher. But once that was done, he began to relax and just enjoy the sublime materials as food.

"This is good." Fiyu made the pronouncement while smiling warmly at both of them. "I didn't think I liked feasts, but this is much better than the noisy meals in the villages."

"Three people is not exactly a feast." Nauda gave her an oddly fond smile. "But I suppose it might be for you. Is it just you and your relative traveling at all times? Do you ever... find community? Meet with friends or family?"

"Oh, of course! Usually we traveled alone, but sometimes there was a third, or even a fourth when necessary. There are communities, but it is safer if only one person enters to do business. I have two other relatives who range the Inner Moonscape and when we meet it is always a joyous occasion."

"I suppose I can understand that. How often do you meet?"

"Hmm.... perhaps once a year?"

"Once a year?" Nauda nearly dropped her fork, eyes wide.

Fiyu chewed a bite thoughtfully before speaking. "I understand that might seem to be a long time, for Tatian. But I enjoy it. We have been apart for so long that we have all grown and can come to know one another again. There are always many stories to tell, then we can return to our ranging."

"I can't imagine having family and being apart from them for so long. For most Tatians, a month is a long journey away from home..."

Though Nauda still seemed stunned by the idea, Theo noted a crack in her statement and decided to poke at it. "If you've never been away from family that long, does that mean that you have family nearby you haven't told us about?"

"That is... a separate issue." Nauda set her jaw and didn't seem inclined to answer. He considered pushing further, but recognized that it was clearly a sore point. She'd said "I can't imagine having a family" and he wondered if that wasn't the important part of her statement. In their entire time in Myufuru, he'd never seen her interact with relatives like most of the other Tatians.

The silence could have been awkward, but Fiyu seemed not to notice, pondering something as she pushed vegetables around her bowl. "When I spoke, I said 'year'... 'seasonturning'... I do not like this word."

"Does Ichil have no seasons?" Nauda asked. Since Fiyu still looked thoughtful, Theo answered.

"It depends on where you live. Some areas are permanently frozen, others go through seasons of thaw and freeze, others have stranger seasons related to the clouds. The whole world isn't the same, you know."

"Thank you for this great wisdom that I could never have received from anyone else."

Again, that sarcasm, now so clear that he couldn't understand how he'd missed it before. Theo wanted to ask her further about it, now that they had nothing to do but eat and talk, but Fiyu was still thinking on her previous subject.

"My relative taught me that my words would transform between worlds, but I find it very strange. I can... hear my voice and my mind at the same time, yet there is a thin chasm between them. Small and yet important. I am grateful that I can speak to you, but I wonder if my soul is changing, to express such different things."

"It isn't anything permanent," Theo said. "If we go to Ichil, you'll be speaking naturally and the two of us will have our souls translated. Mostly it works well enough, though scheduling and military matters can be difficult if people don't have control of their language."

"Yes, I noticed that... some do not even seem to think about it, yet I have also heard Fithans speaking in a language I don't understand."

"If you focus, you can still speak another language. Actually, you were doing it on instinct when you first arrived, and it sounds like you're always hearing the subtle differences. That can be overwhelming for some, but if you adjust to it, you'll have a stronger comprehension of everything said."

"Hmm." Fiyu delicately picked up a piece of fruit and nibbled on it before continuing. "But my soul cannot translate everything. When you and Nauda speak in this 'lyingwit', I hear your words, not your intent."

"I guess souls have their limitations." Theo looked toward Nauda and raised an eyebrow, wondering if she'd softened enough to discuss it yet. "Are you going to admit it now? I'm honestly really curious if I've been missing subtle implications in Tatian conversations all this time."

"No, not around here." Nauda hesitated, but nodded to herself as if coming to a conclusion, then spoke with more confidence. "I was born in a distant community. There, we have a word... I think it would sound like 'prideful humility' to you. You have noticed that some Tatians can go quite far in attempting to be more hospitable and humble than one another, yes?"

"Oh, I've noticed."

"Prideful humility is like a game being played with that tradition. I don't think your 'sarcasm' word is quite right. Sometimes it is mocking the other person if they are being excessively humble. At other times, it is using false humility to show them their foolishness." Nauda let out a surprisingly heavy sigh. "But it doesn't seem to be a tradition here, and I fear I have been taken at face value. No one realized until you spoke up."

"I noticed, Nauda." Fiyu drew back when they both immediately turned to her and continued slowly. "I did not understand the deeper meaning you explained. But when you spoke that way, I heard a different... inflection? Do you understand that word? It was not used like in any Ichili language, but I heard the difference and came to understand."

"Huh. Then that makes two of you, but the rest has been wasted."

Theo had been tearing through some meat while they spoke, but now swallowed and chuckled. "You're way too subtle. Your words might sound absurd to you, but there are others who act that humble completely sincerely. The sarcasm I know can be subtle, but it doesn't have to be."

Nauda leaned her head on one hand, regarding him thoughtfully. "I suppose you might be right. It was fun when no one understood at first, but it's gotten old."

For a time they said nothing, returning to eating, yet the atmosphere wasn't awkward. Theo wished that he could feel more comfortable with them, yet he found himself thinking about everything he didn't know. Nauda was clearly keeping secrets, potentially very serious ones. Fiyu might appear earnest, but he didn't know her true goals, and in Ichil, one did whatever was necessary.

"I... would like to tell you both something." Nauda set down her utensils and regarded them with grim intensity. "You might not know, but everyone else does: I am not from this part of Tatian. In a sense, I will never be fully embraced, not even if I married a local and lived my entire life among them."

"Tatian villagers have always seemed welcoming to me," Theo said. "Am I missing the nuances?"

"Yes. There is one form of hospitality for guests, and another hospitality for family. The latter is sometimes less warm, but it is more important." Nauda reached up and began anxiously playing with a lock of her hair, apparently without even realizing that she was doing so. "Living here is... a death by a thousand warm embraces. That is why I need this. It isn't just a school or a competition to me."

Fiyu bobbed her head sympathetically. "I have understood that you had something at stake. What do you need?"

"At first, I volunteered because not many wanted to work with foreigners, and I thought it might help them accept me. But I also need the sublime materials, because I have no family to grant me any. If this doesn't work... no one here is turned out on the street, but I will be carried further and further away from my goals."

"What do you mean about this not working?" Theo asked. "You need to win every contest?"

She took a deep breath, again meeting their eyes one at a time. "This information was not supposed to be shared yet, but I'll tell you. They plan to reduce the number of students after this contest. The worst teams will be sent on assignment to hunt demons, which might be good experience, but they will no longer be given sublime materials. I cannot allow that to happen."

"But we're not in any danger of that happening, are we?"

"No, but the contests will grow more difficult. By the end of the year, I need to have acquired everything I need, and hopefully reached Archcrafter. If not... well, it will be difficult. It would be wrong to ask you to take this seriously, because you already have, so... thank you for fighting for me."

"You are welcome, Nauda." Fiyu reached out and very briefly patted Nauda's arm, as if testing a hot stove. The Tatian woman gave a broad smile and wiped at her eyes.

Somehow in all their talking, they had finished off most of the food. Fiyu inquired if they needed to eat everything for soulhome purposes, and when told not, gathered some of it together in a bundle for Javes. She'd done a better job of thanking him than Theo, who had mainly just noted his existence.

But he couldn't think about their other team member at the moment, not with more serious thoughts gnawing at him. It would be so easy to just sit in the comfortable environment and enjoy the tail end of the meal. Telling them more wouldn't actually bring them closer together, and it could even cause problems. For him or for them. Yet he still found himself speaking up.

"You aren't going to have a full year."

His stark statement cut through everything else and Nauda immediately looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"One of the other students here, the one named Magnafor, isn't interested in being handed any prizes, he wants to steal every sublime material in the Landguard vault. Nanjuma said it isn't possible, but I think that he'll be able to do it. I'd stop him if I could, but I don't know how or when... and to be honest, I need those sublime materials too."

Only silence in response, so he plunged forward.

"My name isn't Jake, and I've been here once before. In the Nine, I mean. But someone tried to kill me and they thought they succeeded. Now that I'm back, I'm sure I'll run into the same people and they'll try to kill me again. Even the demon attacks may be related to me coming through, I'm not sure. So I just wanted to warn you that you shouldn't plan on having a full year to prepare."

For a time they said nothing, and he didn't like Nauda's flat smile. Fiyu, however, eventually tilted her head to the side to regard him. "Then what is your name, not-Jake?"

"Theo. Please don't use it around anyone else, just in case... I don't know exactly who killed me last time, but they might find out somehow."

Nauda sat forward, false smile receding into a hard mask. "You want to steal everything from the Landguard vaults?"

"Well..." Now that he said it, he wished that he hadn't, but it would certainly be the most beneficial path. "I don't want anyone to get hurt in the process, not like Magnafor. I know that might not be what you want to hear, but the truth is that I'd take them if I could."

"Oh, I don't care." Nauda sat back with a slight smile. "I don't want anyone here to come to harm, but I don't care about their Landguard relics. No doubt some of the sublime materials would be useful to me too."

Both Theo's eyebrows shot up, despite himself. "Did I just gain accomplices?"

"You might regret it, because I'm going to shoot down any plan that I think won't work. But if things are really as bad as you say, then getting out with a vault of sublime materials might be the best plan. Just... don't lie to us anymore, okay?"

He nodded, prompting a bright smile from Fiyu. "It is good to know your relative name, Theo. But I will use your travel name with others."

Then he'd told the truth and it hadn't blown up in his face. Yet as Theo sat at the table, finishing the last scraps, they settled uncomfortably in his stomach. Last time, everything and everyone had been taken from him. This time, he was afraid that any connections were only potential weaknesses.