Raysh holds a particularly unusual position in history, having once been near rival in power and influence to the modern houses of Sarosa or Varon. Its current relegation to insignificance is largely due to the coalition wars before the formation of the Alliance forced an end to the fighting.

Though Raysh would have us believe that it could have regained its footing given the chance, a closer examination of the history indicates otherwise. It is almost certain that the house would have been eliminated entirely if the Alliance had not stepped in.

-Houses Throughout History

Desten 4 was missing.

We arrived at the hospital without incident, but when we asked after him we were told that he’d been taken home by his family. They’d later heard the rumors about Retti, as well as being interrogated by the Reirn’s investigators, and now deeply regretted allowing him to be removed from the safety of their care, but at the time they’d seen no reason not to permit her to take him home. After all, his condition may be unstable, but it had been almost a year with no sign of it becoming volatile, and it would be cruel to refuse his family the chance to care for him in the way they saw fit.

I sighed. Of course Retti got here first. I didn’t know why we expected otherwise.

Pel, on the other hand, looked downright excited by the news. “This is perfect. They won’t be able to move fast or freely with an invalid to drag along. They won’t be able to escape notice. Wherever they set up, it’ll have to be semi-permanent. We have them.”

“No, we don’t. We have even less now. At least if he were still here there’s a chance we could catch her slipping in to do whatever stone-implanting nonsense she’s been doing. Without him, they could be anywhere.”

“Not anywhere. We know they’ll have to have fled Varon and Sarosa. Most likely they’ve taken refuge in Raysh or Novarot, unless they have contacts in Oros. Until the reirns have permission to cross boundaries, pursuing them could become an interhouse incident if they’ve played their tiles right.”

“So, not only are we going after them alone, we’re doing it in direct violation of interhouse treaties?”

“I don’t want to leave them to their own devices any longer than necessary. You saw the power they managed to pack into Desten already. Imagine what happens if they do the same to Retti. She’s a highly skilled third, more versatile than me and incredibly driven. Desten is an untrained youth who hasn’t even attended academy, and he’s already more than we could handle.”

I shivered. Retti may be weaker than Pel, but not by a lot, and already very dangerous. If she were to double in strength? I doubted anyone but the reirns could handle her then.

I asked, “What’s to say we’ll be able to stop them as it is? I’m not going to be much help no matter how much training you put me through, and you’ve already admitted you can’t deal with them alone.”

“Let me worry about that. I’m in negotiation with Reirn Ovnon, I think I can convince him to let me borrow the Sarosa flashmail. If we can get that, our chances go way up.”

“And we’re back to causing an interhouse incident.”

“That doesn’t matter. I’ll handle the fallout.”

“It does matter!” I lowered my voice. “You know I can’t have people looking too closely at my history. Bad enough that Desten Oros knows about my mother, I don’t want to give more people reason to investigate me.”

“It won’t come to that. As long as we’re careful, it won’t be a problem.”

“You say that, but you also consider it normal to throw people off cliffs.”

“That is normal. You’re far from the first person I’ve trained. And when you’re a little older, we’ll try it again.”

I groaned. “Do we have to?”

“No. But I think it would be a good idea. Especially for someone in your position. You have a lot of potential. If you put in the effort and prove to the world that you’re worth the effort, you’ll be able to find allies much more readily.”

“And if I just want to quietly go about my business and not fight anyone?”

“That’s your decision. But being more capable is never a bad idea.” Pel took one last look around the empty room and nodded. “Do you want to try this here, or wait until we’re back at my place?”

“Try what?” I asked. “You still haven’t explained why you think we can find them when everyone else is out looking and finding nothing.”

“We have something they don’t. You.”

I sighed. “This again? I’m not some secret weapon—”

Pel cut me off. “Yes you are.” He dropped his voice even further. “Fyless’s stone will recognize Fylen’s as family. We can use that connection to power a tracer construct and lead us to Four. I planned to use your connection to trick his power into tracing Desten’s, but this will be even better.”

My hand went to my chest, touching the small lump beside my heart where Fyless’s stone rested. “You can do that?”

“It’s a simple construct. People use them all the time to find missing relatives. Or, more often, to prove whether or not their alleged offspring really belong to them.”

I sighed. If I’d known this was possible, I could have tracked down Desten Metako easily with Aneeyha’s help. Every time I thought I’d figured out how many ways I’d been an ignorant fool during this whole pointless investigation, something new came to my attention.

“And it’s safe?” I asked. “If you’re going to be connecting me to Desten 4, there’s no chance his condition will infect me?”

“It won’t. You’d need to physically implant an incompatible - well, semi-compatible - stone in order to reach his state. Everyone knows it’s stupid to go messing with foreign stones. Being permanently unconscious is the least dangerous outcome. It’s honestly impressive that he’s managed to get, what, five different colours without anything exploding. Usually any attempts at crossing different stones results in a quick and messy end.”

“Well, at least we’re far enough away not to worry about that.” I considered, then shrugged. “Okay, I’ll give it a try. What do you need from me?”

“Your power isn’t mature enough to manage the construct’s complexity on your own, so I’ll build a framework for you. All you need to do is fill it. It’s going to feel weird, and it won’t be easy, but just keep pushing power out into it until it clicks.”

Blue light painted the air as he spoke, a complicated configuration of lines and reservoirs and spirals. He paced around it as he worked, checking it from all angles, before he stepped back and nodded.

“Ready. Go ahead.”

“I don’t know how.”

“The input is here.” Pel guided my hand to a protruding section of the construct.

I could feel the power resonating in my mind like a wire pulled tight too quickly, an unpleasant vibration that pulsed and built instead of fading away.

I had never managed any external power manifestation apart from the bubble shield, but I pulled my power up and tried to direct it into the construction hovering in the air.

Pel stood patiently waiting. I felt decidedly odd about that. Shouldn’t he be trying to drown me or crush me or something to force me to move faster? But he just stood and watched, waiting, quietly believing in me. It was disconcerting.

The blue light held steady, unmoving, unflickering, perfectly formed and simply waiting for my input.

And waiting…

And waiting.

The resonance hadn’t faded, and I hadn’t managed to push a single drop of pink power into the construct. I pulled my hand away, frustrated.

“Is there any other way?”

Pel shook his head. “Not that I know of. If I had any other way to find him I would have already done so. It has to be you.”

I turned my attention back to actually charging the thing, but to no avail. I tried everything I could think of, but ‘push power out into this construct’ was easier said than done. Even simplifying this as much as possible, it still seemed outside my grasp.

“And there’s nothing you can do to help?” I demanded, after another half hour of fruitless frustration.

Pel hesitated, then shook his head. “I could drag the power out of you myself, but that’s a very drastic option. I’m told it’s quite unpleasant.”

I tensed at the thought of something even Pel would consider unpleasant. Enough so that he hadn’t even mentioned it as an option until now. But my growing frustration at my inability to even do this simple thing was stronger than my aversion to discomfort.

I really could be reckless sometimes.

I nodded. “I don’t think I can do it on my own.”

He stood a moment, looking uncomfortable. “Are you sure? It’s, well, a pretty extreme measure.”

I should definitely back out. If Pel thought it was extreme, I did not want to try it. I should just keep trying the same thing until it stopped not working.

But I didn’t want to keep throwing myself uselessly at this task. I was tired of making no progress.

“What exactly does that entail?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of this.”

“It’s very uncommon due to its disconcerting effects, but it’s possible to forcibly divert power flow from its internal channels through another. In this case, I’d be transferring your power through my own and into the construct.”

“That sounds useful.”

“It is. But, well, unpleasant.”

“I don’t want to know what it takes for you to consider something unpleasant.”

“I ordinarily would never consider it. Only if you’re sure you can’t do this on your own.”

“You absolutely can’t power it yourself?”

He shook his head. “It has to be your power. That’s the only link we have.”

“Yes,” I said, before I could talk myself out of it. “Do it.”

Pel nodded slowly. “Alright. Keep trying. We’ll need to file an authorization for this. I’ll be back.”

Somehow, the fact that this required paperwork made it even more terrifying. I began to hope Pel was only trying to scare my power into working - and redoubled my efforts in case he wasn’t. In all the time I’d known him, Pel never overstated a risk. He tended to underestimate everything, which made me all the more concerned.

I should not have agreed to this.

My power flickered as I pulled it up through my body, then tried to direct it out through my hand and into the construct of blue light. I strained, but had no concept for what exactly I should do. The power clung to me, tight and close, unwilling to detach. Even my aura bubble always remained anchored to me, spinning around but connected. Pushing power out and away was an utterly foreign concept.

This was why I’d never managed Pel’s dispersal attack. Or any attack, for that matter. There had to be some trick to it, something simple I was missing.

Then Pelys returned, with two hospital attendants.

“Please state your names,” asked one of them.

“Pelys Sarosa.”

“Astesh … Varon.” As far as I knew, my Varon status hadn’t been revoked.

The second attendant wrote.

“Pelys has informed us that you require an invasive power extraction in order to proceed. Do you consent to this?”

I glanced between them, suddenly very worried. “Uh, yes?”

The first attendant passed me a page, basically stating that I agreed to the procedure of my own free will and under no coercion. There was a small checkbox I could mark if I was being threatened or blackmailed, and another larger box for my signature. I signed Astesh’s name, my hand trembling just a little, then handed it back.

Pelys signed something of his own, which he then passed to the attendants as well.

“You may proceed,” said the first attendant. They didn’t leave.

Pel glanced at me questioningly, and I desperately tried to shove my power out into the construct one last time. I’d done … something with it, back in Leetan, when I was running around in a panic. My power could do what I needed it to, it just wasn’t cooperating.

Nothing. I sighed and reluctantly nodded.

Pel hesitantly put one hand over my chest, the spot in the center where my powerstone resided, the other hand atop my own at the input of his construct. “You’re sure?”

I knew I should definitely refuse. This felt way too ominous. Hadn’t I just insisted that I loved avoiding discomfort?

“If we find them, we will do everything we can to help Desten 5,” I said quietly. “And unless absolutely necessary, we won’t hurt him. And you’ll make sure Tali is taken care of well, so she can recover from all this as much as possible.”

Pel smiled faintly. “It won’t kill you, you don’t need to worry about last words.”

“You say that, but—” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “my circumstances are hardly ordinary.”

He withdrew his hand. “You’re right. We shouldn’t risk it.”

I took his hand and put it back. “No. Whatever happens, we have to stop Retti and save her children before she turns them into monsters. This is important. I trust you to handle things, and I’m willing to take the risk.”

“Okay,” Pel said, then tore my mind apart.

I couldn’t think, couldn’t focus, couldn’t concentrate on anything. Something echoed, something high and sharp, but there were connections missing between the sensation and its meaning. I saw nothing and everything, flashes of meaningless light and colour. Mostly I felt panic. Instinctive understanding that there was something wrong with me, that something ought to be there but wasn’t.

Sensation flickered in and out, cold and empty and sharp. So sharp. But mostly empty. I couldn’t grasp just how the missing pieces were supposed to fit into me, but I knew there was something gone.

It felt familiar, and terrifyingly foreign all at once.

And I couldn’t think.

I existed, a being of confusion and panic, unable to comprehend. Something was broken. Something was gone.

I didn’t understand. I couldn’t possibly find the answers, however desperately I needed to know.

And then, slowly, my pieces fit back together. I hadn’t felt any pain during the interminable chaos, but now it all hit me at once.

My stone burned ice-cold, its usual comforting warmth inverted into a harsh chill that seemed to suck all the heat from my body. Like stonedrain but deeper and harsher, permeating and all-consuming. I heard myself screaming before I realized what it was.

Pelys’s concerned face blurred in front of me.

“Astesh?”

I closed my mouth, shivering and panting, biting down on the scream that wanted to continue. “Did—”

“Yes. It worked.” I’d never heard Pel’s voice so gentle.

I managed to gasp, “Good,” then passed out.

I woke briefly, caught a hazy glimpse of an unfamiliar bedroom, and sat up in sudden confusion.

“Sssh, it’s alright,” Aneeyha whispered. I recognized her voice, though her face was an unfocused blur. “You’re safe here.”

I nodded agreement, and collapsed back into darkness.