The three of us leave the house, Vikiana and I are in a rather dark mood, Vikiana because she's having more and more doubts about this while I'm still reeling from what Suxen intends to do with me.

Aisha seems worried but somewhat relieved, understandable considering this could have gone a lot worse. As we stand outside, waiting for Tsek to return from scouting the area, I check on my symbiont.

The incision Suxen made in it is healing fine and, most important of all, it isn't merging with my flesh. We depart as soon as Tsek arrives, heading towards the abandoned shop with a few detours to check whether anyone is following us.

As we make our way back, I turn my mind to my plan to assault the institute. I decided the general strategy behind my attack long ago on the ship, but I'll soon need to make concrete decisions as to which constructs I'll be using in what order and where to aim them.

But that is not exactly something I worry about because I'll have time to make those calls as I assemble the constructs. The real liability to my plan is my ability to fight and win without too many injuries once I'm out of the shackles.

A single mistake on my part could spell disaster and while Vikiana taught me a lot the fact that she's a prisoner means we never sparred for real so I lack experience. Still I don't think I would lose in close quarters. I also have an advantage in that the institute has no idea how much access to flow I have.

Another issue is that, even if the first part of the plan goes well and I get to Cetyz, I have no idea the state in which I'll find the Princess and whether I'll be able to wake her up. I'm counting on my symbiont's ability to project pheromones but she could be deaf to it.

Carrying Cetyz is among my options but I am counting on her to be able to quickly leave Meiridin whether by forcing a ship's crew to sail us out or forcing our way out through the gates.

Aisha could betray me but she has little hope of beating me considering the first step of my plan should neutralize her as well as the institute. The schematics should allow her to seize or disable the runic defenses, whether she uses them against me or not, just the fact that she does something will work in my favor as the struggle will consume more of their side's flow.

The timing of my plan could have been a problem but it seems like it's solving itself. Suxen will want to extract the data as soon as possible to pursue her projects.

What she wants to do, how she wants to use me to create an entire species subservient to humanity, if I understand correctly, makes me sick to my stomach and I understand better why Cenwalh supported her if the woman pitched him similar projects.

I am beyond certain that humans wouldn't treat the equivalent of the Rykz' drones nearly as well as the Rykz do, it would be slavery on an unprecedented scale against beings that have committed no crime to deserve it beyond being born.

Not some of the galley-slaves I've met seemed like they did either, thievery and debt sound like pale justifications to enslave someone. Perhaps it was only Odo abusing his authority but I doubt it considering what Alana told me of Sykus.

“Don't think I've seen anyone twice.” Tsek says.

“Me neither.” Aisha nods.

I perk up, finding that we're close to the shop. I lead us around the block instead of going in, using my symbiont's sense to verify their assessment, berating myself for not paying attention to our surroundings on the way here.

I don't notice anything wrong, beyond a few homeless people sleeping outside near flow fires, which is worrying considering how cold the night has become in the past couple of weeks. One of them has only a single left hand, offering me a glimpse of my future if I hadn't met and experienced so many things.

I shake my head and head into the shop we're occupying. I take away Vikiana's sword and shackle them both. I hesitate as to whether it's necessary at this point since I don't think they do much to prevent them from escaping because I'm not willing to spend the flow to power the runic shackles.

I hold to my decision not to trust them any more than necessary but I truly dislike this role as a captor that I took on, it's a weight on my shoulders to constantly be restraining them.

To alleviate that guilt, I take a couple of blankets away from our bunk to give it to them. It should help out considering I never leave them with enough flow to fuel a fire through the night and they don't have the benefit of the fireplace where they sleep.

“Thanks.” Aisha says, dropping her illusion construct for a moment to smile.

The sight of it brightens my mood by a lot, I realize the extent of the toll it takes on me to be the oppressor and how much I missed friendly faces, at least friendly looking faces.

Her illusory face did smile but I've dismissed those as fake, Vikiana's expressions range from cold to stern and the corners of her lips rarely lift more than a few millimeters, Tsek's grins helped a bunch but... he's odd.

I settle at the table and set my scimitar flat on it. I remove the piece of tarp wrapped around the blade and caress the smooth Vuskyt as I anchor half my almost full reserve of flow into it, compressing the energy so that the twelve portions occupy only a fourth of the metal.

The point is to test how much of it will dissipate through the night as I cannot risk bringing flow inside the institute unless it's inside my reserve. I wonder for a moment where my reserve is located.

It's not like there's a specific location I take the energy out of, I simply direct the energy out towards my hand or any point in my body and the flow simply... flows out to towards where I direct it.

I shrug and check up on the others, finding that all three are already asleep, unsurprising considering they've been up since early in the morning and we've trained and walked a lot today.

It might be a little arrogant of me, but peasants seem a lot sturdier than the higher 'classes', even the Exemplar doesn't have as much endurance as I do. The symbiont might be helping out a bit there, but I was still able to trek through a few kilometers of tunnels right after she cut... after losing my arm.

I pick up my scimitar and start swinging it, exercising my grip changes. I've grown rather good at it, not nearly as good as Vikiana but it seems like a specialty of hers, something of a trump card she uses in conjunction with full body lion strikes when she wants to finish fights in one blow.

“Once more.” I whisper. Swoosh. The blade cuts through the air.

The night goes by uneventfully apart from a tiny, cute, snore out of Aisha which make me smile. Tsek wakes up early on his own and takes over from me to guard them.

As I settle in the bunk, I check up on the amount of flow left in the scimitar, finding that only about five percent dissipated, better than I hoped. I deposit my weapon at my side and close my eyes.

--- --- ---

I wake up with my hand left hand gripping my weapon but I don't sense any threats. Tsek is pretty close but sitting on the ground, training to pick a lock while Aisha is working on the cloak in the other room with Vikiana watching and looking bored.

The scene paints a sharp contrast with last night's confrontation, it's business as usual. I grab a bucket and go wash up, after that I pick up the cooking pot and start making lunch at the fireplace.

The day passes without an incident as we go through with our routine, it seems so... normal that it unnerves me. I spar with the Exemplar and Tsek again while the Shade keeps working on the construct.

She seems to be encountering a lot more difficulty in making it than she expected but hasn't given up yet and actually seems to be enjoying the challenge quite a bit.

As the week goes by, my worries about whether the ties keeping the group together will hold or break end up fading away. Vikiana's split from the consensus doesn't become an issue simply because she doesn't bring it up again.

In fact, she spends quite a few hours working maintaining her plate armor, apparently preparing to leave Meiridin. A proposition she didn't seem keen on before but is now accepting. I suspect it's because she's determined that I'll fail and that she cannot change my mind so she's set her mind on leaving for the Izla and her daughter.

It makes me anxious about whether or not she'll tell Leomi the truth of who I am when the two meet while I'm nowhere near to stop her, but she insisted on me telling her the truth myself the only time we spoke of it, when she learned that I lied to her daughter.

I don't think Vikiana will butt in our relationship so directly, it wouldn't go well with Leomi and the Exemplar is reluctant to think too deeply about us together because we're women.

There's also the fact that Vikiana thinks I'll die or be captured so she isn't likely to be telling her daughter the truth about where I am considering she mistakenly believes Leomi would accept me as I currently am.

Vikiana would think that doing so would motivate my Lady to try to rescue me and put herself in danger. I could try to intervene and silence her in some way but I have no leverage over her.

I can't physically threaten her, not because I'm unable to hurt or beat her, but because we've lived together too long for Vikiana to believe I'd go this far, longer than I have with Leomi but with fewer interactions.

The woman's only apparent weakness is her daughter and threatening to hurt Leomi would backfire to epic proportions, which is an issue because I do need to settle things with her and it won't be painless... for either of us.

I'll have to table this for the future as I have no immediate solution to the problem my, hopefully, future mother-in-law poses. I blush at the thought of marrying my Lady, finding it ridiculous but unable to help it as my mood soars.

On Sunday, snow starts falling in Meiridin. A small, white, layer accumulates on the roofs but the flakes are too parsimonious to clog the traveled streets but it does make it harder for me to get to the building where I store my flow without leaving recognizable boot marks behind.

I solve the issue by taking one of the few streets in the slums that people use despite it passing near the institute and which is just in range for me to reach the water barrels in the abandoned building.

The amount of flow I've accumulated is significant, and even a bit higher than my expectations. After checking, I notice that my access has grown by a small increment, bringing it firmly into twenty-six portions.

I struggle a bit in panic as I suspect my symbiont has further expanded or fused with me but I find no sign of that after a thorough inspection. The answer comes to me in the middle of the next week when Aisha asks for flow to finalize the illusion construct.

“Your energy seems slightly more golden than I remember.” Vikiana notes from the other room.

“You probably remember wrong.” I lie with a dismissive shrug.

“Um.” Tsek says but apparently thinks better of it since he closes his mouth.

I cut my link to the half-dozen portions of energy to hand it over to Aisha who receives it without commenting on it. She evenly spreads the flow into the various segments she made and then starts tinkering with it.

“The core is what took me so long.” She tells me. “I've been using Suxen's theories but it wasn't part of my studies so I don't really grasp it all and I've never made such a large illusion construct.”

“Wouldn't she notice?” I ask.

“How? It's not like she can magically spot her equations and it wouldn't matter if she did.” Aisha laughs a little. “Besides, I'm only using it to arrange and automatize parts of the construct, like symmetrical movements. Anyway, I had to rework the basic formula core.” She pauses, looking up to me, like she's expecting me to react in a specific way. When I don't, she frowns. “What I did is really amazing.”

“Oh, um. Congrats, you're really smart.” I say awkwardly, adding a smile.

“I know, right!” Aisha exclaims with a grin. “Anyway, I think it's done now, it'll hold for a couple of hours without needing more energy once you activate it, but it'll disintegrate before the day is over if I don't maintain it.”

“Alright, amazing.” I tell her with a bit more honesty. “So, why haven't I been taught any of that core stuff?”

“Well, it's pretty advanced stuff so that's not a surprise.” Aisha replies. “The core is the underlying structure to the construct, the basic formula it works off of that determines the segments' roles and how they function together. There are two ways to create a construct, rigid or loose, although the distinction is largely academical.” She explains enthusiastically. “The rigid core is basically the blueprint for a strict geometrical arrangement, an equation can also be used, the constructs using those cores are created through research. My illusion construct has a rigid core so it stops working when there is a discrepancy, and I caused one by expanding the area it affects by so much. I believe the Rykz' lightning construct utilizes a rigid geometrical arrangement and I would love to study it.” She throws me a quick glance.

“Nope, but go on.” I encourage her.

“Right.” Aisha smiles. “So, loose cores are largely based on the user's intent of how the segments need to work together to produce the desired result, those are usually made through experimentation with unstructured flow, rather than research, to acquire a construct that functions as intended.”

“So the second type isn't as efficient?” I ask.

“Hm, no, it's not that straight-forward. The best example I can give you is the strict cored armor-piercing construct compared to the loose cored defensive construct. The two have an equivalent consumption rate when opposed, at least when the defensive construct is geared against the armor-piercing one.” She pauses to take a breath.

“How does the intent thing work?” I ask. “Doesn't that vary between people?”

“Well, some think that flow 'remembers' constructs but I personally believe that you can't learn the construct if your intent when making it doesn't fit how you're taught to organize the segments you're creating.” Aisha tells me. “That's Suxen's biggest problem with the University, she thinks that segments hold us back that they're simplifications of a complicated process that we must research to progress. She doesn't have a high opinion of loose constructs because she says that researching rigid formulas leads to other discoveries while a loose construct is pretty much a dead end once finalized. I think she isn't wrong in that. Anyway, you should try to read her simpler papers if you get the chance, they'll give you a glimpse at the immense possibilities of flow.” Aisha must've noticed my grimace because she hurriedly continues. “She wrote those a while back, when she wasn't on this crazy pursuit, so they're readable.”

“Readable, huh.” I chuckle. “Thanks for the explanation, it's interesting but it kind of makes me realize how limited I am as a simple user.”

“Well, it's like all skills, you need to spend the time learning.” Aisha tells me.

“Hm.” I nod. “I doubt a simple peasant will get the chance.”

“You're not a simple anything.” Aisha replies, rolling her eyes.

“You going to anchor the construct to the cloak?” I ask, changing the subject.

“About to.” She nods. “It'll be easier for Tsek to hide by wrapping it around him rather than controlling the construct. When are we doing this?”

“I've been waiting for you to finish, I'll send Vikiana and Tsek get the pardon on Friday, I think. Tsek will then escort her out of the city and prepare to steal the schematics. He should get them on Saturday and I'll give you until Sunday to study them.”

I don't want to wait too long once Vikiana is loose and I can't send Tsek with her because I'll need Tsek to guard Aisha while I prepare my constructs for the assault.

“Not much time.” Aisha comments, frowning. “It should be enough if Tsek also grabs whatever annotations he made on the runic defenses, those should be stored with it so I'll just tell him to grab it all.”

I nod and then leave her to working her illusion construct into the black cloak, Vikiana hands me a wooden sword as she has a habit of doing when I have a minute to myself.

“Only a few days left to get you up to par.” She says.

“Let's make the most of them then.” I reply.

The sparring session that ensues is pretty intense, she makes me demonstrate the short sword skills she's taught me this past month, working me to the limits and then pushing further.

My ability to handle the weapon has grown by a lot, less than my scimitar but that's because it handles a bit like a sword while remaining similar to my hammer. Still, I've trained enough with them that the feeling of a sword handle in my palm feels rather natural and the weight of a real one negligible.

Entire days seem to escape us, time apparently accelerating as the date of the assault on the institute approaches. Our small group is far from united, what kept us is harmony is the work we've all been putting into training. Amusingly, the prisoner are teaching their jailers.

Tsek demonstrated he can be as serious with his training as me, sometimes more but mostly because he has more free time than I do between my sorties to ensure that whatever Hetlan is doing at the docks doesn't spill over my operation and the time I spend training flow.

Through the month, I've noticed that Aisha can be almost inhumanly patient if she wants to as she spends the most time alone. That fact worries me because it could mean she's been playing an extremely long game with me, but I put that on account of my paranoia considering that she has shown genuine empathy.

What worries me about her is that her feelings didn't stop her from putting her mission and her life first when it came to Idali. The former, I can blame her for, the latter, not truly.

I am disappointed in her for making that choice, angry even, but I don't think a human, someone who isn't half-way through becoming a monster, wouldn't hold it against her.

The biggest problem with Aisha is that our relationship plays little part in the choice we'll make inside the institute. We both have goals which could end up incompatible.

The tension between us is as physical as it is mental, from different sources and implications. There are times when we get along like old friends, others when we come much too close to flirting for our comfort.

Aisha no doubt worries about my symbiont's influence and I think that's what's made abandon actively trying to get me in bed. I like those moments though, they help me handle my loneliness but I can see the danger in them so I've avoiding touching her ever since I reached out for her lips.