*** Mili ***

Me and Arthen spent the rest of the day “speaking” and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wasn’t disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, Arthen is amazing.

Even with the help of my powers, his recovery was remarkable. Paran had more or less been in the same state when I started treating her - in fact, she was even better off than he was considering how traumatic his injuries were - but when she came out of her coma she was pretty out of it for the better part of a week. Physically, they were both in a comparable condition at that point but even less than 24 hours after he came out of it he was already present and cognisant.

It was hard to put my finger on what it was, given how unconventional our method of communication was, but he was even… eloquent? That probably isn’t the right word, but he was clear and efficient with his answers and his questions showed a surprising amount of awareness of his situation. He had a similar curiosity to my own.

The only problem was that he was also very cautious.

Midway through the day I started to figure out what the grey fog in his memories was. He was hiding information. I don’t know how he learned how to do it, but he was able to consciously manipulate his memories to show specifically what he wanted. When I asked him whether or not he had encountered someone like me before, someone with powers like mine, he seemed confused by the question. He said that he hadn’t, but when I started pushing to figure out how he was able to control his memories like that it seemed like he had a moment of realization and refused to answer anything else along those lines.

I could tell he knew what I was talking about, but he refused to give any more information. That’s what I meant when I said that I was disappointed. I had definitely gotten some of the answers that I was looking for, but only half of the information.

Like, I was able to figure out that he was a soldier who came here with a much larger group of giants as protection and he seemed to be the last one left here. The huge metal platform in the camp that I had seen in his previous memory was some kind of magical device that was able to transport them huge distances in the blink of an eye. He even showed me a memory of him going through it. In one moment, he was standing in a massive, white room - larger than any building I had ever seen, even Fort Heferal - and the next he was in the middle of the forest northwest of Anghelen. The majority of the things and the people in the room were shrouded in the grey fog, but I could tell that the room itself was real. It felt too natural not to be. The only question is, where could something like that exist?

I was also able to figure out that it seemed like a coincidence that the giants were there at the same time of the attack. Arthen shared memories of him fighting against the attackers, but it was actually a part of his own questions. He was just as concerned with trying to figure out what they were as I was about the giants. He seemed incredibly confused about the entire situation, so it was probably just as frustrating for him that I didn’t fully understand the situation either.

There were a lot of Magora people that still resented the Empire for conflicts a long time ago, but I had never met someone that held it bitterly enough to launch an all out attack on them. That was completely aside from the flying creatures and the glowing skin. Arthen was insistent on asking about them, but I was only able to tell him that I also had no clue.

That sounds like I figured a lot out, but even with all of that information, I still didn’t know why the giants were here in the first place or where they even came from. I also wasn’t able to figure out what his connection to Kene, Sterthen, and Nephern was. He showed me a memory of them all meeting - Nephern ended up surrounded after she save Kene from the flying creatures and Arthen helped her fight them back - but it ended with him leaving the rest of them behind to go off and fight the larger horde of Magora and he seemed to not have any memories with them past that. I kept asking, but the only other thing he could show me were the memories I had already seen.

I could tell that he was hiding something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

It was so frustrating. I wanted to know everything up front but I forced myself to make peace with it. Nothing had really changed in the last 24 hours. He was far away from home and I was really the only person he had spoken with here. Even after spending all day with him, I didn’t really know him and the same was true the other way around. If we were going to talk openly and honestly we would both need to trust each other, but that would take time. I’m sure that once he knows I’m safe, everything will come out.

The day wasn’t a complete wash though. I may not have figured out everything I wanted to know about him, but I had really gotten used to using my powers to communicate. Even after a couple of hours of talking, we had already streamlined the process quite a bit. I still had to focus on opening up my soul to make it work, but it took less and less time. At first, it took a couple of minutes of meditation to get there, but by the end of the night it took barely 10 seconds to be completely open. Arthen already seemed quick to do it instinctually, but he was also speeding up as time went on. We also started to sync up and get more in tune with each other. Even without a signal from him or activating my powers to see his soul I could tell when he was getting ready to send another one and was able to open myself up.

On top of general optimization, I also learned a few new tricks. Once I figured out that Arthen was manipulating his own memories I decided to try it for myself. Nothing as major as he was able to do with the grey fog, but I did try changing little details. Since the visions were so abstract in conveying meaning, I figured it would help make it clear what the specific goal of a particular memory was. Like, when we were talking, I was trying to ask about the metal platform I had seen in his other memories and what it was for, so I used my memories of finding them in the camp again, but I tried to focus on drowning everything other than the platform out. From how quickly he got what I was asking, it seemed like it definitely did it’s job.

The only problem was that it was also exhausting.

For the most part, while I could definitely feel my energy wane as the day went on, it didn’t seem like just sending memories back and forth took all that much energy. It was actually less taxing than using my powers to heal people. But when I tried changing that vision, I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me once I came out of it.

It had worked, but I definitely wouldn’t be able to do something like that consistently if I wanted to get anywhere in the conversation. So I tried other things. I figured I had just been a little bit too ambitious, so I tried something smaller. Instead of blocking everything else out, I tried to subtly emphasize what I was thinking of.

During my line of questions about Nephern and Sterthen, I decided to ask about what had happened to their weapons. When I found her, Nephern’s spear was nowhere to be seen and I figured that if I could go back and find it, it would be a good keepsake for Kene. She still had her armor on, but we weren’t able to bring her body back (plus Betheren had said that there wouldn’t be a place to bury her in Anghelen anyway) so we had to do a hasty Magora burial out there instead. It would be bad luck to interfere with her body once it was buried…

Anyway. The point is, I wanted to know about the spear. It was already made of a very distinctive gold metal, so it was an easy detail to focus on. Instead of blocking everything else out, I tried making the gold stand out more. I used a memory of us running through the forest on our way back to Anghelen, her leading the pack. I imagined the way her spear looked in the flickering torch light of Fort Heferal and tried to replace one instance of the spear with the other. In the pitch-dark night, I imagined her spear reflecting a light that wasn’t there, as though it was the only thing there that had proper light.

Once again, the impact of giving that focus did seem to help. Arthen was confused at first because the spear seemed so out of place, but I was able to send him another vision of that night without making my change and he seemed to get it. For the record, he didn’t know what had happened to her spear.

Even though it didn’t give me the answer I wanted, it also didn’t take nearly as much out of me as the other attempt I made. I did some more experimenting and came up with a few hypotheses for what was happening. It seemed like fundamentally changing a vision - omitting details or outright exchanging one thing for something completely different - was the hardest to do. However, if the change was grounded in another memory, it became much easier - like swapping out Nephern’s spear.

I don’t know what any of this means, but it feels like it’s a good place to start.

Today may have had it’s disappointments, but I can already tell it’s the start of something great.

*** Ardent 14 ***

Temporary mission log.

My visor is compromised, along with its on-board communication and recording capabilities. I will be maintaining mental notes until I am able to access the paperwork for a proper written report.

During the teleportation, there was some kind of disruption that resulted in members of the away team touching down in separate locations. See reports from Science Officers Duran and First Lieutenant Felis for technical details of the disruption. NOTE: Disregard details from Dr. Edith Fawkes’ report. Her loyalty had been compromised. More details to come.

I touched down with the aforementioned Duran, Felis, and Fawkes as well as 3 members of security team Gamma. In the process of regrouping at base camp, our group encountered a group of 3 natives: 2 adults and 1 child. On First Lieutenant Felis’ orders, we detained them and brought them back to base camp for assessment and sample collection, with verbal dissent from Dr. Fawkes. We arrived at basecamp at approximately 700.

There was an attack on base camp at roughly 1300 and I am the only survivor still planeside. The attack was carried out by hostile natives with high combat ability and some kind of living weapon, although it appears that they were abnormal and not indicative of this plane’s overall threat level. I will update this assessment as new information becomes available.

Other than their living weapon, we were able to fend them off with minimal losses using conventional firearms. The living weapon was largely unaffected by firearms and explosives but was able to be neutralized through a combination of explosives and combustible fuel.

During the attack, two of the captive samples - 1 adult and 1 child - attempted to escape and First Lieutenant Felis ordered me to reclaim them while he organized the evacuation. My attempts to reclaim them were interrupted by the living weapon, so I made the executive decision to neutralize it first and then satisfy my orders. In the process I was severely injured but managed to re-secure base camp and locate the samples.

On approaching Dr. Fawkes, the teleporter technician managing the evacuation effort, to report the situation, she drew her sidearm and fired on me presumably with intent to kill. Upon your reception of this report, I highly recommend she be detained and prosecuted immediately to avoid any further damage to company property.

It has been approximately 30 days since then, so I am uncertain what the conditions at base camp are like.

I have been taken in and healed by a native residing in a small settlement about half a day away from base camp. My body is significantly weakened so my current activity is limited, but I am conducting what reconnaissance I can.

As expected, I am unable to understand the native’s language, but the one that has taken me in possesses some kind of psychic power of an unknown nature. Upon return, I recommend that the neuroscience division investigate the phenomenon as I believe it could prove a useful resource to exploit.

It is capable of selective mind reading, although it is only capable of observing surface level thoughts and standard Mind-Guard training does seem to be able to prevent its access. It is also able to project images into the minds of others, although it seems to need cooperation from the victim. Its stature is incredibly small and its powers do not seem to work in an offensive capacity, although other samples of the native life have, so I will classify it as a low threat target for now but proceed with caution.

This creature is also aware of the presence and location of the base camp, so it is a potential intelligence leak. If I determine that that information has not been compromised, I will attempt to detain it as a sample and return to base camp once I have exhausted it as a source of information and my condition has improved.

Finally, of the original samples that attempted to escape, the adult appears to have perished but I have located the child. When I return to base camp with the psychic, I will fulfill my last orders from First Lieutenant Felis and secure it as well.

That concludes my report for now.

If you are listening Sirs, I hope you will excuse my absence. I want to assure you that my loyalty has not been compromised and that I will make a swift return...

There is always a bigger fish.

*** Mili ***

“Can I invite Arthen out here to eat with the rest of us?”

It had been a couple of days since Arthen had woken up and his recovery was continuing just as well as it had been. In fact, it was probably going too well. Every time I left the room, he was up and moving around, pushing himself to near exhaustion. There have been more than a few times that I’ve come in to find him collapsed on the ground. So far, I hadn’t seen it taking too much of a toll on him, but that seems to just be encouraging it. I keep trying to tell him that he needs rest, but he refuses to listen.

So, instead of trying to stop him head on, I might as well try to monitor and moderate his behavior on my own.

Guisen looked at me hesitantly and sighed. I fully expected him to say no, given how reserved he had been about Arthen since the very beginning, but I was ready to push if I had to. I could understand his caution, but if he never gave Arthen a chance to earn his trust, then they’d just permanently be at a standstill. He might as well try and get to know him.

“Fine.”

That was unexpected.

“Really?”

“I still don’t think it's a good idea but...” he glanced over at Paran. She gave a reassuring nod. “I’ve been wrong before, so I might as well give him a chance. He’s been docile enough up til now, so he probably won’t go on a rampage.”

“Oh… Oh! Alright, I’ll go get him then.”

I ran off to the side room and threw open the door. As expected, Arthen was on his feet, presumably walking laps around the tiny room (if you could even call them that).

“Come on out here buddy. It’s time to finally give you some proper introductions.”

He looked at me blankly.

I mean, I get that he didn’t “literally” understand, but he could at least try to pick up on the energy. I had to walk over and take him by the hand, but he did follow willingly.

Everyone was already sitting at the small table. Guisen next to Paran on one side with Makat and Kene on the other. The table was only ever meant to fit 3 people, but somehow it felt more right like this. However, as I looked at the space where I would normally squeeze in I realized a problem.

“Uh… You know what? I’ll stand for now. You go ahead and sit here Arthen.”

I helped him ease down into the chair and squeeze his knees under the table. As I stepped back to see how he was settling in I had to stifle a laugh. Everyone else pulled their own chairs back to give him room under the table, but his knees were still pressing solidly against the underside and he towered over them.

We’d have to sort something more permanent out, but this would do for now.

“You get comfortable there Arthen, I’ll get your food.”

I grabbed a couple of bowls and went over to the large pot over the fire. It was mangtherm stew… again. I was starting to think that it was the only way the people of Anghelen knew how to prepare it. Out in the Helefiran, dad kept a little book of recipes that he picked up from different villages so we never ate the same dish twice in a row if we had the choice. Don’t get me wrong, the stew was good and I would never shun someone else’s cooking, but it had been nearly a month of the same meal and I was starting to crave a little diversity.

If dad’s recipe book wasn’t still stuck in the wagon where I left it during the attack, I would insist on cooking for a while, just so I could show them what they were missing. I guess for now, I’d just have to live with it.

I carried one of the bowls over to Arthen and handed it off to him. Once again, as he easily palmed the large bowl, his immense size became obvious. He greedily took it and started shoveling the stew into his mouth, emptying the bowl very quickly. From delivering his meals over the past couple of days, I had sort of come to expect that. Even without him needing extra energy to help recover, he could have probably eaten twice as much as anyone else here.

I managed a few bites from my own bowl before he was done, but as soon as he finished I took his bowl and went to refill it. I was so focused on taking care of him, that I didn’t immediately realize how quiet it was at the table.

Everyone was just staring at him as he ate.

Guisen, Paran, and Makat were all just quietly watching as I handed him the next bowl and he emptied it in just a few bites and a slurp. I guess none of them had really spent much time with Arthen so it probably didn’t set in for them just how imposing he was. The only one who wasn’t gawking was Kene. She occasionally peeked in on Arthen and me, so she must have gotten more used to him, but even she was occasionally glancing up at him.

“We haven’t had any proper introductions yet, have we,” I asked as I delivered the third bowl back to the table.

“Arthen,” I said, getting his attention and pointing over toward Guisen. “This is-”

“I can do that myself, Mili,” he interrupted me, leaning forward and extending forearm toward Arthen. “Your name is Arthen, right? My name is Guisen. It’s nice to meet you.”

Arthen’s brow furrowed and he looked to me for clarification.

“Ah, it’s probably better to keep it simpler. Arthen. Mili,” I said, pointing first at him and then at myself. I waited for a nod of acknowledgement from Arthen that he understood what I meant, then pointed at Guisen.

“Guisen.”

“/jɔɹ neɪm ɪz ɡɔɪsɪn/? /maɪ dɛzɪɡneɪʃən ɪz ɑɹdənt fɔɹtin/.”

This time, Guisen looked at me in confusion.

“He said his name is Arthen’fortheen, but he told me to just call him ‘Arthen.’”

“I see… Well, Arthen, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, extending his arm out again. It was apparently a common gesture of greeting in the Empire, but even I didn’t really get it at first so I doubted Arthen understood what it meant.

“Here, give me a second.”

I looked at Arthen and gave a little nod to signal that I had something to show him. He finished up the third bowl, set it down, and nodded back to me. We both took a moment to close our eyes as I focused on my memory of the first time I met Sterthen, when he greeted Girin with that same gesture.

A quick flash of light and a moment later, we both opened our eyes. Arthen leaned forward and wrapped his forearm around Guisen’s. He tried to hide it, but I could tell that just the weight of Arthen’s movements were enough to make Guisen stagger forward. He caught himself and tried to restore his composure before sitting back down next to Paran.

“Arthen,” she said, holding her own hand up to her chest and nodding slightly. “My name is Paran.”

“/pɑɾan/?”

“Yes,” she said with another little nod. “It’s lovely to meet someone as… unique as you. I’ve got to say, in my long life, despite spending it right next to the Dark Forest, I’d never even met an Elf until a month ago. Now, not only do I have one living under the same roof as me, but I get to meet a giant as well. It’s a pleasure to have you here.”

He looked questioningly at me. Yeah… I wasn’t going to try and figure out how to say all of that through memories right now. I had still barely even touched my own food. I just nodded and made a little gesture that we had already used to say I’d do something later. He nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to her.

“/jɔɹ... hɑspɪtælɪti ɪz noʊtəd/.”

He turned toward Makat, I guess assuming that the introductions were going to continue, but as soon as he set his gaze on the young boy, Makat shirked away and quickly busied himself with his food.

“This is Makat,” I said, making the introduction for him. He had warmed up well enough to the people in the house, but I guess he was still a little shy.

“/mɑkɑt/?”

“Yes, and then this is-”

“My name is Kenerang,” Kene quickly cut me off, staring intently up into Arthen’s eyes and getting a jump out of the rest of us. She had talked to him when he was freaking out days ago, but only I was there to hear it and after that she had returned to her same mute self.

“/kɛneɪɹɑŋ/?”

“No. Kenerang.”

“/kɛneɪɾɑŋ/?”

“Just call me Kene.”

“/kɛneɪ/?”

“That’s still not right…” she trailed off. I was so in shock at hearing her speak as much as she had that I didn’t notice what her silence entailed. If I had paid attention, I probably would have seen the tears welling up in her eyes and the gentle shaking over her body before she exploded up from the table.

“That’s not right!” she sobbed out and ran over to the door of the cottage, quickly throwing it open and darting out.

What was that?

I exchanged a quick, shocked look with Guisen and Paran before any of us fully processed what had happened, but quickly set down my bowl.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go bring her back before someone sees her and she gets in-”

A massive form darted past me, making its way toward the door.

It was Arthen.

He was moving faster than I had seen him move at all over the last two days, ducking through the doorfram and out of sight before I was even halfway there.

What?!

How was he able to do that?

I charged out after him, sure that he was going to collapse at any second. I was right. As soon as I fully cleared the door, I saw him lying face down barely 10 feet away.

“Arthen!? What are you doing? You should know you aren’t able to move like that yet,” I shouted out worriedly as I ran over to him. I pulled him up to check him over and make sure he hadn’t gotten hurt in the fall. I started getting ready to activate my powers as I felt his massive hand wrap itself around my forearm.

He was shaking his head.

“Look, I know you think you’re big and tough, but if you keep doing this stupid bullshit you’re going to get hurt, then whatever you hurt is going to get infected and you’re going to die. Slowly and painfully. Is that what you want?”

I knew that what I was saying didn’t mean anything to him, but I was really starting to get fed up with his behavior. It was silly and reckless for absolutely no reason, but even when I took the time to say as much through a memory he didn’t listen. Even now, he wasn’t actually listening! He was looking off in the distance and pointing.

Pointing?

“/kɛneɪ/.”

“What?”

“/ʃi wɪnt ðæt weɪ/. /goʊ bɹɪŋ həɹ bæk/.”

Was he seriously telling me to go and get her instead of tending to him?

“You know what? Fine. I’ll go get her. You can wait out here in the cold until I get back. Or maybe you can get Guisen to help you, since you clearly don’t need my help.”

--- --- ---

I stormed off.

Look, I’m not proud of it. I should have helped him inside first, at the very least, but I was genuinely pissed and needed time to cool off. I closed my eyes as I started to walk and tried to do the breathing exercises dad taught me to calm myself down, but as I did them it just made me feel like I was getting ready to share a vision. And of course that made me think of Arthen, which of course just made the problem worse.

Fine. I’d just put that energy into the task at hand.

That was when I finally took in what was happening. Kene had apparently run off into the forest, not toward town. My immediate fear of one of the villagers finding her vanished and was replaced with the possibility of something else finding her. The forest wasn’t that dangerous for most people, but she was only a little girl, and it was already dusk.

Luckily, it didn’t take me long to find her.

I spent a little while calling out to her and trying to find her that way, but if she heard me she didn’t call back. Instead, I followed the sobs.

They were faint at first, but once I picked up on them, they were impossible to miss. I found her curled up in the underbrush around an old, withered tree. She had her knees pulled tight against her chest and was pushing her face into them as she cried.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I found her, but that was only the first hurdle.

What should I say to her?

I didn’t even really understand why she had run away in the first place. Arthen had said her name wrong, but why had that upset her so much? I tried running through every possibility in my head, but I just couldn’t figure it out.

I guess I was just going to have to wing it.

“Kene,” I said gently, trying to get her attention without startling her. She pulled her head out of her knee and looked at me, snot running down across a massive frown.

“Leave me alone,” she half-shouted, half-sobbed.

“Listen, I know you’re upset, but it's getting dark. We need to get back soon.”

“No! I don’t want to go back there! I hate that house! I hate you, I hate that old man and his stupid wife, I hate that weird kid, and I hate that dumb giant! I hate it all! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!”

“Look Kene, I know that it’s not ideal, but it’s-”

“You don’t know anything! You’re just a big stupid idiot!’

I felt my patience starting to stress.

“Hey, that is not a very nice thing to say,” I said sternly, trying to keep my cool.

“I don’t care! You don’t get to tell me what to do! You’re not my- my-” she tried to keep going, but her words were getting caught in her throat. After a moment of choking on that next thought, she broke down completely.

Ah…

So that’s what this was about.

Fuck… what do I say? How do I help her get over this?

Dad would know.

Nope.

Nope nope nope nope.

Tears peaked out at the corners of my own eyes and I quickly forced them back in.

This is not the time. I’ve got to figure out what to do with Kene. She comes first, not my own bullshit.

Come on, just think. What should I say?

I never did come up with an answer. No matter what I tried to think about, it just kept wrapping around to that same thought. I got so wrapped up in trying to find the words that the next time I really looked up, Kene had cried herself out. She was drowsily leaning against the trunk of her tree, occasionally sniffling.

I guess that it ended up working out?

No it didn’t. You didn’t do anything.

I moved to scoop Kene up on my back.

By the time we started heading back, it was already dark, but the Sun Tree made for an easy beacon to follow. Even as we walked back home, I wracked my brain, trying to think of anything I could do for Kene, but I just kept ending up in that same loop.

--- --- ---

I pushed through the last of the brush and Guisen’s cottage came into view. I was exhausted. Kene was a large girl for her age and I wasn’t particularly strong. That’s just talking about the physical toll of the day. My mind was still looping around. I was ready to just put everything down and go to sleep.

Normally, I would have wanted to spend the night speaking with Arthen, but right now I just wanted to sleep.

“You are Mili, correct?”

An unfamiliar, feminine voice rang through the air. I looked up and properly took in my surroundings. Standing just outside of the doorway of the cottage was a tall woman with dark, tanned skin. She was nearly as tall as Arthen, although not quite all the way. On either side of her were soldiers standing at attention and wearing familiar gold armor with brilliant gold weapons.

My heart jumped up into my throat.

“Y-yes. I am Mili. Who might you be?”

I asked, but I already had a general idea.

“Oh, praise the Light. I’ve been looking all over town for you,” she beamed with a wide smile as she pushed open the door and gestured for me to follow inside.

“I am Third Born Urthal Vath of the Imperial Royal Family. Please come inside. There are some things I need to discuss with you.”