When they get back from Meira’s house, the room they appear in is empty. They all look at each other, not really knowing what to do now.

“You two can go report to Howard and I’ll take Mei to her room” Liv says then. Rakan looks at Meira with a question on his eyes.

“It’s okay, we’ll see each other later” she answers him. Rakan nods and leaves with Kylem with small words of goodbye.

“I guessed you would like some time alone after all of that” Liv says softly, she gestures to the door and Meira exits, Liv closing the door before they fall into step with each other.

“Thank you, I really need it. Don’t you have to ask where I’ll be staying though?”

“This place follows the traditions, you already have a room ready”

Nobles and other rich people of any kind followed one thing when building their homes. They always built one room for each Kyusei in the hopes that they would stay with them one day.

They go up a flight of stairs that end in the middle of a round room. There are five doors on the walls, each one decorated with a different theme. The one right in front of them has a forest scene, full of trees and animals, Liv’s room if Meira’s guesses are right. Another has a dragon on it, facing the other way and sitting, Rakan’s room. There’s a night scene in another one, the door would seem completely dark if it wasn’t for the moon at the top and the few stars you can see. There’s a sun in the middle of the one Meira guesses its hers. Its rays almost shining and reaching all around the door.

The final door depicts the scene of a storm in the middle of the sea. There’s rain and lighting and you can see fire far on the back. It’s only then that she realises that there’s one of them still missing. The others have not said anything about it so she guesses they are in a mission like Rakan and Kylem were or travelling somewhere. Liv pays no attention to the other doors and just goes to the one with the sun. Meira guessed right then.

“This is your room. The doors are enchanted here so right now you are the only one who can come in. You can allow other people to get in too if you… Wait I’ll show you” She moves to the door of her room and signals Meira to follow her. Once they are in front of the door Liv takes Meira’s hand and holds it against the door. “Now you only have to focus your energy” she closes her eyes.

Meira feels warmth on her hand, not only of body heat but something more. She looks at Liv and her closed eyes and then to their intertwined hands. There’s a click and then Liv is opening her eyes and looking straight at Meira with a smile.

“Now you can come in my room too. It would be good if you did it with a maid later”

“A maid?”

“So she can, I don`t know, clean the room sometimes or if you need anything. I’ll go out now, you are welcome to stay in or go out as you like” she says it with a smile and starts to turn towards the stairs.

“Wait” Meira grabs Liv’s arm and leads her towards her door, she puts their hands against the door too, this time Meira’s on top.

Focusing her energy, that should be easy. She tries to put all her focus on their hands, to make a connection with the door. It takes a few seconds but it seems to work because a click comes from the door. Meira is about to celebrate when Liv takes her hand away with a gasp.

They look at each other, Liv holding a hand against her chest with the other.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Not really, it was more of a shock. Thank you though, for letting me in”

Meira opens the door then and Liv takes a peak inside. “You curious?”

“Well, I’ve never seen the inside before. It’s nice.”

It is, there is sunlight coming through the big windows and the room seems oriented in a way that it will have light most of the day. “You are welcome to come any time”

Liv smiles at her “I’ll bring you some plants later”

The room is huge. More than Meira would have asked for. It has its own bathroom with a big bathtub, enough wardrobe room to fit three times all the clothes that she has brought from her house and a huge bed filled with cushions. That complete with a desktop and a vanity. It’s clear that this place was made a long time ago.

Meira changes into her own clothes and just flops down on the bed. A lot has happened in just a day and now that she is lying down she realises just how exhausted she is. It doesn’t take long for her to drift off to sleep.

A knocking on the door startles her out of her dream, it is already dark outside, probably past dinner time, and she had skipped lunch too while she was passed out. She should probably go find something to eat. She makes a ball of light and tosses it to the ceiling, whoever designed this room must have thought of that because the ball fits perfectly in the middle of the ceiling and golden patters start to reflect the light all around the room. The knocking comes back and before Meira can make a move to open the door, it opens by itself. Well not by itself, Liv’s head appears through the door right after.

“Sorry, I didn’t know if you were asleep”

“I was but it’s okay, I should probably go find something to eat”

The door opens more then and Liv smiles at her with a tray on her hands, she moves towards Meira and leaves the tray on the bed, careful not to tip it and get the bed dirty. It’s not much, a kind of pasty with meat inside but it’s warm and just enough.

“You can sit with me” Meira offers when she sees Liv awkwardly stand next to the bed.

“Oh! I… Wait, I’ll come back in a second”

She leaves then, but the door opens again not a minute later, she is carrying some flowerpots with soil. “Is it okay if I…” she moves the pots.

“Oh yeah, feel free” Meira answers gesturing to the room.

Liv moves next to the window then and kneels down, she starts to work while Meira observes her while eating. She treats the pots with care and small plants start growing in them, she stays with them until there are white flowers blooming. They give the room a kind of life no glowing pattern could have given it.

“You won’t have to water them much, they are one of the easiest plants to take care of” Liv says with a smile while she moves to sit on the bed with Meira.

“That’s great because I’ve never been too good with plants” Liv stops moving to sit with her legs closed to squint at her “I swear I try! But they always die” Meira tries to defend herself with a pout. Liv laughs then and finishes sitting down.

“It’s okay, I know people don’t always find it easy to take care of them”

They stay in silence for some time until Meira finishes her food.

“How is everything out there?” she asks then.

“A bit hectic, everyone is nervous and speculating, you know how it is. Everyone is mostly just excited to meet you. Howard wanted to keep it a bit of a secret but that’s almost impossible here”

“I can imagine”

“People like gossip too much. That, and Rakan has not shut up about you all evening, I thought we’d have to handcuff him so he wouldn’t come annoy you”

They both laugh at that until there’s a knock on the door. Meira gets up and opens it, meeting Rakan’s smiling face at the other side.

“At last! They didn’t let me come before, can you believe that?” The girls laugh again at his comment and he peaks inside the room “You are having a girls night without me? Betrayal!” he slips inside the room and jumps to land flat on the bed, ignoring Liv telling him to stop. The glass of water that was on the tray on the bed tips and pours its contents out before Liv can get it, she still grabs it and pours everything that’s left on Rakan’s face.

“Ow, that wasn’t necessary!”

“You just got all my bed wet” Meira says while she takes the tray and leaves it in one of the side tables and sits on the free space next to Liv after.

“Don’t worry, I can take care of that” he puts a hand on top of the wet part, the girls feel the heat coming from it, see the steam coming up. The boy is completely dry already.

“If you burn my bed I swear-“

“Don’t worry, I have full control of it.”

“You better” Meira answers with what she hopes is a menacing gaze. She hears Liv chuckling next to her. It makes her smile.

“So what were you doing here?” Rakan asks.

“I brought Mei dinner and some plants.”

“I see… take care of them Mei, they are a very special gift. You are never this open with strangers Liv.” Said girl blushes and Meira turns to her. She isn’t? She had thought that it was in the girl’s nature being open and caring.

“I wanted her to feel comfortable and welcome after everything that happened today.”

“You are doing a great job then” Meira tells her.

“Thanks… It’s also somehow easier with you? A part of me feels as if we’d always known each other” Meira nods.

“That is because we are tied together by destiny” Rakan says, he makes his voice sound deeper and says it as if reciting a prophecy making the girls laugh, but they both know that he is right. “I’m getting a rune tomorrow”

“A rune? For what?” Meira asks.

“What you said, about runes working when there’s little magic. I’ll get a rune in my hand with its pair in my sword so I can call for it even if there’s no magic”

“A rune like that could take months” Meira says with a frown.

“That’s why we have the best Rune maker in the world! She’ll take two days with me and two with my sword. She’ll take more with Kylem though, he has two chakrams”

“We are lucky that our only Rune maker is so talented” Liv adds.

“Only?” Meira asks “I knew they were rare but…”

“They are not only rare, they also have to train a lot to learn how to use the runes. I heard there is a few Rune makers among the children but it will take years before they can properly use their power.”

“An annoying kind of power if you ask me” Rakan says, earning a kick from Liv “what was that for?”

“Say that again and I’ll tell Danai and you can say goodbye to your rune” Liv says with a satisfied smile.

Rakan gasps “you wouldn’t dare” Meira laughs at their antics, making them turn to her.

Liv gets up and walks to the tray “I’ll carry this downstairs.”

“You don’t have to, I can take it myself” Meira offers.

“It’s okay, you can rest today. I’ll leave you to it. See you tomorrow.” she says it with a smile while she closes the door and the other two wave at her.

Meira moves so she is lying half on top of Rakan and lets out a hum when the boy starts stroking her hair.

“How are you?” the boy asks.

“Better. It’s weird but it’s like my body is telling me that everything is okay now. Like right now, it’s like it remembered how we used to sleep together in the same bed and is just now telling me how much I missed it”

Rakan lets out a low laugh that Meira feels against her head. “I felt how much I missed this all this time. My little sister missing”

Meira hits him on the chest while he laughs then “I’m almost a year older than you! You are the little brother even if you’ve gotten so big”

“Okay okay” Rakan accepts it and hugs Meira closer to him “I missed my older sister then”

Meira is about to answer him but when she looks up she sees his eyes closed. His breath has become even and calm. He is asleep. She lies back down, still half on top of Rakan, and closes her eyes. Not caring that they are lying sideways on the bed and their feet are hanging out, or that they have no covers. Even if spring has just arrived, Rakan’s body heat would keep them warm even in the coldest night.

The sun comes through the windows and illuminates all the room. Rakan groans and tries to cover himself from the sun. He feels Meira’s body next to him and moves to bury his face on her stomach. She pats him on the head a few times until she runs out of strength.

“Didn’t you have to go see Danai today?”

Rakan gets up at lighting speed then “Fuck!” he runs to the door “get changed and I’ll take you to the dining hall”

Meira gets up with a sigh, she guesses she has to go out some time. She goes to the bathroom and dresses herself, just in time to open the door to Rakan when he knocks. He starts to move to the stairs but she grabs his hand to stop him.

“Wait a second right there” She moves his hand to the door, concentrating her energy like Liv taught her until she hears the click “You still have to knock before though”

Rakan has a big smile on his face “yeah yeah” he looks down and starts lifting his other hand with his forefinger stretched until he touches the place where Meira’s Kyusei Mark is, completely visible.

“Stop!” Meira laughs while she slaps Rakan’s hand away, the boy laughing too.

They hear a door closing, followed by a “good morning” they both turn towards the sound. Liv is there with an awkward smile.

“Good morning” Meira answers with a smile.

“Are you coming to breakfast?”

“Yes, Rakan was going to show me where it is.”

“We can go together then.”

The dining hall is on the ground floor, so they have to go down a few flights of stairs and corridors before arriving at the door. It’s not really that far though and they arrive in no time. There’s more people there than Meira originally thought, everyone sat around different tables, she even sees Howard getting up from one of them and leaving. They make their way towards a table with empty seats and sit down. Liv and Rakan start pouring themselves milk and coffee, a routine already formed.

“Do you want some?” Liv asks, Meira nods and the girl gets a mug for her. Meira is watching the others serve themselves food, Rakan getting a probably too big amount of bacon while Liv gets fruit. Liv passes her mug to Rakan, the boy grabs it without a word while he continues eating with the other hand, he only lets go of the mug when its contents are letting out steam from the heat. Meira pushes her own mug closer to him silently too.

Everyone is watching them, Meira knows it, they are looking and whispering but no one looks like they’re about to start talking to them.

“Where’s Kylem?” Meira asks then.

“Probably still sleeping, he usually stays up all night, with his powers being nighty stuff and all” Rakan answers while still eating. He looks to the side then, like he only just saw the boys sitting next to them “I’m not training today but get ready because in two days I’m back again and I’m going to beat your asses”

“Oh yeah?” a girl answers, she is ginger, her hair long and wild “I think I remember almost getting you last time”

“Almost! You said it” They laugh, and it looks like that breaks the ice because the next second they are talking animatedly with them, asking Rakan about training and missions and Liv about the animals. They still throw side glances at Meira, not completely daring to talk to her until the ginger girl asks her if she is going to train with them. She has to say no though, she doesn’t know the strength of her powers yet and getting into a fight with someone, even if it’s for training, doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Rakan leaves in a hurry when he remembers once again that he should be with Danai, apologizing to Meira for leaving her. Liv leaves after him, apologizing too but saying that she has to do something with the horses and telling her that she is welcome to go later. It leaves Meira alone, and everyone is leaving for classes or training that she has not been told if she has to attend so she decides that means she has the day free to explore as she wishes.

She exits the room from the closest door, the one the kitchen workers are using to clean up the tables. They all seem surprised when they see her there, but they answer to her greetings with a smile and let her wander a bit. She comes out through a different door that leads to a smaller dining room, this one decorated with paintings on the walls and clearly meant for the high ranked people and guests of the house. Another door, an antechamber, and another, the main hall. She goes on. There are sounds coming from the rooms on the other side of doors, when Meira peaks inside she sees training rooms with people inside, clearly in class. An inside patio and more rooms. This place is huge. Silence again. Meira thinks she is reaching the end of the building. She opens one of the doors and is met with another training room, with high ceilings like the rest of the building but this one has its walls filled with weapons. So many she doesn’t even know the name of most. She comes in and closes the door. She walks along the walls, looking at all the swords, knifes, axes and bows. All different and lined up. She stops in front of a spear, or what looks like one. It’s shorter and has a longer blade, and it looks amazing. She carefully takes it from the wall, it’s heavier than she expected but nothing that she can’t handle.

She walks to the centre of the room and gets in position. She has seen people fighting before, she has actually trained a bit herself, too much time alone with nothing more to do than train with her broom or get into street fights. She moves with it, spins and attacks she has learnt from watching fights and performers. She is here now, she knows she has to learn to fight sooner or later and it’s better if it’s sooner. It’s shamefully not long until she hits herself with the pole on the back of the head making her let out a sound of pain.

“That’s dangerous” a voice says from the door, Meira lets out a gasp and turns around, she had not realised someone had entered the room. The man comes closer and takes the weapon from Meira’s hands “This is a Naginata, it’s a bit difficult to use but it can be very powerful”

“I like it.”

“You can have it. Well, not this one, this one is not that good but I can have someone make one for you”

“I don’t know how to use it properly.”

“Well, we can fix that easily, I can teach you. My name’s Ethan, I’m the weapon-master here”

“Oh! I’m Meira, I’m new”

The man laughs at that “That’s what you’re going with? New? Don’t worry, I know who you are, Light of the Gods. it would be difficult not to, you have your mark in the open.”

“Oh right, I’m not really used to that yet”

“So what do you say Meira? Do you want to learn how to use the Naginata?”

“Yes”

“Come here tomorrow after breakfast and don’t be too late” he walks to the wall and leaves the weapon there “be prepared to train as hard as your body will allow to”

She ends up in the forest after that. Liv had said that it was safe in it and it was quiet and empty of people that looked at her curiously unlike the fields around the Kare were. It’s beautiful, full of all kinds of different trees that cover the sun until it almost feels like it’s nearing night-time in some spots. Meira wonders if Liv has something to do with a forest so full of different life, the floor full of small flowers. Meira sees the forest spirits looking at her curiously and then disappearing behind the trees, running around and playing. She laughs when she sees one of them tripping and falling but stops the moment she hears steps behind her. The spirits turn too and they all disappear the moment a silhouette appears between the trees. She secures her feet on the floor, the spirits running away like that are never a good sign but this place is supposed to be safe right?

The silhouette turns into a guy that puts his hands up when he sees her fighting stand.

“Don’t worry, I’m one of yours” he says, he puts one hand down and lifts his shirt lightly, letting her see his Mark on the side of his hip. She relaxes and looks at him better. Tall, it’s the first thing she thinks, he is very tall, from the east, and his face delicate, almost androgynous and beautiful. His hair is grey and reaches his shoulders but what outstands more is his eyes, one blue and green while the other is deep brown.

“You are far” he says.

“I could say the same, shouldn’t you be in class?” the boy snorts.

“I’m already 24, it’s been a long time since I’ve gone to classes” he sits down on a sunlit spot and leans back on his hands, face to the sun. He is too relaxed to be a threat so Meira sits too, a few steps away “they say that they had you captured and you escaped”

“I wouldn’t say that, I didn’t even know who I was so I had freedom, as long as I stayed in my town”

The boy hums “You are lucky”

“I think it would have been better to be here with the others” she is too busy picking grass from the floor, doesn’t see him looking at her.

“But you didn’t suffer, and they could have controlled or tortured you” She looks at him, that’s a weird thing to say. He must understand her face because he smiles “sorry sorry, it’s just… it doesn’t seem like it but everything’s been hard around here.”

“I understand, I can imagine.”

“So what are our plans now? Attacking head first now that you are finally here? I bet Tirakan would love that.”

“I just arrived so I don’t know what the plans are but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go fighting yet.”

“That must be a disappointment for Tirakan, but I suppose it’s wiser. Waiting to be prepared and not attacking alone” That’s also weird to say but Meira says nothing, the boy seems to be lost on his thoughts, he turns towards her then “can I see your magic?” he asks, his eyes shining.

“I… sure” she extends her hands and starts making a ball of light between them. Not much, just something like she did yesterday to light the room. The boy gets closer to her and she looks up from the ball and smiles at him. He seems mesmerized by the light and a thousand thoughts seem to be going on behind his eyes. He extends his hand, slowly getting it closer to the light.

The moment his fingertips touch the light though, his eyes become black, and he takes his hand back with a spasm. He holds his hand to his chest, hissing in pain.

“Oh my gods I’m so sorry” Meira makes the light disappear and reaches to the boy to see if he’s alright but he moves out of the way “I don’t control it completely yet I’m so sorry”

“Don’t worry” he says, he gets up from the floor, his eyes are normal again “it was my fault, I should have known better than to touch it” she gets up too, not knowing what to do “I have to go now, I shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh, see you then”

“See you” he starts walking, fast.

“The Kare is in the other direction!” Meira shouts after him, he looks back with a smile.

“I know!”

She leaves the forest after that. There was a building in the middle of the fields that she wanted to check. There are horses around it so she should have expected it when she finds that the building is a stable. She wanders in, there are not a lot of horses inside, they probably prefer letting them out during the day.

She sees something moving at the back of the stable and moves closer to it. There, between the hay, is a cat that turns to her surprised when it sees her. She coos comes closer, carefully extending her hand towards it. When she sees that it’s not going to attack her she starts petting it. She sits down on the floor then and picks the cat up to put it on her legs to continue stroking it.

It’s a few minutes later that a boy comes into the stables “Hey Liv- oh” he stops when he sees Meira on the floor. The cat runs away then and disappears behind a door while the boy tries not to laugh and Meira gets up.

“Hi! I’m Gabriel and I mostly help Liv around with the animals” the boy says with a smile.

“I’m Meira and I haven’t seen Liv here so maybe try somewhere else if you are looking for her”

“What?” the boy asks, or something like it because he erupts into laughter halfway through the word.

“I’m here” a voice says, they both turn to it and there is Liv, at the door the cat disappeared to, her face a crimson red. The boy laughs harder when he sees her “Gabriel stop laughing! did you want something?” she doesn’t look angry though.

“I just wanted a saddle, Elinor is going to town”

“Then get it and leave please” she is closer now, and Meira can see how red her face is better.

“Yes ma’am” he says in a mocking tone before he heads towards the door Liv came from.

“So you are the boss of the animals?” Meira says.

“That’s what I get for being the kyusei of life. I love it though”

“It’s a good position. Did you see a cat when you were in there? I was petting one but it ran when Gabriel came in.”

Gabriel laughs again, now going out carrying a saddle “you know that if you don’t tell her it’s going to be more embarrassing later right?”

“Shup up! Do you want to come outside?” Liv shouts the first part to Gabriel and asks the second to Meira.

They go out and sit on the grass by the trees, enjoying the still shy spring sun.

“So… what did Gabriel mean?”

Liv covers her face with her hands and leans down, her hair covering her “It’s embarrassing”

“You can tell me”

A silence, Meira thinks that Liv is not going to answer to her when

“I was the cat”

“What?” Liv leans back again so she can look at Meira while she says the next part, or try to, she looks down at the grass for the most part.

“You know how I am the Kyusei of life right? Well, apart from making plants grow and being good with animals I can change into them so yeah, that was me”

“Oh! I’m sorry for picking you up like that.”

“It’s okay, I… like it” she cringes when she says it, her face red but now Meira’s is almost the same colour.

“So is it like how Rakan can turn into his dragon form?”

“Yes! Well, no. He is not a Changer, he is just a dragon that was given a human form to be with us, I am a human that can turn into any animal, not into a dragon though. Anyway, did you explore a bit?” Liv asks.

“Yeah, I found the room with the weapons and Ethan? Is going to start teaching me how to fight tomorrow”

“He’s a good teacher, but be prepared, he’s strict”

“I guessed but I suppose I need it, I have to get in your level” they stare at the sky in silence for a bit “I also went to the forest”

Liv turns towards her “did you like it?”

Meira smiles, she knew Liv had something to do with it “It’s beautiful, you did a good job. I met a boy there, he was a bit weird” Liv makes a questioning sound “he was really handsome and his eyes were of different colours, he said some weird things too.”

There’s no answer and Meira turns towards Liv, she is looking at her without moving, her face pale “did you see his Mark?”

“Yeah, why? He had it in his hip.”

Liv takes a deep breath then and whispers something that Meira doesn’t catch, it sounds like a name.

“Kylem did you catch that?” Liv asks, Meira frowns, not knowing what’s going on when Kylem suddenly appears next to them startling her.

“Not really, I don’t spy you, you know?” he says.

“But you came fast” Liv answers, she gets up and Meira follows.

“Well, you said his name”

“Mei saw Seoham in the forest” Liv says, Meira doesn’t know who Seoham is but Kylem looks to the forest and then to her, surprised.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Well, he didn’t say his name” Meira answers.

“She described him perfectly” Liv adds “Do I go tell Howard?”

“No. This is between us five. The safeguards must still consider him one of us, I’ll go look into the forest but he’s probably left already”

“Kylem if he-“ Liv starts

“He won’t do anything” Kylem cuts her off, when it looks like Liv is going to protest, he continues “He wouldn’t do anything here, I know it”

Liv purses her lips, she doesn’t want to argue with him. Kylem disappears. Leaving Meira completely confused by the exchange.

“Who the fuck is Seoham” she asks.

“He is the fifth Kyusei” Liv answers, she look towards the forest. She seems sad and concerned.

“Isn’t that a good thing then?” Meira asks confused.

“I think it’s better if Kylem explains it to you”

Meira doesn’t see Kylem at lunch, she doesn’t see him that afternoon either, when she continues exploring and finds a big library that she uses to catch up with things she had forgotten or missed. He is not at dinner and it’s just her and Liv, Gabriel joining their table. At night, lying alone in her room, Meira can’t sleep. Rakan hasn’t returned from Danai’s place and it doesn’t look like he will any time soon and everything feels too much. The loneliness, the change, being so clueless about everything. She could go to Liv’s room, she is sweet and would not mind if she woke her up but that’s not what her body is asking for, she needs fresh air, the kind that you only get at night, with the sky open before you without restrictions, the pure air clearing your mind and calming you. Everything in silence, only the occasional far away sound. Only you before the greatness of the sky full of faraway stars looking down on you. The sensation of freedom without a ceiling on top of your head.

She exits her room. That afternoon she had seen a door with stairs leading up on the bedrooms floor and she is pretty sure they lead to the rooftop, just what she needs.

She is walking down the dorm aisle when she starts hearing sounds, weird, everyone should be asleep by now. It’s when she is going to turn a corner when she nearly runs into a girl. The girl lets out a gasp and looks just as surprised as her to see someone up, the group behind her too.

“We are going to prank the creators” a voice says, everyone looks towards it shocked, and Meira sees a boy there with a smile “don’t tell on us”

“Okay”

They start walking again, bowing when they pass next to her. Meira looks at them going away, she didn’t know there was some kind of rivalry between Creators and Changers but she guesses it’s only normal, it’s good that they can have fun like that.

“Does she count as a Creator too?” a voice whispers, probably thinking that Meira can’t hear them.

“She’s a Kyusei, it’s different” another one responds. They get too far after that to understand what they are saying, Meira smiles and continues walking.

The door is not locked and the stairs are completely dark but that’s not an issue for her. She illuminates her path and makes the light disappear the moment she opens the door at the end of the stairs that, as she had guessed, lead to the rooftop. The night is calm, and the stars are out, Meira takes a deep breath and looks around. She can see the outline of someone sitting at the edge of the building, Meira gets closer to it, she recognises him.

“So this is what you do alone at night?” she asks while sitting down, Kylem doesn’t even turn towards her.

“I like being alone and the silence”

“Woah there dramatic boy, I know that deep down you don’t hate us and like our company.”

“You hardly know me.”

“Well it’s a guess and I still think I’m right” Kylem doesn’t answer to her, he looks like he is still thinking about something else so they just stay in silence for a while.

“Did you want something?” he finally says.

“Well, I’m going to ignore your rude tone and answer that actually, I do have a question. Can you tell me what happened with… Seoham was it? I’m tired of not knowing about what happened while I was gone”

“Didn’t Liv tell you?”

“She said that it would be better if you explained it to me” Kylem looks up with a sigh.

“She could have told you herself, it’s not that…” he stops and purses his lips “when the attacks started I was 13 and Seoham 14, we had been living together since I was ten and that’s not important. They took all of us except you here, we saw everyone try to fight back. Rakan and Liv were younger but Seoham and I knew exactly what was going on. Fast forward a few years, Seoham is seventeen and thinks that because he is a Kyusei he is super powerful, which is partially true, and he runs out to fight the Hexians himself” He pauses then, Meira doesn’t say anything, she just waits for the boy to continue, it takes a while, but he does “the next time we hear about him is from one of ours that was sent to look for him and says that he killed all the others and he was lucky to survive.” He stops again and this time Meira does talk.

“And he just switched bands? Just like that?”

“That’s what everyone believes.”

“And what do you believe?” Kylem turns towards her then and Meira thinks that he is going to answer to her. After a while, he talks.

“I want you to clear your mind as much as possible.”

“What? Why?”

“Haven’t you wondered how I appeared when Liv called for me even when I wasn’t near?” Meira nods “I can stablish mental links with people. I think it’s better if I include you in the one with Liv and Rakan now and not when we want to tell you something in the middle of a battle.”

She obeys, tries to keep her mind as open as possible. It’s not easy but the silence of the night helps, Kylem’s hands on the sides of her head. Then there is something, a presence in her head, like there is someone with her in a completely different new way, and a voice.

“Can you hear me now?” It’s Kylem, but he sounds different, his voice clear.

“Yes” she answers, without needing to open her mouth. The hands disappear from her head then, as well as the presence in her mind.

“What did you do? Why did you stop it?”

Kylem is getting up already. “It would be tiresome keeping the link up at all times but if you concentrate you can call for me, do it only if it’s necessary”

He disappears with that and Meira is tempted to call for him until he comes back but decides that it is not a good idea. She doesn’t go back to her room right away though, she stays there looking at the stars until her eyes start to drop and it becomes dangerous staying at the edge of the roof. She sleeps alone that night and her dreams are filled of storms and fire.