Yuriko didn’t know what to think.

The attendant gasped when she dropped the crystal screen, though reined himself in when it proved tougher than it looked. Yuriko noticed his reaction out of the corner of her eye. She also noticed that the box’s runes had completely disappeared, the lights in the room flickered slightly, and that it was much colder in the room that it was outside.

The last time she had seen her Mum was a year ago, during the Celestial Refraction that happened every time the year ended and the new year came. It was a day that didn’t belong to the previous year, or the upcoming year, the day when the sun and the moon looked strange and the Chaos streams in the sky nearly touched the earth and if they were unlucky, a Chaos Storm would scourge the planes.

Mum always came back to Rumiga every second Refraction, staying for a couple of weeks before she disappeared as quickly as she came. She often brought gifts of clothing, sweet treats, and strange ornaments.

They barely spoke of the future, with Mum protesting weakly to Da when Yuriko wheedled her way into training with her brothers. Most of their time together as a family was spent eating. Sadeen Mishala was an excellent cook, able to turn any old meal into a gourmet dish fit to grace a noble’s table.

She spent the greatest amount of time, of course, with Da. The two of them would take walks out in the countryside every day. They would reminisce about their time at Legion Vagaris, and the myriad planes, settled and wild, that they saw during service.

Mum spoke to them about court life in Realmheart, how every block of the megacity was covered in palaces, gardens, and monuments. She spoke of bizarre fashion choices people made to either make a statement or to stand out from the billions of humans and other races living there. She spoke of the Colossi, giant suits of runescripted armour that served as war machines. Of the Battlewings that people wore to duel in the skies. Of the flashing lights of powerful Animus streaking in the skies, blotting out the Chaos streams.

Sometimes she spoke of her Clan, the Mishala, which she left in her youth but had since reunited with.

Whenever Yuriko asked her about her cousins, aunts, and uncles, of her grandparents, Sadeen had only given a small laugh, glanced away and talked of other things. It was a stark contrast from when she asked Virgil about his side of the family. Da ruffled her hair and said that most Davars were scattered across the planes of Ulmira and Delovine. Da always said that they were the only Davars in Rumiga and it was mostly up to her brothers to spread the family.

“Miss Davar?” the attendant broke her out of her spiralling thoughts.

“I, uhm, can you, I mean, may I meet Elder Ramus?”

“Oh, uhm, you’d have to go to the Temple to arrange that.”

“Oh, yes of course. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight.” Yuriko gestured mutely at the crystal screen.

“Would you like me to bring an envelope?”

“No, I merely meant to ask if I have anything else to do before this is released to me.”

“No need. When you imprinted your Animus to the box that served as proof of delivery. Have a good day, Miss Davar.”

“What’s wrong?” Krystal asked as soon as Yuriko walked out of the chamber.

Mikel frowned as he stared at her face. “You look pale.”

Yuriko shook her head. “I need to see the Celebrant.” She hurried out of the town hall and rushed into the Temple, nearly running over an attendant. “Sorry!” she called over her shoulder.

“Hey wait!”

Krystal and Mikel ran after her. They caught up just as Yuriko pushed open the door to Elder Ramus’ office.

“Pardon, is the Celebrant available to speak?”

“Unfortunately, he isn’t. Celebrant Ramus doesn’t have an open appointment slot until well after the Harvest Festival. Would you like me to set an appointment?”

Yuriko bit her lips. She couldn’t just burst into the old man’s office. That would be the height of rudeness, no matter who her parents were. Besides, now that she thought about it, it was unlikely for him to offer a solution.

A hand grabbed her shoulder. “Yuri.” Krystal spun her around. “What’s wrong?”

“I, uh,” Yuriko stuttered. Her eyes were tearing up. “Let’s talk outside.”

Krystal led them to a wrought iron bench near Faron’s statue in the middle of the square. There were few people out in the afternoon sun and the shade from the nearby tree didn’t fall squarely on the bench. Yuriko didn’t mind the sun on her face. The warmth settled some of the turmoil wrenching her guts.

“So?”

Wordlessly, Yuriko shoved the crystal screen into Krystal’s hands. Mikel looked over her shoulder to read, his face growing colder with each word. Krystal snorted loudly when she finished. “This isn’t right.”

“Unfortunately,” Mikel said, “your mum is entirely within her rights to enforce this.”

“What--why would you say that?”

“It’s Imperial Law,” Mikel said slowly. “Family clans usually direct their descendants' training to strengthen the Heritage.” He shrugged. “Though I didn’t know your mum was part of a clan.”

“Da didn’t really mention it,” Yuriko fidgetted on the bench.

Krystal thrust the screen back at Yuriko. She held gingerly onto it. It wasn’t that heavy but in her hands, it felt heavier than Fri’Avgi’s real weight.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you just going to follow this? Wasn’t your dream to join Vagaris?”

Yuriko just stared back mutely while Krystal muttered curses. A few passersby stared at the girl in consternation.

The decorations for the Harvest Festival were complete, at least for the square. Around the square, colourful stalls were being put up. Those would serve finger foods, games of chance, or moon masks which covered the upper half of the face and were decorated with paint, feathers, or shiny bits of stone.

“I wish Da was here,” Yuriko muttered. “He’d know what to do.” Of course, there was the chance he’d capitulate to Mum’s wishes, which happened nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, but at least there was that one in a thousand chance that he’d get his way.

“Wouldn’t the Academies be a better judge of what your path should be like?” Mikel suddenly asked. “It said in the letter that your mum arranged something for you when you enter the Academies, but would it really be that easy?”

“What, you think I don’t have what it takes to get into Agaza?” Yuriko retorted.

“No, no, uh, that’s not what I mean,” Mikel backpedalled. “We still have to take the entrance examinations. The recommendation letters the camp gave us is only the first step.”

Yuriko sighed. “Thanks.” She stood up and started walking home.

After a moment, the other two followed behind her. Yuriko kept a brisk pace, working off her frustrations with exertion. If she hadn’t already trained this morning, she would have loved to just run. If only the training hall were open, she could have spent her time in a spar.

What really got to her was that Mum didn’t even seem to care about Yuriko’s path before the Atavism Ritual and now that it had been revealed that she didn’t receive the Davar Heritage, she was suddenly interested? From the date on the letter, Mum received Da’s correspondence long before Yuriko inlaid her Facet. How could she have been sure that it wasn’t a Heritage further along the Davar line?

Why bring the Mishala Clan into the equation too? Other than the fact that her mother’s absence was due to that clan, nothing good had ever come because of it. They certainly weren’t part of her life.

So why was she suddenly bound by their rules? A family clan that was three planes away? One would have to go to Rumiga City and cross the Chaos Channel there, arrive at Delovine Plane, and cross into another plane, Ulmira, before reaching Realmheart. Such a journey would have taken several weeks if not an entire Season or two.

Correspondence between planes was definitely quicker, taking just a bit more than five weeks for a round trip, but that was incredibly expensive. She didn’t even know how Da could pay for it. Well, maybe the Mishala Clan shouldered the postal cost.

Her emotions were in such turmoil that she could feel her Animus core roiling. The flames inside her core danced furiously as if it were a bonfire in the middle of a storm. Tongues of flame scattered beyond the core, touching parts of her Anima, leaving a sizzling sensation that aggravated her even further.

The centre of her Facet glowed and a small imprint of Fri’Avgi appeared. Yuriko was abruptly aware of a connection, a querying pulse coming from the direction of her home came to her. It oozed with concern and beat in time with her heart.

Danger?

Yuriko took a deep breath. In fact, she moved away from the path and took several deep breaths to calm herself. No, there was no danger. Nothing that could be solved with an overly large sword anyway.

The connection thinned and faded away, ending with a slight pulse of emotion: reassurance. Krystal and Mikel were staring at her with worried looks.

Yuriko shook her head wordlessly and continued on her way. When they reached the Davar household, Krystal grabbed her in a fierce hug and whispered into her ear, “It’ll be alright. We’ll find a way.”

Mikel squeezed Yuriko’s forearm. “I’ll do a bit more research.”

Yuriko blinked away the dampness in her eyes before nodding.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for morning training, alright!” Krystal said bracingly.

Yuriko felt her jaw grow slack. Krystal wanted to train without being forced? Was the sun coming up at midnight tonight?

Krystal chuckled at Yuriko’s expression before waving goodbye. She grabbed Mikel by the arm and half-dragged him away.

When she stepped inside the house, her tummy started grumbling, reminding her that she hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast. She grabbed a loaf of bread from the kitchen, stuffed it with cheese and brought it up to her room.

She bumped into Rami on the stairs. The shorter boy yelped and grabbed onto the bannister. “Yuri!” he whined.

“Sorry,” she mouthed.

Rami frowned at her. “Why are your eyes a bit red?”

“Nothing.” She brushed past him and charged into her room, slamming the door shut and locking it.

“Bis sis!” She heard him knock on her door.

“Leave me alone, please.”

He didn’t stop knocking until she yelled at him. She could feel the wounded silence even from her bed. Screaming actually helped her feel a tiny bit better, but the guilt of being short with sweet little Rami kind of replaced it and brought about its own ill feelings.

She ate her sandwich mechanically, staring in turn at the crystal screen and at the artefact greatsword that lay near the window shelf. Safe inside her sanctum, she let go of her control. Her hands trembled, tears fell down her cheeks, and a tiny sob made its way out of her bosom.

She sobbed into her pillow for a few minutes then, feeling a strange urge come over her, flopped down on the floor beside Fri’Avgi and cuddled the greatsword. Without an edge to its blade, it was practically impossible for her to get injured from it.

Maybe an hour later, she wiped the snot off her nose and upper lips then walked into the bathroom and washed her face. She turned on the hot water tap on the bathtub and waited a few minutes for it to fill. A good hot soak should help settle her nerves.

On another note, she was quite pleased that her womanly troubles didn’t persist beyond that first day. There was at least that to be happy about. Though from what Leader Yoran told them during camp, those usually last between three to five days. Well, other than the discomfort below her guts and the staining, it wasn’t as much of a problem as she expected.

A brief thought of activating her Facet while she soaked crossed her mind. She wasn’t in the mood right now so despite feeling the push that made her want to train, but she willfully ignored the thought.

She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, she was sitting in tepid water and there was a fierce knocking on her bedroom door. She could hear Marron yelling her name and a glance at the window revealed the darkness of night outside.

“Coming!” she shouted back. The knocking ceased and Yuriko grumbled as she stood from the tub. She pulled the stopper and idly watched the water drain away as she put on a bathrobe. The knocking had resumed just before she could pull open the bedroom door with her pruney fingers.

“What?” she asked crossly.

Marron, still in his militia green, stared down at her with a raised eyebrow. He tapped his chin with his finger. “What’s wrong?”

Yuriko shrugged. “I’ll tell you over dinner.”

“Fine, see you downstairs. Oh,” he said as he turned on his heels, “just to let you know, I’ll be leaving for the Tidelands tomorrow.”

“Oh!” Yuriko exclaimed as she lunged and grabbed his arm before he could take a second step. “Truly? Can I come with?”

“No, of course not.” Marron clicked his tongue as he glanced back. “And go get dressed, you’re old enough not to run around the house naked!”

“Who’s naked?” she screeched. “Urgh!” She threw a kick at his calf that he easily hopped away from, chuckling all the while.

Yuriko slammed the door close and marched to her closet. She was already half-dressed when she realized that the tightness in her chest and the helplessness she felt when she read Mum’s letter had faded away. Replaced with a different sort of worry but at least that one had a ready course of action.

She stomped down the stairs and into the kitchen where her brothers sat around the kitchen island, dinner already set in front of them. Her tummy growled loudly, protesting the meagre nourishment she provided after a day of hard labour.

Marron and Kato chuckled.

“So what was all the moping around about?” they asked simultaneously.

With a grunt, she plopped the crystal screen on the table and pushed it towards her elder brothers.

“See for yourself.” She grabbed food, meat pot pies tonight, off the platters and started digging in.

She expected an uproar from them after they read it, and, well, she wasn’t disappointed.