Elach barely saw Kayvee for the next two months. And by barely, he meant didn’t. He didn’t see Kyvee for the next two months. Resthollow had made good on their promise, giving him a six month stay in an apartment near one of the city’s three parks and enough coin to keep him silent and comfortable until he could try their trial again. He had made a little progress on expanding his container, his headspace now the size of a slightly larger closet, but that didn’t change the fact that it still felt the same. Like it was a little angry at him, and disgusted at the fact that he would even consider bonding with Resthollow. The feeling had come on an hour or so after he’d failed to bond with the living city, and though it ebbed and flowed with his state of mind it never quite left.

Now he sat alone at a steel picnic table on the bank of a manufactured river, people of all ages splashing about in the crystal clear waters. He fiddled with a puzzle box Resthollow had given him as part of the pity package, sliding a final metal bar into place as the cube slid open to reveal a single steel coin inside. He pulled it out of the box and added it to his coin purse, closing the box and watching it as it rearranged itself to give him another challenge to pursue. To keep him chasing a single coin, over and over and over again. Keeping him distracted.

Elach sighed and pushed the puzzle box to the edge of the table. He was going nowhere while he stayed in this city. He just knew that if he managed to pass the trial again the exact same scenario would play out; Resthollow tries to give him bone or fortification Issi through a bond, it fails to take, and his stay gets extended for another half a year. He needed to find someone, or something, who could correct or at least explain what was going on with his headspace. And the specialists he’d found in Resthollow weren’t anything special. He didn’t want to admit it, but he needed to go home. Mom and Dad would at the least offer a new perspective on things.

But he wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Kayvee. There was a chance his friend didn’t even know he survived the trials; he would want to know the truth if their positions were reversed, so Kayvee would want the same. The Kayvee he knew would want the same. Elach absentmindedly watched a platoon of Resthollow’s vassals going through their morning routine, none of them wearing the armor that he’d come to associate with the guild. He thought he recognized a few faces, but in the way that he might have seen them once before, not true recognition. Resthollow had said that Kayvee and him had sent a large amount of new vassals their way, so maybe that was why he thought he knew some faces.

Elach swiped his puzzle box as he stood up, his resolve hardening as he walked over to the platoon’s leader. “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?”

Elach knew that he couldn’t refuse. Annoyance flashed for barely a moment over the captain’s face, replaced by a plastered smile that did not come off as amiable. “Of course. We are vassals of Resthollow, and their citizens are our citizens. What did you need to know?”

“I have a friend who just became a vassal, but I don’t know where to find him. Could you point me to wherever the newcomers live?” Elach asked. He remembered they lived in tower two, but he couldn’t get in without clearance. Maybe this guy could give him a workaround.

“The new recruits live in the same place as everyone else; tower two.” The guard scratched his chin as he studied Elach closer. “But everyone here knows that. So you’ve tried to get in, but couldn’t. I can’t sense any Issi from you, so you can’t be a threat, though….” The guard muttered, sizing up Elach and apparently deciding he was harmless. “The new recruits are trained in tower three, but you won’t be able to get in there either. Try Carbonore Field; that’s where they send them when they need some fresh air. It’s your best bet if you can’t contact them directly.”

Elach nodded and tried to put on a sincere expression. It wasn’t hard, since the captain had actually helped him out. “Thank you. I’ll leave you alone now.”

One of the platoon whispered something to the captain, and Elach heard him groan loudly. “Have a good day, resident.” The captain called after him, before turning to his underling and hissing ‘is that better?’ through his teeth.

Elach couldn’t wait to leave. And the feeling in the base of his skull agreed.

The sun had risen high in the sky before he found Carbonore field. It wasn’t that it was hidden; Resthollow was laid out in a perfect series of grids with maps at every street corner. It was just absurdly far away. From end to end Resthollow was a solid fifty miles wide, a number that Elach couldn’t have begun to fathom three months ago. But the wonder had quickly worn off, replaced by an annoyance that came from finding out that whatever restaurant, store, or anything else someone had recommended to him was almost half a day’s walk away. He couldn’t live in a place like this without Issi. And, as it turned out, neither could most people. Almost nobody used the Issi-less lanes, with parents carrying their children in the practitioner lanes or travelling wherever they needed to go in a carriage.

All that travel to get to a field he could have found anywhere else on the world piece. It was grassy and flat, not even a steel tree or anything to spice it up. There were people playing some local sport on one end, a fenced off area for people with Issi beasts as pets, and an area marked in white where people ran back and forth from one line to another as a man in full armor watched over them. These were the recruits he’d been looking for, but there was no sign of Kayvee. A twenty two year old would be hard to miss in a herd of teenagers.

After fifteen minutes of intense warmups, the instructor called the recruits back to him. That little time was enough for Elach to realize a few things about these vassals; they seemed strangely out of shape for Issi practitioners, there was a perfect 50/50 split among men and women, and none of them had any signs of their bonds. Not a strand of steel hair, bone white eyes, or anything in the entire lot of them. If they didn’t switch gears into Issi training Elach wouldn’t have even thought they were practitioners, just some kids out training for the next solstice.

Steel was the only Issi type Elach could see among the entire group, which meant that they were most likely grouped up by their bond types. Primitive weapons that could have passed for sticks and chunky, angular single pieces of armor were the fruits of the kid’s labors, all dressed up in the makeup of different Issi types thanks to the variety of wisps they’d bonded. One kid’s single boot he managed to manifest was more like a sandal, long straps of steel winding halfway up his calf in a pattern that looked like grapevines. And another kid’s spear melted and flowed wherever they tried to grab it, like molten metal that had cooled but stayed malleable. They didn’t look as strong as typical weaponry, but once they got stronger? Nothing short of an enchanted weapon would rival their Issi. Maybe even a mythical weapon, for the stronger ones.

The instructor was far more patient and understanding with the new vassals than Elach had been expecting. In most of the books he’d read, the new recruits were either treated like trash or overworked to the point of exhaustion. Coupling that with the fact that Resthollow wouldn’t allow anyone to actually die in their trials made Elach even more disappointed that he’d failed to bond with them. For just a moment Elach fantasized about going back to the trials and succeeding, bonding with Resthollow, and joining Kayvee among their vassals. But as soon as it had come it went along with a quiet snap, and Elach continued watching the recruits fumble about with their newfound powers.

Exactly on the hour the instructor called for a break, and the kids separated into groups to go eat lunch. Now that he wasn’t interrupting anything Elach walked over to the armored figure, who nodded at his approach and turned to fully face him.

“What can I do for you, resident?” The guard asked in a cheerful voice.

“I’m looking for my friend. He bonded with Resthollow about two months ago, and I haven’t heard from him since.” Elach replied, but before he could elaborate the guard interrupted him.

“Ah, that’s unfortunately normal for new vassals. The first few months are vitally important for Issi development, so we work hard to make sure their foundations are as solid as possible.” The guard took off their helmet, revealing a head full of short cropped silver hair and small bone plates under their eyes. “Do you have any idea what kind of bond they made with Resthollow? I know almost everyone who has a steel bond, so I might be able to help you there.”

“He wanted fortification, but only the eternals know what he ended up getting.” Elach replied. “ He’s my age, so you’d know him if you saw him.” He quickly added before the guard started speaking again.

“Fortification, huh.” The guard said, looking out with pride at their new recruits. “You should try talking to some of the kids. They have a lot of shared classes and training, so one of them might know where to find your friend. I’ll go check the schedule to see when fortification has the field.”

“Thank you.” Elach said, and this time he meant it.

“No problem.” The guard said with a smile, walking to a pile of equipment splayed over a few meters of ground and starting to dig through it.

The kids ended up not being very useful. Not that they were unkind, or even unhelpful, but they didn’t know anything about Kayvee aside from the fact that there was an older new vassal who’d just gotten his first bond. And once they told Elach that there were almost three hundred new vassals from this half-year’s trials, he couldn’t blame them for not knowing. One of them even offered to ask around for Kayvee, and though he was touched by the offer, Elach had to decline. He had to walk home again tonight, and he didn’t want to walk here every day for a check-in. Two of the new recruits were people that he’d helped get their wisps just a few months ago, and they were eager to tell Elach their stories about how they passed the trials and got their own bonds. And Elach sat patiently to listen, enjoying the fact that the kids were excited to tell their stories.

The guard tapped Elach on the shoulder, handing him a small black slate with a message written on it. “Fortification has this place next, but there’s a chance your friend isn’t scheduled for today. Give this to the person in charge and tell them that you’re looking for Kayvee. They’ll point you in the right direction.”

“Thanks. Again.” Elach chuckled as he accepted the slate and shoved it into his pocket. “How long until the classes change?”

The guard held up two fingers. “Two hours. You’re free to stay and watch, or come back later when they’re here. But I have to get back to teaching, if you don’t mind giving the class some space.”

“I’ll get out of your hair.” Elach said as he turned to leave, returning a wave that one of the trainees offered him. “Good luck with training.”