“Breakfast’s ready, Elach.” Rainshear said, gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up. “And… where in the hells did that come from!?”

Elach felt Flow hopping below the blankets covering him, and he sat bolt upright in surprise. Flow squawked as they were covered by a pile of cloth, flapping their wings in panic and fighting to get free.

“They’re mine, sorry.” Elach said, gently peeling the covers off of Flow so he didn’t break anything. He didn’t think they were as fragile as most birds were, but maybe the real world affected Flow differently. “I thought I left them somewhere else, but I guess they came here.”

Flow chirped happily and hopped up onto Elach’s shoulder, bobbing and dancing happily to their own song. “I didn’t expect you to be here either, buddy.” Elach said with what he expected was a goofy smile, patting Flow on the head and running his hand down their back.

“What kind of bird are they?” Rainshear asked, moving to pet Flow as Elach had. Flow nestled into Rainshear’s hand and chirped hello, dipping their head as if to say thanks. “Oh. That kind.”

Rainshear’s face was a complex mosaic of wonder, apprehension, and something slightly sinister, as if she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing but really wanted to. Flow nipped her softly on the finger and Elach felt them push a little Issi into Rainshear, who winced in surprise at the tiny nip and sudden influx of Issi.

“You are a wisp manifestation.” Rainshear said giddily, pulling their finger back without even looking to see if she was bleeding. The sinister edge of her expression softened, but remained somewhat there. “How long have you been friends with a wisp manifestation, Elach?”

“As long as I’ve been bonded.” Elach said with a smirk, and Flow cackled with high-pitched laughter. “I’ll tell you more over breakfast if you want.”

“Oh, right! Breakfast!” Rainshear shot to her feet, her watery chain making the sounds of heavy raindrops instead of clinking. “I gotta check on the fritters!”

Rainshear dissolved into a fine mist, and Elach heard footsteps on the level below him rushing into the kitchen. “Get dressed and come join us!” Rainshear called out, followed by the sizzle of hot oil and muttered cursing.

“So, you can come out of my headspace now, huh?” Elach mused, grabbing yesterday’s shirt and pulling it on in one motion. “Could you do that before, or is this a new thing?”

Flow tilted their head to the side and let out a series of notes that ended in a way that made it seem like a question, which Elach took to mean they didn’t know either.

“Well, I’m happy to have you here with me.” He grunted as Flow hopped back onto his now clothed shoulder, causing him to stumble under their weight. “I’m gonna have to find something else for you to stand on if you keep getting bigger. My shoulder barely fits you now.”

Less than a minute later Elach looked down at the main floor, waving to Metea/Irric who looked to have gotten far less sleep than he did last night. She lazily waved back as Elach created an anchor near her and pulled himself down, and her startled yelp made him jump.

“Warn someone when you’re gonna do that!” She said with a light backhanded slap on Elach’s left arm, already seeming far more awake than seconds ago. “I didn’t even know what kind of Issi you use!”

“Really?” Elach said, tilting his head and thinking back to before he trained with Sentence. “I.. guess I never told or showed you. I’ll warn you next time, promise.”

“If there is a next time.” Metea/Irric mumbled, doing a double-take when she noticed Flow on Elach’s shoulder. “How did that get in here? And how did they teleport with you? That’s a really high-level application of Issi.”

“We, uh, teleported at the same time. Separately.” Elach said, and Flow nodded in confirmation of the lie. “Flow has location Issi like I do.”

Metea/Irric looked between Elach and Flow with obvious suspicion. “That makes sense. Too much sense. What’s your angle, Elach? And you too, bird?”

Elach raised his forearms in surrender. “What happened to you overnight?”

Metea/Irric shook her head. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily. There wasn’t a bird with you last night, and now there is one this morning. One that is apparently synched up with your mind enough to teleport at the same time as you without a signal.”

“I’d love to explain everything, but I’ve known you for less than a day. So sorry, but maybe when I know a little more about you than just your names.” Elach said.

Metea/Irric raised an eyebrow. “Did you just say names?”

“Yeah?” Elach said. “Metea and Irric. They sound overlapping, like people are saying both of them at once, but it sounds the same when I say it so I figured it was a cultural thing.”

“Rainshear?” Metea/Irric called, her voice perfectly flat.

“Yes?”

“Elach can hear both of my names.”

“Another thing to talk about over breakfast.” Rainshear called, though her voice had gone monotone. “Everything’s ready, so come on in.”

Elach started to back away slowly, then remembered how he’d gotten in here in the first place. Metea/Irric looked at him with obvious fear and aggression, her body tensing as if she was ready for him to run. She’d just seen him teleport, he realized, and she probably expected him to teleport out and away from them and spill whatever secret he’d just unwittingly brought to light.

He took one more step and Metea/Irric lunged, grabbing him by his arm and whirling him around to hold it behind him. He readied his Issi to try and create an anchor to teleport away, but his Issi felt wrong. It was hyperactive, bouncing all about his container like it held no weight and was blown by storm winds. He couldn’t get a grip. And by the way Flow waddled on the ground cawing at Metea/Irric, they couldn’t get a grip either.

“Please don’t struggle. I can’t risk you teleporting away, but I don’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry.” Metea/Irric apologized, turning Elach around and facing him towards the kitchen as he struggled. “If word gets out about me, I’d be in pretty serious danger. And nobody should have been able to hear through the warding stones I wear around my ankles.”

“Warding stones?” Elach asked, trying to twist free of Metea/Irric’s grip. “Serious danger? What in the hells are you talking about?”

“I’ll tell you after I’m sure it’s safe to.” Metea/Irric said, pushing Elach forward with a knee in his butt. Not hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to be uncomfortable. “Its not that I don’t trust you, especially since Revel vouched for you, but I can’t risk it until I know you a little better.”

Metea/Irric coaxed Elach through the open area that led to the kitchen, letting go just moments before wet chains dripped around Elach and lightly tied his arms to his sides. Flow squawked in surprise as heavy drips splattered in place around them as well, and Metea/Irric leaned down to pick them up. As Rainshear set a plate of fried pastries dotted with fruits down on the table, Elach heard Flow start singing the song they’d sung to help him compress his Issi. The wobbly feeling began to fade away, but from the pleading look Metea/Irric shot him, he got a feeling there was far more to this than he knew.

“Not now, Flow.” He said, locking eyes with them. He envisioned the bottles of existential bleed in his headspace, the final backup plan if either of the women decided he wasn’t trustworthy enough. “Let’s see how this goes first.”

Flow stopped singing, but Elach heard the song echoing in his headspace. That was another thing he needed to check out, if Metea/Irric and Rainshear didn’t kill him.

“Believe it or not, I don’t want to hurt you. Either of you.” Metea/Irric said, plopping Flow down on the table who muttered a few low caws. “But you can’t just say something like that and not expect us to get scared. People like me aren’t exactly welcome here in the glacier.”

“And I’m new to the glacier, so I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Elach retorted as Metea/Irric pulled out a chair for him to sit. He held his tongue for a moment before letting out a slightly confused “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Metea/Irric said with a small smile, disappearing in a strong breeze and reappearing in the chair opposite Elach. She piled some of each of the foods on display on a plate, placing it before Flow who just looked at it in surprise. “Eat whatever you want, um, Elach’s bird. Rainshear made more than enough.”

“Only because you insisted.” Rainshear said as she appeared in the last chair with a spray of mist. “Are you sure you want to trust him? We could lead him out of the glacier and be done with this before noon.”

Flow started digging shamelessly into the spread Rainshear had prepared. The noises they made were so indulgent Elach couldn’t help but stare, the tearing of meats and wet popping of berries coming so fast it seemed like Flow hadn’t eated in days.

“Do you ever feed that thing?” Metea/Irric sighed. Elach turned to address her question, only to see a badly hidden smirk on her lips.

“Three times a day.” Elach muttered. “But you wouldn’t guess it from looking at them.”

“Greedy little thing, aren’t they?” Rainshear said with a chuckle. “You said their name was Flow, right?”

“Flow is Flow.” Elach said with a nod.

“And Flow is a wisp manifestation. A very young manifestation.” Rainshear stated. “How did you come into possession of such a young manifestation, Elach?”

“Well, I don’t possess Flow.” Elach said. “They’re my partner.”

Metea/Irric pursed her lips, and Rainshear raised an eyebrow.

“Not that way, you sickos.” Elach muttered, shaking his head. “Flow is working with me towards my goals.”

“And what are those goals?” Rainshear asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Elach said.

“Would it be killing an eternal?” Metea/Irric said plainly, planting her chin on one of her palms and staring openly at Flow’s ravenous tendencies.

“So that’s where you went yesterday.” Elach muttered. “To find Metea/Irric.”

“You can’t just drop something like ‘the eternals can, and have, died’ on someone and expect them not to react.” Rainshear said “I had to talk to someone about it, and I sure wasn’t going to go to Glasrime.”

“We decided to trust that you were telling the truth.” Metea/Irric added. “And we were going to pry more out of you at breakfast. Which I guess we are kind of doing, just not how we thought we would be.”

“You decided to trust him.” Rainshear muttered under her breath.

Elach ignored Rainshear’s mutterings. “Glad to know you already had plans to interrogate me.” He said, but for some reason he couldn’t muster the malice he wanted to. Maybe it was part of Rainshear’s Issi. Like a calming rain or something. “Seems like I’m not going anywhere, so why don’t we get this show on the road? I’ll start; I’m actually bonded to Flow. Now it’s your turn.”

“Yeah, we figured that out when both of your Issi felt pretty much the same.” Metea/Irric said, waving one of her hands while the other was filled with fritter. “But they aren’t your master, right? That’s someone else?”

“They aren’t my patron either.” Elach said. He smirked at the confused looks he got, and refused to say any more.