Sechen had an inkling what Paui wanted, but there was no reason to flat-out deny her without even running it past Prisoner first. Pulling Metea/Irric away from Novia wasn’t near as difficult as she thought it would be, but the real Metea/Irric was always understanding. Nothing like the crass woman who muttered and insulted her all the way back to the statue. It was so frustrating that she couldn’t do anything to help her. At least she was doing something for Elach, but Prisoner didn’t even know how to help Metea/Irric. It almost dulled the verbal assault to nothing, but almost nothing was still something.

Someone threw their arm over Sechen’s shoulder, and she rolled her eyes as she glimpsed a purple tattoo down that arm. “Long time no see, you two! Any luck with the list?”

“As if you don’t already know.” Metea/Irric spat, throwing Prisoner’s arm off her shoulder as she walked towards the fountain. “Let’s get out of here. Nobody worth a damn in this entire place.”

“She’s a beacon of joy, ain’t she?” Prisoner chuckled. “Highriver silt, memorial water, and austroferric powder. Nice work, ringlet.”

“Yeah, thanks, but we aren’t done yet. Paui wants us to meet her.” Sechen pulled out her map as Prisoner hovered over her shoulder. She pointed to the mark Paui had made on the map adjacent to the huge square in the middle of the district that represented the tower. “I’m pretty sure she’s taking us to meet with Hoalt. You wanted to meet him, right?”

“On my terms. Noone else’s.” Prisoner said, gesturing for Sechen to pass him the map. “You marked down a lot more than three stores. What gives, Ringlet?”

“The list said they had some of the stuff you needed, but the people running the stores hated me. I marked them down so you could go back to them tomorrow.” Sechen explained. “Maybe they’ll deal with you.”

“Nah. Screw them.” Prisoner wiped his thumb across the ink, and it spilled off the page like it was coated in oil. “This Paui, who are they? One of the shopkeepers?”

“She’s a runner in General Temery’s unit. She’s delivering Hoalt a message later tonight, and I think she wants us to be there for some reason.” Sechen pointed again at Paui’s mark. “It’s up to you, but I think we should go. Hoalt has to have the rest of the ingredients, right?”

“His prices are steep. And they ain’t always in coin.” Prisoner warned. “You think this Paui can be trusted, ringlet? She ain’t one of Glasrime’s spies?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I know who the spies are. If you can call three people making a scene in public spies.”

Sechen relayed Brynn’s speech to Prisoner, his smile growing wider by the word. “Oh, Glasrime’s scrapin’ the bottom of the bucket to chase us down, ain’t he? Cloudy must’ve put down the only capable practitioners back in that ambush of theirs.”

“Could be. You’ve also gotta go tell Highriver that we stole her friend’s remains from Glasrime, instead of making them ourselves. We can do that on the way, if you want, or we can come back tomorrow.” Sechen said. “Oh, and Novia wants to meet you.”

“We shouldn’t keep this Paui waiting, so how’s about we go to Highriver tomorrow? I’ll pop in to say hi to Novia on the same day.” Prisoner turned to Metea/Irric, who was talking at Gilt closer to the fountain. “You two comin’ with us, or do I need to give you the room keys?”

“Room keys.” Metea/Irric demanded.

“I suppose I will go back as well.” Gilt said. “And I could not help but overhear your conversation; would you place a technique on us that will mask us from the Glasrime apprentices if they are waiting in ambush?”

“Good point.” Prisoner ran a finger down his forearm, smudging his tattoo into illegible ink before the soft whisper of Issi emanated from his finger. When he finished, there were two more symbols added to his arm; a ribbon and a cloud. “There ya go. You should be mostly invisible for a good three hours, which’ll be plenty of time for you two to make it back. If we don’t show up eventually, come back here at noon tomorrow and meet at this statue again.”

“Understood.” Gilt nodded. “I leave sleepy in your care.”

“He’s safer in here,” Prisoner tapped his temple, “than anywhere else on the world piece, shiny. See you two later.”

Gilt looked between Prisoner and Metea/Irric, then sighed and trudged off to follow the latter.

“Alright, ringlet, we don’t got a whole lot of time here, so I’m gonna teleport us.” Prisoner said as soon as Metea/Irric and Gilt were out of earshot. “Which means I’m gonna be bone dry on Issi if old scaly decides we’re better snacks than we are assets.”

“You think I’d be able to do anything against Hoalt?” Sechen asked suspiciously.

“Oh, hells, no.” Prisoner shook his head. “Not yet. You need to be ready to protect sleepy if I’ve gotta jettison him at a moment’s notice.”

“That makes a lot more sense.” Sechen said as Prisoner wove an intricate weave of purple Issi threads. He motioned for her to stick out her hand, then placed the entire weave on the back of Sechen’s non-manifested arm. “The whole thing this time? Why not just a piece?”

“Because I’m only teleportin’ you and me. Don’t need to break it up if it’s the two of us.” Prisoner said. Sechen felt his pattern growing in power as his Issi sheltered her, and then she was suddenly in front of a very ornate building.

Sechen had been expecting a castle, what with some of General Temery’s temporary buildings being castles, but this was more like a typical mansion she’d find one of in each of the smaller, nameless villages. Pointlessly huge, perfectly manicured yard with exotic trees and flowers, and of course it was black and gold. What it was missing, however, was a fence. But as she looked closer, there were quite a few benches littered over the yard. And a gazebo with a board pinned between two columns, a playground, and a few bridges over a river that ran through the left side of the property. It looked more like a public park than a rich patron’s property.

“I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting that.” Prisoner said, putting to words how Sechen felt. “Last I remember, the fences ‘round this place were two of me tall and wickedly spiked to keep out anyone with a thick enough skull to try and sneak in.”

“Maybe Hoalt had a change of heart.” Sechen offered. “Or he doesn’t live here anymore.”

“I’m votin’ for option number two. Your friend tell you to wait for her here, or are we supposed to knock?”

“Paui said to meet her here. That’s it.” Sechen said, pulling out her map and checking that she was in the right spot. “We’re in the right spot, so I guess we wait?”

“Might as well take advantage of those benches, then.” Prisoner said, and suddenly Sechen was standing right in front of a bench.

“You teleported us fifty feet? Why?”

“Because the technique still had some juice left. Which it don’t no more.” Prisoner gestured at Sechen’s hand, and she brought it up to see that the symbol had completely disappeared. “This is a good chance to check up on your progress, ringlet. Anythin’ interestin’ to report?”

Sechen shrugged as she sat down. “I can walk for way longer, but that’s pretty obvious. And since you haven’t started teaching me anything else, that’s the entirety of my report.”

“That’s fine and dandy, but I’m askin’ about your headspace problem. Any traction on that?”

“...I don’t think I ever told you about that.” Sechen narrowed her eyebrows at Prisoner.

“I can feel it without you sayin’ a thing, sister. That thing’s gatherin’ cobwebs what with how you’ve been neglectin’ it.” Prisoner leaned back, the bench creaking under his weight. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, I’ll shut my trap and won’t ask again. So, you want me to quiet down?”

Sechen started to say yes, but a quick glance downward caught the word before it came out. Her legs looked like… well, someone else’s. She had calf and thigh muscles, and she twisted her back just a little, feeling something other than resistance as it worked. It wasn’t anything like Paui, or Metea/Irric, and certainly not like Elach, who was built like a tank; but it was her. And she wasn’t all skin and bones, thanks to Prisoner’s guidance and help. A week’s worth of which had done more than years of Revel’s screwups.

“I don’t want to talk about it, but I think I need to.” Sechen said quietly. “I know exactly why my headspace is the way it is, but can I pretend I don’t?”

“Your secrets don’t bother me, sister. Work around ‘em as you need to.”

“Okay.” Sechen let out a long breath, her hands twisted together in a nervous mass. “It doesn’t feel like my headspace is mine. It’s rundown and decrepit, and nothing I tried to do got rid of any of the rubble or changed anything. I hear whispers in the dark, and it’s terrifying while I’m in there, even if looking back it shouldn’t be that bad.”

Prisoner nodded. “I’ve got an idea of what’s happenin’, if you want me to say it.”

“It’s probably wrong, but go ahead.”

“Your wisp’s fightin’ you for control. It got neglected for so long it got fed up, and now it’s tryin’ to build itself up whether you help it out or not. Or, other thought, you lost a bond before you met Revel and now the echoes of that bond are screwin’ with your headspace. Either of those sound right?”

“Nope.” Sechen shook her head.

“Mm. Then it’s gotta have somethin’ to do with those patched up parts of your brain. But I ain’t got a clue as to how those got there…” Prisoner shook his head. “I’m bein’ impolite. If you want to take back your headspace, you gotta build up your self-image. Keep at what we’re already doin’, then after a little Issi trainin’ you’ll be ready to start the long road of remodelin’.”

“Another wait and see. Great.” Sechen said with a small smile tugging at her lips. “Now that my legs are getting better, when do we move on to the rest of my body?”

“Whenever you feel up to it. You ain’t in peak physical condition yet, but your back, legs, and core are good enough to support the rest of your body. That ain’t to say you’re done with ‘em, you’ll actually have to work on ‘em more. But it’ll be part of a regular routine, not the entire routine.” Prisoner held out a closed fist, palm down, over Sechen’s lap. She held a hand under it, a small crystal dropping into her palm. “That’s got your routine in it, along with which parts are safe to do alone and which you should be doin’ with someone there to help if things go sideways. It’ll shatter if you try to access it when you’ve pushed beyond what it’s teachin’, then we’ll work together to make another.”

Sechen nodded as she put the crystal in her bag next to the lighter and her other crystal. “Thanks.”

“Consider it an investment in sleepy’s future in case I pop outta existence for some reason.” Prisoner said with a smile. “Now, unless you want your new friend overhearin’ our conversation, I think it’s about time we clammed up.”