Prisoner thought for a moment, then nodded to himself.

“I’m thinkin’ we’ll need ten people, and that ain’t countin’ sleepy’s bird. They’re a part of sleepy’s Issi, so they’re part of his one. Ten is a good number, but I can’t teach four more people like I’m teachin’ you three. That general that was in charge of fumbly’s a good candidate, but I ain’t sure if she’ll agree to what we need to do. I ain’t met Revelation, but you don’t seem too keen on her anymore, right ringlet?”

“If you mean as a master, then no. You’ve taught me more in four weeks than Revel did the whole time I was with her. But I am not leaving her behind in wherever this existence goes when an eternal dies. That isn’t negotiable.”

“We also need to attempt contact with Kayvee.” Gilt added. “He lived an extremely similar life to Elach, and as such will have the same attributes he has shown. He will make an excellent addition to our ranks.”

“Like I said, half a decade. I ain’t counting Revelation in our group of ten, but I’ll find a way to keep her from bein’ erased. Fumbly, you think you could convince your general to come kill an eternal with us?”

Paui thought for a moment, intertwining her fingers together on the table as she did. She seemed conflicted. “Maybe? I already told you that something happened with her and Emperor Hoalt, but she never told us anything. Atrem got added to our unit a few days later, and then Temery suddenly started doing everything to the letter, leaving an obvious trail of everything she did, and just sort of sucking up to Hoalt.” Paui blushed as she caught what she said. “Emperor Hoalt, I mean. I’m not disrespecting him like all of you do.”

“Respect? Fumbly, the only respect among people like the overgrown gecko and I is that we ain’t tryin’ to kill each other.” Prisoner bit into a juicy green vegetable for emphasis, bright orange seeds dribbling down his chin in the juices. “Without that trust, everythin’ goes to hell. If you think me callin’ him anythin’ but the name he gave himself is disrespect, then you’re gonna have one hell of a time when you start gettin’ hazed by the other practitioners.”

“Like you calling my fumbly?” Paui muttered.

“Exactly. But the names they give you’ll be far less kind. I’m honestly surprised the military didn’t beat all that innocence outta you. The old old scaly would’a had you marchin’ ‘round like mindless drones on day two.”

“Well, I’m really glad that Emperor Hoalt isn’t like that any more. General Temery was strict with us, but we felt like a family. A family away from the Gilded Night. A family of people who weren’t good enough to be picked up by manifestations that wanted to train us personally.”

“Not…” Prisoner shook his head with a smirk. “Alright, fumbly, you ain’t pullin’ my chain here, are you? Because if you ain’t, I’ve got a whole ‘nother avenue of trainin’ that I think’ll start showin’ results.”

“You’re gonna start training her like you’re going to train me, right?” Sechen asked.

“Right-o.” Prisoner said, jabbing a finger down at the table as he spoke. “From the ground up, startin’ with gettin’ those Issi pathways of yours workin’ the proper amount then movin’ on to gettin’ them used to havin’ techniques flowin’ through ‘em. It might not make much of a difference, but when you’re scrapin’ at the ceiling for another inch of clearance, you’ll thank me for every advantage you’ve got.”

“That’s a lot of assurance that we’re going to thank you later, so is the actual training going to be that terrible? Make us want to cut off our limbs from the absolute exhaustion we’re going to feel?” Sechen rested her head on her hand, idly reaching out for a bowl of chips. “I’m not sure how much worse it can get than my muscles wanting to tear themselves in two with every step, but I’ll look forward to whatever torture you’ve got planned for the next five years.”

“Some steps to gettin’ strong don’t need to hurt, but if you do it wrong it will. Or if you want to do it fast. I hope it don’t come to that, but if an eternal catches our scent, fast is the only option we’ll have.”

“Are you going to begin Paui and Sechen’s true training any time soon?” Gilt asked. “They are at a similar point to the other practitioners we have seen in the pillar, and if you wish for us to continue on without you, they will need to be far more competent in wielding their Issi than they are at present.”

Prisoner sighed, shifting in his seat as if he couldn’t get comfortable. “Not until I can work out how to fix fumbly’s clumsy streak and ringlet’s jittery hands. I’ve got an unpleasant theory ‘bout fumbly, but ringlet’s just gotta strengthen her hands until she can thread a needle without focusin’ one hundred percent of her brain power on it.”

“Unpleasant theory?” Paui asked nervously. She turned to Sechen with worry on her face. “What does he mean by that?”

“I mean Runfree might be givin’ you the runaround. Your Issi feels incomplete, like the bond ain’t done right. A kind’ve disdain in there preventin’ you from usin’ their Issi to its fullest potential. The thing is; I can’t tell from which side that disdain’s comin’ from.” Prisoner said flippantly, looking at Paui out of the corner of his eye. “You mind enlightenin’ me as to why that might be?”

Paui didn’t say anything for a long time, stunned into silence. She was silent for so long that Prisoner continued on with a sigh.

“I didn’t feel it at first, but the more I watch you try to use your Issi, the more it feels wrong. Like tryin’ to turn a water wheel from squeezin’ out a wet sponge when you’ve got a bucket right there. And you keep seein’ the bucket, but always go back to the sponge for some forsaken reason.” Prisoner leaned forward. “Why’re you usin’ the sponge, Paui?”

“Runfree… they…” Paui swallowed hard. “I don’t deserve their power. I failed their trial. But my parents… they bought my power. Bribed the overseer, who wasn’t Runfree, to report false records back to Runfree. Nothing that would make me a prodigy, but enough that I pushed someone who actually deserved Runfree’s Issi out of a bond.”

“Ah, guilt. Not you, shiny, sit down.” Prisoner said as Gilt perked up. He harrumphed and laid back down on his paws. “Guilt, regret, and a sense of undeserving are the three mental killers of progress. And you, sister? You seem to be carryin’ a little bit of all three. And I know that no honeyed words’ll make it go away, but you gotta let go of it. You’ve got Runfree’s Issi, and givin’ it back ain’t gonna give whoever didn’t make it another chance.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Paui said, pulling her knees up to her chest. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I…”

“Cheated? Got what you didn’t deserve? Lived five or so years of your life without proper access to Issi because you felt like your Issi ain’t yours?” Prisoner shook his head. “Enough with that, fumbly. I’m gonna make you get used to your Issi. It’s seeped into your everyday, even when you don’t got Issi coursin’ through your pathways, that’s how bad it’s gotten. You felt bad ‘bout stealin’ a future from some other kid on the borderline of passin’? We’re gonna be stealin’ the future of most every livin’ being on the world piece, and replacin’ it with something different. Maybe somethin’ better, maybe somethin’ worse. But you’ve gotta be ready to live with that knowledge. And you can’t feel guilty about it.”

“...Why don’t I feel as bad about that as I do when I think of that one person I stole from?” Paui asked. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“An impersonal task is infinitely easier to justify than a personal one. Killing with your own hands will weigh on your conscience for decades longer, and with a much heavier burden, than giving the order to eradicate an entire village of your enemies.” Gilt said plainly, eliciting looks from all around the table. “I am beginning to restore a small modicum of my memories from when I was a wisp. It seems I am… ancient. Not all of them are from this version of our world, either.”

“‘Cause you’re a wisp. Things don’t work the same for you. You remember Cavriss, shiny?”

“Fleeting mentions and blurry thoughts. Nothing solid as of yet, as most all of my memories are not perceived through the same senses I now have. As if I am interpreting an abstract painting inspired by real events.”

“Well, if you end up rememberin’ anythin’ ‘bout Cavriss’s fall, you tell your new friend Prisoner, you hear? Old scaly wouldn’t tell us anythin’, and it’s been buggin’ me ever since.”

“I will.”

“Good. Good. I want to know how that bastard went down.” Prisoner grumbled, a trinket flashing between his knuckles for the briefest moment before disappearing. “Now; cloudy. We droppin’ her off on Novia’s doorstep, or no?”

The meeting went deep into the hours of the night, though it changed topics after an hour or so to meaningless conversation. Gilt’s musings on their current situation, Prisoner’s rebuttals that left Gilt annoyed but with a hint of curiosity, and Paui’s constant asks for clarification that Sechen would have voiced herself if she wasn’t certain Paui would voice them first. They never did decide on whether they were going to leave Metea/Irric with Novia or not, as the woman herself wasn’t in her right mind to decide.

One moment she seemed excited at the prospect, her grey eyes glimmering with the intelligence Sechen knew was behind them, then dying down to a shadow of her former self as she either talked herself down or blew up at them for trying to get rid of her. In the end, Prisoner elected himself as Metea/Irric’s full-time caretaker, working day and night to try and get her separating halves back to one fully realized being.

Which left Sechen, Gilt and Paui to their own devices. With a mountain of pre-prepared notes and instructions on how to get over their individual hurdles. How Prisoner found the time to write all of this Sechen couldn’t even begin to guess, but as she stepped out onto the rooftop training grounds, the book filled with scribbles and diagrams from Prisoner under her arm, she felt more like a practitioner than she ever had under Revel’s wing. Revel’s sheltering wings.

Paui shook her head in disbelief as she read through a portion of her own notes. “How did he manage a whole write up on ‘self-tainted’ bonds? We only talked about it last night.”

“I’ve got a feeling he’s got way more in his headspace than he lets on.” Sechen said as she set down her notes, turning to a page with exercises that would apparently help with her shaking hands. She gripped the purple crystal trapped in a silver cage around her neck and pushed some Issi into it, feeling its bizarre influence spread over her. “You doing any exercises today, or did he give you mostly brain work?”

“Brain work.” Paui said a few seconds later, already immersing herself in Prisoner’s writings.

Sechen nodded and turned away, leaving Paui to her own devices. She’d eventually ask Sechen a question neither of them had the answer to, and Sechen would try to come up with an answer that sort of made sense, then they’d go to Prisoner afterwards and get a real answer.