“Take a deep breath in.” Ranvir said, doing his best to mimic Kirs’ tone of voice when she guided meditation. He sat with Sansir in one of the room beneath the lobby of the Masters’ Tower. Master Orulf and Master Ayvir stood outside, waiting for the green light from Ranvir and Kirs, respectively.

He kept his tether-sense close on Sansir throughout the guided meditation, driving him deeper into the ritual state. It took nearly ten minutes longer than it took Kirs, but he managed to get Sansir sufficiently deep that he could maintain himself.

“Now start moving through the various stages, while I get Master Orulf.” Ranvir got up smoothly, despite the tension in his back and thighs from sitting on the cold floor for so long.

Opening the door, he saw that Master Ayvir had already disappeared into the adjacent room, though a light Master sent to assist him if needed still waited outside. His presence, however, was dwarfed by the shadow of the ice Master, who’s overwhelming physique seemed to pull attention to him.

“He’s ready.” Ranvir said. “Do you want me to stay inside?”

“I’d prefer to be alone.” Orulf said, his eyes lingered a moment on Ranvir. Ranvir didn’t think he was going to elaborate, but then he continued. “I’ve had better results when students haven’t had anyone to show off to.” Then he nodded to the space manipulator and bowed his head beneath the door frame.

Ranvir stared at the door as it closed in his face. Moments later, he felt Master Orulf embrace the pressure and energy flooded the room. Similarly, he realized that light energy flooded the room next door.

“You’re a weird sort, you know that?”

Ranvir looked over at Ayvir’s emergency assistance, and gave him a tight smile. “We do what works.” Then he bowed slightly, before heading towards the stairs where he sensed Kirs and Esmund waiting. The corridors were cramped when two normal sized people had to fit, but with Orulf it was outright oppressive.

“Hey.” Es greeted Ranvir, as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The couple sat a few steps up holding hands. Ranvir sensed Esmund’s far stronger tether-sense seep past him and into the two rooms, monitoring the events as best he could. Esmund used strength to make up for his lack of finesse when using his tether-sense. If it wasn’t for what Ranvir had started noticing more and more often from the other Masters, he would’ve called it sloppy.

Ranvir opened his mouth to reply when his sense for Sansir’s power shifted. Twisting, he took two steps before relaxing as the power went back to normal. The growth of ice that represented Sansir’s power in his mind, had suddenly flexed and reshaped before falling back to normal.

“Did you feel that?” Ranvir asked, turning to look at a wide-eyed Esmund. His short friend simply nodded, as he slowly got to his feet. Kirs stood between them looking from one to the other.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Sansir’s power… changed.” Ranvir said, taking in deep breaths to calm himself.

“Is that good or bad?” Kirs asked, stepping closer to Esmund. She put a hand on her boyfriend’s chest moving it in tandem to his breathing, then slowing down rapidly calming Es as well.

“It’s-“ Ranvir stopped as Grevor’s heaved similarly, if less violently. “Weird.” He shared another glance with Es. He delved deeper into Sansir’s power, since he’d had the strongest reaction. He had to walk closer for his senses to properly reach him. “There are small imperfections in his presence, small breaks and cracks all over.” He frowned. “It feels like yours, Es, after an hour of work.”

He looked back, having heard them following him. A smile started cresting on Kirs’ face. “That’s good, right? They’re advancing faster.”

Es looked less than happy. “It might be… But when I broke through, it felt like an exhalation. I tore through the wall and breathed out all my power. When my Dagger formed, all the power I’d gathered blew through it.”

“So the real question is actually whether this is from exercises granting them more control, or if it’s allowing them to deploy more power.” Ranvir said, turning back to look at the doors.

Ayvir’s assistant had disappeared into Grevor’s room at some point, though Ranvir wasn’t sure when.

“I guess we gotta wait and see.” Kirs said, pulling on Es’ arm. “Preferably from the stairs.”

The door slid open, cold billowed out revealing a rime covered Master Orulf. His cheeks and nose were rosy with cold as he shoved an equally chilled looked Sansir out of the room. Behind the Master, Ranvir saw frost covered every surface of the room. With a scooping motion, Master Orulf gathered all the ice into a ball in his hand.

“They aren’t done yet?” Sansir asked. One of his pupils had dilated, while the other remained normal and he was blinking rapidly. He swayed on his feet, clearly exhausted from the power required to advance. “Grevor, I mean?”

Ranvir shook his head. Before he could support Sansir under the shoulder, Master Orulf grabbed him and carried him out of the basement, like he was a toddler. The way his head rolled gave credit to the idea, and oddly, made Ranvir feel a little paternal. He shook his head, turning his attention to Grevor’s room. Feeling paternal for a man his own age, with more than a head of height on him.

Grev’s power gave another shudder, the presence of his advancement palpable. It wouldn’t be long now, another half hour or so, if Ranvir were to guess. Esmund and Kirs approached shortly.

“That was only half an hour, right?” She asked, before even coming to a stop before him. “That’s insane! Even Esmund’s was over two hours.” She shoved his shoulder. “That’s your exercise at work!” The compliment shook him more than her physical impact, he barely rocked on his feet.

While Ranvir wasn’t huge, at least not compared to Sansir and Dovar, Kirs was of a size with Esmund and significantly less muscular. Frailer. She didn’t have enough weight on her to move him, not after all his training.

At least, not physically.

Ranvir blushed, instinctively looking away. “Maybe, we don’t know for sure.”

“Give yourself some credit.” Esmund said. “If I’m not wrong, then Grevor is like halfway there. That would be two students coming in under an hour, who’ve both trained in your exercise. Take some credit!”

Ranvir shrugged, though he couldn’t fight off the smile on his lips. “I guess you’re right.”

They waited together in the corridor for a few moments, before a thought struck Ranvir. “I saw frost covering the walls, but I don’t actually know if that’s a powerful expression or average.”

“You think we should go ask Master Orulf, so we can warn Master Ayvir?”

“Light could be a little harder to handle than ice.” Ranvir agreed. “I’ll go, why don’t you wait here. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

Kirs opened her mouth to protest, but let out a squeak of surprise. Red-faced, she turned and slapped Es on the chest, though his wide grin did not speak of penitence.

“At least try not to get caught.” Ranvir said, golden yellow mirth bubbling at his friend’s actions.

“Better yet, let’s not do anything in the Masters’ Tower.” Kirs suggested. Though to Ranvir, and surely Esmund, there was a note of weakness in her voice. He hurried along the corridor and up the stairs before they started anything in front of him.

Ranvir slowed halfway, uncertain of whether Sansir and Master Orulf would be waiting in the lobby or on a higher floor. He tried finding them with his tether-sense, but his range wasn’t great and the Masters that lived in the tower threw out too much noise to search through easily.

The lobby was empty, making him happy he’d spared his energy.

It was, however, only two flights of stairs later that he heard Orulf’s voice through a door opened a crack.

“I’m sorry, Sansir.” The Master’s voice hummed, seemingly as much through the walls as through the air.

Sansir let out a snort of laughter. “You know, I’ve always been weird. Balding at thirteen, my green eyes, my height…” His voice broke for a moment, before it continued. “Even my mother, I didn’t know my father for years because she didn’t want to think of him anymore. But everyone knew that no one knew who my father was. Even Master Tore, while he taught me some carpentry while I lived with him, he never took me in as an apprentice, never really tried teaching me his trade. Never tried to convince me to follow him, instead of the life of a tethered.”

Ranvir hesitated, wondering if he should walk away and wait for a better time. The emotion, the struggle in Sansir’s voice was so raw. He yearned to comfort his friend

“Sansir, I…”

“And then I became a tethered, but that’s okay. It’s just another thing about me that doesn’t belong… and I came here. You showed me how to use my power. You showed me that none of the things that made me different mattered. What was important was my work, what I did with my power.” Tears crept into Sansir’s voice. “Until I went against what you wanted, then you took it all away again…”

Ranvir crept back down the stairs. Part of him regretted that he hadn’t had the willpower to walk away before he overheard too much, while another part regretted that he didn’t have the courage to enter the room.