Queen Minul II stood very still in the suddenly cramped feeling hallway, her only comfort was Saif standing a step ahead of her. His presence felt like a boulder in the river of power pouring through the corridor. Beyond him, the passage bulged obscenely, like the building itself was heavy with child, or trying to let some monstrous creature pass.

Another ripple through the walls and floor, the excess space making everything bulge and move weirdly. On reflex, she tried steadying herself while reaching for the wall, but it didn’t come to her. What had previously been well within arm’s reach was suddenly meters beyond her grasp. The fact that the effect lingered for seconds after its passing spoke to the incoherent power behind it.

She looked toward the triplet master before her. She could see his gritted teeth, the hard look in his orange eyes, the drawn down bushy dark brows. Minul couldn’t read what his expression detailed, only his displeasure. He had a surprisingly regal bearing to him, that must’ve come from years as a triplet master with all the authority that power gave him over other tethered.

Beyond him screamed Saleema. She flailed against the walls and ceiling, sending waves of space through them. Her presence was so wild that Minul had to sheathe her Sword all the way into native presence to avoid too close a touch. If Saleema had been any stronger, or Minul any weaker, the Queen might’ve been incoherent on the floor. Or, at least, whimpering in outright fear.

Inaaya al-Bacchus was doing just that, her face as pale as any ankirians ever got. Her wide-eyed stare spoke of the fear she was still suffering under. Minul doubted it would leave anytime soon, they were in a hallway leading to the princess’ rooms after all. Saleema had been coming for her.

Minul heard Saleema re-start her speech again with a scream and returned her attention back on woman. Her hair was slipping out of the intricate knot servants had put it in. Thick dark hairs jutted every which way, they clung to the tethered sweat stained face. Droplets were clear to see even from the shifting distance, they had soaked the collar of the space generator’s dress. Broken yellow eyes revealing purple beneath the cracks passed over Minul, causing the Queen to shiver.

“Father! Please!” Saleema continued in an accent that Minul struggled to understand, which was surprising seeing as how she’d grown up in Ankiria and was fluent in the language. More words escaped Saleema that the Queen thought she should recognize but they were so twisted that she couldn’t.

Something about a son… Minul thought, Or something about water, though, son makes more sense coming from her.

“Something’s wrong! I can feel it!… Umair? He’s not…” more words she couldn’t understand, “It’s not him…”

The Queen glanced behind her, at the end of the passage, was a small lounge that held multiple apartments for high-society guests, the door was cracked open and she could see people peeking through. She almost lurched forwards as she caught a sentence she recognized, True blood heir? She’s looking for her true blood heir? Minul wetted her lips, when she’d gone through her awakening, bringing her eyes to the radiant yellow of the royal family, she’d been the true blood heir of her mother. But that’s a ceremonial title, Minul tried thinking back to her history lessons of her childhood, It hasn’t been in common use for over two-hundred years, her eyes lingered on Saleema’s yellow and purple. Maybe her son died before he could under go his awakening… She would need to get a record of all ankirian space tethered in the royal line.

That would still be an expansive list since every child of the royal line was a tethered, though she might be able to cut it down if she could separate them into manipulator and generator.

Down the corridor behind Minul, Inaaya, and Saif, the door opened and someone rushed past the guards. His gray hair was crusted with snow as he hauled a flurry of ice behind him. Minul turned to fully examine the newcomer. Zubair was riding in on a tiny avalanche around his feet, the ice and snow propelling him forwards as he locked eyes on Inaaya’s cowering form.

“Father, please help me…” Saleema called out in a weak voice and Minul saw her fall to her knees, tears flowing freely. “Something’s wrong, I don’t understand… I’m so confused.” Her language was clearing up returning to the accent common in the capital.

Another reason why it couldn’t be a rural accent, Minul noted keeping her awareness on both the newcomer and the insane tethered.

“He is my son, is he not?”

Zubair slid down onto his knees and caught Inaaya around the waist, he immediately hauled her away, giving Minul a chilling glare. From the way the princess seemed to recover, he was also shielding her from Saleema’s influence.

“Father? Can’t you help me?”

After being dragged halfway down the corridor Inaaya’s wits seemed to return to her again. Luckily, her native presence hadn’t fully collapsed and she recovered quickly. Moments later, Naadiya, the twin master, appeared in the doorway moving past the princess and triplet master. She strode down the hallway stopping just behind Saif.

She seemed to startle at his grim face before steeling herself, “Where are the princess’ guards? Shouldn’t they have been pulling her away?”

Saif didn’t respond, his hard gaze locked on Saleema. After a few moments, long enough that Minul realized he wasn’t going to answer, she pointed behind Saleema, “She locked them away.”

“All of them?” Naadiya asked her face growing grim.

“And some of my own.”

Minul heard footsteps approach from behind and saw Zubair join them, “How do you want to do this?”

Minul wondered if she should take offense at the two masters almost completely ignoring her, but she decided that this was their field of expertise. They might literally be the only ones able to handle this.

“She tries to seal off anyone that approaches her,” Saif shot Minul a look over his shoulder. Smoke started rising in drifts from his skin, Minul felt heat coming off that smoke strong enough to curl the small hairs on her arms completely bypassing her native presence. Flickers of embers swirled in the smoke like dancing lights, “That means you need to back off,” he turned his attention to the masters then, “Kid, I want you next to me, Naadiya, you’re going to play support pushing where she’s slipping free.”

“We’re oppressing her?” Naadiya’s couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice.

“Yes we are.” Zubair said though he didn’t look happy about it. Minul started backing off as she sensed tether-senses reaching out, layered with the Disciplines of Wings and Piercer. The weight of six masters emerged in front of her, more even, as they clashed with Saleema’s presence. Each of the tethered before were worth more than two masters in skill and ability, if not power.

Minul kept backing away until she finally felt her native presence reassert itself, she realized that she was right next to the door.

“There’s something wrong with me, isn’t there?” she heard Saleema ask, though she sounded sad and scared she still put up a fierce fight with the masters.

“Now!” Saif growled and something flashed into existence. She got a sense of something powerful rearing its head for a second, her knees collapsed from the sense, as did Inaaya’s next to her, and she heard more than one person fall over through the cracked door.

Saleema just started crying as her presence was overwhelmed, “Naadiya, carry her, we’ve got her,” Saif walked away the masters in tow as they stepped down the corridor the way Saleema had originally come, back to her own apartments.

“What was that?” Minul heard someone say.

“That was true masters at work, student,” a more familiar voice said. She turned to see Master Floki, the space teacher, standing with a student next to him. She idly noted that neither of them were wearing any pins.

Good, then she straightened her back and turned fully to look at the master. “Master Floki of the academy.”

“Your Highness, the majestic Queen Minul II,” Floki said bowing as much as his aged body could manage. The student stared at her with wide eyes, lingering on her yellow ones. She idly noted his one pupil running down into the iris like a teardrop. She would’ve examined him with her own senses if they hadn’t been numbed by the display earlier.

“Shit,” he muttered suddenly and bowed until his eyes were on height with his knees. “Majesty highness,” he muttered obviously flushed.

“Your Majesty, may I introduce student Ranvir,” Floki said. Minul cursed her numbed senses as the old master kept speaking. She knew why he was here, of course, she’d sent for him once she’d found out more than fifty guardsmen had been captured in Saleema’s pocket-spaces. She hadn’t thought he would bring Ranvir with him, however, that could complicate things.

“Greetings student,” Minul said causing more bumbling from the country boy. “I believe there may have to be a slight delay before you can join the work. You will have to wait on a signal for whether or not you can join Master Floki.”

“Yes, ma’am highness,” he replied nodding, then bowing again for good measure. Master Floki only sighed in response.