Ranvir twiddled his thumbs sitting with his back against the wall in the corridor. Two dozens strides away he could hear Master Floki grumbling and cursing to himself as he was forced to work on the problem alone. After observing the master for a few minutes Ranvir understood the plight he faced.

Master Floki for all the power he had, couldn’t directly interact with the pocket-space. The best he could do was ‘lean’ on it, hefting the weight of his Discipline and tether against the Concept infused into Saleema’s space. It was how teachers corralled students who refused to fall in line, however, it was extraordinarily ineffective against someone of your own level and Saleema was above him in all the matters that counted.

Ranvir’s ability to directly touch the space allowed him to manipulate the weak points of the structure and eventually cause a collapse, well before her Concept would give out.

Another shockwave brushed past Ranvir as Master Floki threw his power against the pocket, attaching a tiny bit of generated space to it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t collide.

A messenger turned the corner to the hallway, causing Ranvir to sit up straighter. He got to his feet as the girl, in her mid-to-late teens approached him, “Are you Ranvir?” he nodded for an answer. “The Queen says that you can go ahead.”

“Finally!” Floki exclaimed from a distance.

Ranvir glanced at him before turning back to the girl, “Thank you for the message.”

She turned quickly making her way away from the loud old man and idle student who needed a Queen’s permission to do his work.

“Do you remember how?” Floki asked his voice high and tense as Ranvir approached.

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Ranvir took off his coat and folded up the long sleeved undershirt he had on below it.

He stretched forth his Veil, enveloping the point where the pocket-space connected with reality. This space wasn’t designed with an aperture in mind, it was meant as a prison with no way out. It was too big for him to fully envelop it with his Veil, though with the trick he’d learned last time, he could still access any point in the structure.

Could I make an aperture? Ranvir thought examining the space, making a small tunnel for the guards to pass through would make this a whole lot faster than bringing the entire space down. He started examining the braces and supports looking for the ideal place to start.

“Goddess,” Ranvir muttered as he examined the construction. It was a marvel, from the way the braces were setup to the structure of the stabilizing joints, it even had some sort of joist that crossed the middle of the space, invisible and intangible to normal senses. “This is incredible.”

“Yes, yes, once you’re done admiring her expression then maybe we can save the guardsmen from asphyxiation,” Master Floki groused, “Remember there are two more just like this one.”

“Fine,” Ranvir cursed. He could’ve spent hours or days examining the structure, “But you owe me time with a space after this,” he glared at the master, “I should be with my daughter right now.”

“Daughter? I did hear something about that… She’s yours, then. Congratulations,” then the teacher continued more grudgingly, “I’m sorry I was so grumpy, and I will give you your time, next tether class?”

“For a week.”

The man sighed, “Okay.”

Ranvir cursed internally, he should’ve bargained for a month if Floki was that willing. Instead, he dove into the space looking for places to make an aperture, but after a few minutes he realized, there were no such places. It was prison in true form, there wasn’t even room to put in an exit without taking down a wall.

Instead, Ranvir found a nexus of connection within the walls, a wall- and ceiling-brace and a stabilizer joint met on that single point. He forged his tether-sense into a hammer of his own will, infused it with the intent of twisting the braces and smashed against the nexus.

It felt like hitting a solid stonewall. The expression was so strong Ranvir couldn’t help but feel like a child. Still, after a couple minutes of banging away, sweat dripping down his temple, the nexus was noticeably beginning to fall apart.

“This is harder than I remembered,” he cursed slamming another strike into it. What he really needed was to disconnect the two braces, they were most effective stabilizers, the rest was just beneficial.

“It always is,” Floki said in the background, “Though you’re doing much better than last time. It took you nearly an hour to make that much progress.”

Ranvir startled, really? He couldn’t hold back a bit of laugh, “Last time, I think I couldn’t see enough to realize how big of a job I had before me. It makes the job feel harder to see just how much I have to do.”

“Too blind to realize you were doing the impossible,” Master Floki chuckled.

Ranvir grit his teeth and slammed another hammer into the nexus, he needed to at least break it before the fifteen minute barrier.

“Phew,” Ranvir gasped for breath staggering away from the space, the nexus point now shattered into three unique unconnected pieces, each of them bleeding instantly dissipating energy.

“Well done,” Master Floki said leaning on it again. Ranvir still couldn’t understand much of the Concept that infused the space, but he felt it strain against Floki’s attack. He imagined it was straining harder than previously, but it was honestly impossible to tell.

He took five minutes to gather his strength before searching for the next nexus. He started forming his hammer again, though he paused as he considered, Is a hammer the right choice? Space is stability, in its purest forms. It contains and connects everything. Don’t I want something that can lodge itself into the connection, something to allow me to assert myself into that which it contains?

Narrowing his eyes, Ranvir formed his tether first into a sword, then thinking of the bracelet around his wrist, the father, he formed it into a spear. Ranvir was more trained with spears anyway. Instead of the intent to crush and deform, he wanted to penetrate and access.

Shaping his tether-sense into a spear, Ranvir launched it into the nexus point with as much force as he could. Immediately, the creature appeared standing on all fours and fully aware, it’s massive arms bigger around than Ranvir’s thighs, the powerful rear-legs so reminiscent of the cats he’d seen running around back home.

“Careful, you’re meddling with tools you cannot yet comprehend,” It growled at Ranvir.

Ranvir grit his teeth, “Then explain it to me,” Of course, the creature refused to answer him. The spear had lodged into the nexus, but not deeply enough so he pulled it back and reasserted its purpose before launching it again. And he was launching it in true, throwing his sense forward like he would a spear and so he had the same miraculous aim as he did with a spear.

He struck the indent he’d made the first time, burrowing even deeper. The third throw broke into something and Ranvir’s sense touched the inner workings of the space, the Concept Saleema had infused into it. White pain blanked Ranvir’s mind and he felt his body seize as he fell over. In a moment, the headache of massive over-expression came upon him, enough that he started writhing on the floor.

“Idiot boy.”

It was too much, he couldn’t take it in. It was beyond him in so many ways, it felt like his sense was burning from the connection and he saw something. An image.

She was kept away from the railing, hidden behind his pedestal as he stood before a roaring mass of people, her tiny fingers reaching for him. She couldn’t see his face as he was turned to the crowds below him. She could only make out his broad back, one hand grasping the railing before him, the other raised high into the air. He wore only a simple shirt of rough material with similarly rough embroidery on it, though she also knew it to be the finest handcraft.

Ranvir startled back to himself, panting for air. Someone’s rough hands were leaning him against the wall. An old liver-spotted face appeared before him.

“What did you do, boy?” Master Floki voice seemed to dance to him over a great distance. “How did you do that?” Ranvir blinked blearily as he returned to his own body and senses.

What was that image.

“Are you okay, boy?”

Ranvir blinked again, his vision swimming once more as he started tipping over. Ranvir righted himself before leaning forwards and hurling his breakfast onto the floor. He felt hands clap him on the back, two of them.

Is he clapping me with both hands? Ranvir looked up despite his sudden nausea making the hallway twist like a stream during the snow melt. Two people stood before him, though, Ranvir might be seeing double as the sun also occupied a few spaces in the room, No, wait… That’s torches.

His stomach heaved again, but he managed to hold it back. This time, it settled and the headache started draining away, “I think I’m recovering,” Ranvir said reaching out for hands to support him, as the sickness and pain went away as fast the over-expression came. He finally got a good look at the second person helping him. He was wearing the tan and white of ankirian guard, Ranvir looked him over and sure enough right on his chest, a tabard emblazoned with a sun, “Ankirian.”

“You cracked open the space, Ranvir,” Master Floki said from his other side. Ranvir blinked and looked around, soldiers and guardsmen were littering the floor, more exiting a black void hanging the middle of the room.

“Huh.”