“An art, a science. How to describe ethersmithing? One of the oldest and most ennobled professions, archeological evidence dates ethersmithing’s origins to before recorded history. Indeed, much of the oldest sights of civilization have traces of infused materials. During the era of war preceding the founding of the Central Authority, ethersmithing fully came into its own, as certain smithing methods were found to create weapons that could pierce through shrouds, shifting the face of warfare. This method was discovered by an unshrouded whose name has been lost to time. All that is known about him is his crime. He was the first man to murder a shrouded.” Excerpt from ‘Ethersmithing: The Progenitor of Progress.’

Several hours after Caeden’s argument with Lily, Erik returned. In that time, Caeden had sat and stewed in silence. In the years since these thoughts of futility and helplessness occurred to him, Caeden had never questioned his own thinking. He had never talked to anyone about his worldviews, and hearing them so firmly rejected was startling.

At the time, he had simply been happy to find an ideology that allowed him to let go of the constant anger eating away at him. After all, that anger had cost him part of his own hand and nearly cost him the only career and craft he had ever known. Caeden sincerely enjoyed ethersmithing, and almost losing it to his own thoughtlessness had been jarring and terrifying. Now he was wondering whether he had lost something more important in that trade.

“What’s up with you?” Erik noticed Caeden’s tumultuous thoughts.

“Ahh, Lily and I had a fight.” Caeden shrugged.

“Oh? What about? You two typically get along.” Erik paused halfway through removing his robe.

“That’s a long story.”

“Well, you got me curious, so spill. Plus, if you two are going to be mad at each other, I want to know whose side to be on.” Erik plopped down on his bed with a bounce, leaning forward, robe around his waist.

Caeden sighed. If he had told Lily his story, it was only fair to let Erik know. They were friends too, after all. So he spent the next hour walking Erik through what they had found earlier that day, as well as his own history. It was much easier to talk about the second time. Erik sat through it impassively; the most still and calm Caedeen had ever seen his excitable friend.

“So that’s what happened. I tried to explain to her that nothing we do could matter in the end, but she’s still intent on trying. I don’t understand.” Caeden felt frustrated, both with himself and with Lily.

Quietly and calmly, Erik got up from his bed and moved to one knee in front of Caeden, his height letting him look Caeden dead in the eye. “Buddy, I need you to listen real close on this one, ok? And know that I’m speaking with all the sympathy I can.”

“Ok?” Caeden had no idea what Erik was doing, but he was willing to go along with it based on his serious expression alone.

Then Erik slapped him. Hard.

“Get the fuck over yourself, Caeden.” Erik's derisive tone was as much a blow as his hand had delivered. “Gods, I can’t believe you. Nothing we do matters? Damn, you’re so fucking edgy. That is such an unbelievably stupid way of thinking.”

“What?” Caeden was thrown. Erik never talked like this.

“Do you seriously not understand why Lily is mad at you? Hell, I’m mad at you! That is such a selfish, cowardly way of thinking! You just completely absolve yourself of any responsibility to ever try since you automatically admit you’ll fail. Plus, there’s no way you actually believe that! Your own actions don’t match! Why are you trying to get your uncle healed, Caeden? He’s just going to die anyway! Hell, why are you alive? If you’re so sure nothing matters, why don’t you go ahead and kill yourself? Gods, I’m so pissed!” Erik ranted. He leapt to his feet, waving his arms emphatically and pacing in the narrow space between their beds.

“Plus! Plus, that’s just demonstrably wrong! The idea that only the actions of the overwhelmingly powerful truly matter is factually, provably untrue! Where did ethertech, the most revolutionary thing in the past few centuries, come from Caeden? It wasn’t a family or one of the Councilors! That shit was made by unshrouded out on the continents! Those people changed the whole world without a lick of shroud to them!” Erik shook his head.

“Man, I can’t believe I’m friends with such a mopey dickhead. I almost die on a regular basis for no reason. Do you see me moping and talking about how life is pointless? No! I wake up every day with a fucking smile and. Get. Shit. Done. Because I choose to believe my life has meaning, and value. So you can fuck right off. Lily is right.” Erik finished with a huff, plopping back down on his bed with considerably more force.

Caeden clenched his hand into a fist, anger welling up inside him. Then he slammed his fist into his own face. “Gahh, fuck!” He could taste a bit of blood. “I’m an idiot. I basically told her nothing she did would ever matter.”

“Duh, dumbass. You also told her you basically didn’t care if she lived or died.” Erik rolled his eyes. “For a smart guy, you’re really stupid.”

“You’re telling me.” Caeden shook his head. He wasn’t sure if he had been thinking this way to absolve himself of his guilt over what happened to his parents or escape his own emotions, but he obviously needed a wake-up call. Luckily, he had just the guy. “Thanks, Erik. I never really thought about it enough, obviously.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much. You did come up with the idea when you were eleven. Pretty sure I was kinda full of myself back then too. The difference is I was really vocal about it, and I got scolded for being a self-centered idiot, like I should. I’m just spreading the love.” Erik laughed. “Everyone’s selfish and depressing when they’re growing up, at least a little.”

“I owe her an apology.” Caeden sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

“Damn right, you do.” Erik nodded, falling back into his bed. “Now go to sleep. You’re better off doing it tomorrow, when she’s slept on it.”

“You sure?”

“Unlike you, Mr. Hermit, I know how to talk to people,” Erik winked.

“Yeah, yeah.” Caeden rolled his eyes. “Are you going to sleep in your robe?”

“Oh,” Erik leapt to his feet, somehow entangled his legs in the upper part of his robe that was around his waist, and started to fall over, only to catch himself with his shroud. Completely unphased and suspended almost parallel to the floor, Erik calmly untangled himself. “Yeah, I should get changed.”

“Yup.”

{}

The next morning, Caeden waited in the elevator lobby for Lily, intent on apologizing. He wasn’t sure if she would want to talk to him after the insensitive things he said, but he wanted to try. It wasn’t long before she appeared, holding Snowball with Sky on her shoulder. They had similar schedules, after all. “Lily, I need to apologize.”

She stared at him for a long moment, face completely blank. “Ok.”

Caeden sighed, she wasn’t giving him much to work with, but that was better than outright hostility. “What I said last night was wrong. I just didn’t see it. I’m still not sure I believe you or I could change anything, but you are my friend, and that’s a terrible excuse not to support you in something you care about. I’d like to help if you’ll let me. I was a dick, and I’m sorry.”

Lily let him stew for a good few seconds before she smiled, “What I said got through to you, did it?”

“Actually,” Caeden rubbed the back of his head, “I told Erik what happened, and he set me straight.”

Lily huffed, pouting, “Oh, so my words did nothing, but Erik, freaking Erik manages to change your mind? That hurts.”

“Hey!” Erik, who had been essentially hiding behind Caeden, leapt around him, “I don’t appreciate the insinuation! I can be very persuasive, I’ll have you know.” He turned up his nose, trying to look aloof and respectable. The illusion was ruined by his soaking wet robes, a result of him almost drowning via a malfunctioning sink. Caeden still wasn’t sure how that had happened, but Erik had to use his shroud to get water out of his lungs, so it must have been a very violent malfunction.

Lily turned to look at Caeden incredulously, as if to say, ‘this is the guy that changed your mind?’

Caeden shrugged, “He can be very persuasive. Are we good?”

Lily’s expression shifted, giving him a calculating look. “I’m not exactly happy with you, but you’re apologizing and offering to help, so we’ll consider us good, for now. I had no idea you had such a negative worldview.”

Caeden shrugged. “It helped me cope, and I never questioned it until last night. I’m not going to lie; I do still genuinely think we won’t accomplish anything.”

Erik groaned, “Oh, c’mon! After my awesome speech last night? You have to be reformed.” He pouted and batted his eyes, “Please, for me?”

Caeden rolled his eyes, “You’re not going to turn a pessimistic nihilist into a blind optimist overnight, Erik, be realistic.”

“You do realize the ridiculousness of that statement, right? Erik, be realistic?” Cat joined them, smirking at Erik’s pouty face. “So I guess you too are better now?”

Caeden and Lily nodded.

“Good, ‘cause I’m not dealing with you being all mopey with each other. I need our brainiacs in top form, got it?” Cat eyed them both.

Almost in unison, both Caeden and Lily threw up mocking salutes. Cat’s authoritative tendencies were more funny than annoying since she always listened to their advice. It would be different if she acted all high and mighty while ignoring them.

Their morning was more relaxed on the new schedule since the crew had unanimously decided to forgo morning and evening physical conditioning. They kept the midday session, recognizing the benefits of improving their base physique. Cat complained about aching muscles even as she signed up with the rest of them. Another choice they had all agreed on was joining classes on infusion and aura in the morning back to back. Lily ensured that it was taught by Samantha Soarise, still as star-struck as ever. They had opted to only go every other day. Excluding ranking day and their off day, that left three times a week.

From there, classes diverged. Caeden had ethersmithing all afternoon three times a week, the same days as aura and infusion. The rest of his classes were dedicated to learning the basics of all the weapons Forged Infinity could become. He was going to be very busy for the foreseeable future, between forging weapons for his friends and actual weapons training.

Lily had picked out a class on advanced concealment sense, hoping to further enhance her current strategy. Besides that, she had taken up both small and large blades classes, for those situations where her assassination fog failed. In an attempt to diversify her attacks, she was also going to try out archery, though if she didn’t show a talent for it, Lily planned to drop the class. She opted to keep a free period every day to spend some time in the Core Seat library.

Erik was going to work on his formshifting with a dedicated class. It worked well with his general combat style, so he wanted to deepen his understanding. Obviously, he took up a daily class called Applied Biology, which seemed to be a sort of hybrid healing and combat class. He had also chosen two different martial arts classes, refusing to take up a weapon.

Cat had struggled to choose her classes, unsure what would be helpful to her. Soul was such a difficult shroud for her to work with, so poorly understood a topic that she wasn't even sure what kind of shroud it was. With that utter lack of direction, Cat focused on what she could do. Her spectral soldiers were a refined use of shroud and an excellent invasion tool. She was taking a class on group tactics to hopefully direct them better. Trying to solve her problem at its base, she also took up a class for those with shrouds like hers that had unclear abilities or untapped potential. Hopefully, she would learn more practical uses for her shroud beyond invasion.

So their first morning on the new schedule broke down to breakfast, followed by infusion and aura classes, which were just a recap of everything they had done the last two weeks. Then they had physical conditioning, followed by lunch. Then. Erik and Cat split to go to martial arts class and group tactics respectively. Lily was technically in her free period, and Caeden had to pass a test to actually use the school’s ethersmithing equipment.

“Can I come watch? I’ve never seen an ethersmith in action.” Lily asked.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Caeden felt relieved. If Lily was deliberately choosing to spend time with him, it hopefully meant she had truly accepted his apology.

Then they were off. Caeden wondered what kind of test he would have to pass. He wasn’t worried. If there was one thing he was confident in, it was his skills as a smith.