Ranvir gently peeled Frija’s fingers out of his hair, which was just long enough for her to get a white-knuckled fistful. She twisted wildly, eyes big and watery as she devoured their surroundings.

The environment was different from any she’d seen before, Ranvir realized. He’d never taken her into the city, and that was what he’d call Eriene. Frija whipped around, wobbling in his arms as they passed a big writhing tree, hanging leaves almost brushing the grass. A cat bigger than most herding dogs lithely climbed down from the branches, landing silently in the grass, it’s bright brown, almost yellow, eyes watching them intently. Ranvir detected no hostility in its movements, but that size of cat was still worrisome.

It reminded Ranvir most of all of a wolf with its short gray fur, though it had slightly longer hair around the neck, not quite a mane but close enough to evoke that imagery. He looked nervously to the women walking a few steps ahead of him not paying any attention to the animal.

Must be a pet, he thought, noticing another smaller cat lounging in the windowsill of a house opposite the big gray one, “That’s a little unnerving,” he muttered, meanwhile Frija whipped her head back and forth from both the cats. She giggled once and beat her arms happily.

“What is?” Elpir said looked behind to see Ranvir looking at the pets, she realized they’d gotten far enough ahead that the translation bubble didn’t reach him and spoke simply. “Cats? Don’t like?”

Amalia glanced over her shoulder as well, slowing to let him catch up as he was at the edge of the translation bead’s bubble.

Ranvir shook his head, “Where I’m from cats that big are predators.”

“I guess that’s understandable, then,” Amalia said. “They’re completely harmless, though. Most just handle pest control or to warn of visitors. Half of them are too cowardly to actually confront anything that’ll hiss back.”

Ranvir set his face and nodded, doing his best to ignore them. It was hard, however, as Frija seemed especially fascinated by the animals. No matter how far into Eriene they went her eyes were always locked on the nearest and biggest cat.

“Over there,” Elpir said as they stopped in the middle of a huge square. A statue sat in the center depicting a sodden man, a crown of black stone emerging from his long wet hair the tips bleaching into a pale yellowish-white. Elpir was pointing towards an open-walled structure of gray stone. “That’s the potragos.”

Ranvir frowned, “What is a potragos?”

Amalia looked down at the bead, “We should have enough time to check it out before going to the orphanage,” she said with a smile for Elpir.

The other woman laughed and grabbed her elbow before they took off. Ranvir sighed in confusion and followed. The potragos turned out to be a pavilion style structure that abutted a river. Stone pillars rose regularly to support the roof, providing shelter from the weather.

So far as Ranvir’d seen, the weather never got bad in Eriene, or at least it never got worse. There hadn’t been a day that wasn’t mostly clear skies, warm, and muggy. Stepping closer to the water, Ranvir leaned on a railing that, for some reason, only spanned about a third of platform. The river water moved swiftly and was surprisingly clear, he still couldn’t make out the bottom, but compared to Elusrian rivers. A blue glow emanated from something in the center of the water, he could just make out the vaguest red color though the shape was lost to him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“A station,” Elpir supplied stepping closer as well. “For the potragos,” Ranvir just gave her a confused look to make her continue. “The potragos is how Limclea stays afloat,” Amalia snorted for some reason, earning a glare from Elpir, “It’s these huge barges that can hold hundreds of people and travel at speeds that rival messenger using wind mana—“

“Wind mana?” Ranvir interrupted.

“They go really fast,” Elpir supplied helpfully, “but the potragos can take so much more with them than just letters or small trinkets. Trade and travel flourishes in Limclea because of our network of rivers.”

Amalia sighed stepping up behind Elpir, “What she’s trying to say is that it’s a caravan train that can cover the entire distance of the country twice in a single day.”

Ranvir blinked, glimmers of yellow surprise pulsing throughout. He’d seen maps of Korfyi and Limclea. Korfyi was massive, supposedly much bigger than all the Alliance nations put together, but Limclea was a relatively small country within the worldshard. Which still made it a similar size to Ankiria.

“It can carry more than single caravan train, though,” Elpir said.

“If it’s so fast, why didn’t we take it to Crotenus?” Ranvir asked.

Amalia shook her head, “Crotenus is land-locked. It has an underground supply of water but no rivers, and we don’t have a contact in Legea.”

Ranvir frowned slightly, looking down at Frija. His little girl couldn’t give two shits about the potragos, she was much more interested in the gathering of birds that huddled around an old woman and her feed bag.

Ranvir blinked and swayed as the world tilted gently. He shook his head and leaned on the railing until he regained his balance. He wiped his forehead with the back of his splinted hand.

“Are you okay?” Elpir asked.

“I just need a glass of water or two,” Ranvir replied, “I’m not used to the heat.”

Amalia shook her head and waved the cane she’d brought with them from Ione’s estate, “It’s your illness,” she said. “Covering it up doesn’t help, you’re not going to be able to hide it. You’re better off just admitting to it.”

“I can’t be sure,” Ranvir said defensively. “This place is a lot hotter than I’m used to,” he saw the condemning look in Amalia eyes and looked away. “How does it work?” he asked nodding towards the glowing red stone in the water.

“The potragos?” Elpir asked happy to resume their old topic, “Not sure. It has something to do with water mana, though, I can sense that much.”

Ranvir frowned, “You can sense it? You’re a… you’re braced?” he asked taking a moment to remember the local expression for tethered.

“Me?” Elpir asked her voice rising, “No, no, Gods no. I just know a little of the basics,” she nodded to Amalia, “She’s the powerful one.”

Ranvir frowned in confusion, “But you can sense energy?”

Elpir gave him a long look, “Yeah…”

“So you’re braced, right?” he cocked his head, “Am I saying it wrong? I mean, even if you’re not trained you still have powers.”

Elpir exchanged a look with Amalia, before the warrior spoke up, “Ranvir, everyone has access to Amanaris. Everyone has a few Abilities.”

Ranvir let out a confused sound as he shook his head, “But…” he raised his broken hand futilely, “No… I don’t…”

“Well, you’re injured,” Amalia said. “Once you’ve sufficiently recovered you should feel Amanaris’ touch on your soul and begin the linking.”

“The linking?” The world swayed again and Ranvir had to lean heavily on the railing to keep from falling over.

“Perhaps we should have this conversation at the orphanage,” Elpir said looking at him with pity and concern.

Ranvir tried to smile back but didn’t feel it. He cleared his throat and nodded, “You can explain on the way.”

Amalia gave him a lax nod, which for some reason made him feel better. She felt like the harder one of the two to shake, so long as she didn’t outwardly react he was probably doing better than Elpir’s concern might suggest.

“Not much to it,” Amalia said. “There’s a preliminary period before accessing Amanaris where a link is being establish. Some kids do it in weeks, some in years. I don’t know about Foreigners, though. Probably depends on your previous training,” she shrugged and headed out of potragos station’s sheltering shadow and back under the sun’s glaring heat.

Ranvir looked up at the sky as he followed her, reflexively squinting even though there was no glare. The ‘sun’ wasn’t glowing. The huge disk of bronze hovered high in the sky, twenty spots marking a loop around the outer edge. Thirteen of those spots were currently lit up in a soft yellow glow. From what he could tell it didn’t move in the sky, which was why he hadn’t seen it when traveling to Crotenus, where it had been hidden by the trees.

He scratched his head as he stepped in after the others, their words unidentifiable through the buzz of the translation bead. Without him they effectively just spoke in Fiyan, which he still couldn’t understand.

“You look a little beat,” Elpir said. “I’m thinking we’ll wait with introductions until tomorrow.”

“Introductions?” Ranvir asked, scooting Frija higher up on his arm.

“To the rest of the kids, of course!” Elpir said with a smile, “I have plenty of room so you don’t have to worry about nothing, though you might meet one or two of them today. Don’t worry, though they know that you’re injured and very tired and you have your daughter with you. They won’t bother you at all, I promise. I’m raising good kids! On the ring of Ios, I swear! I can’t wait for you to meet them. Don’t worry about Vasso, he’s a little somber but he watched his parents die from fire damage, but he’s a good kid. Don’t let Ninia scare you, she likes jumping out of closest and from under floorboards, she’s a little wildheart but like all the creatures of the woods, she’s got a kind soul.”

“Elpir,” Amalia said roping an arm around her friend’s waist and pulling her away, “You’re overwhelming him.”

“No, I’m not!” Elpir exclaimed, “I was just explaining the situation a little bit…” she trailed off at the look Amalia gave her. She sighed, shoulders slumping. Ranvir felt a little bad for her, recognizing that kind of enthusiasm only came from true interest.

They soon came upon a big two story house, a lawn that kids could play on surrounded the building and trees ringed the estate, giving it some solitude that Ranvir was beginning to miss with all the leering cat eyes that seemed to hide behind every window.

“We’ll take the servant’s entrance, that leads straight to your room,” Elpir said going around the driveway and onto the lawn.

Ranvir couldn’t imagine how someone running an orphanage could afford such a large estate, but perhaps the ruler offered stipends for that kind of business. Ranvir failed to stifle a surprising yawn, his eyes watering with the strength of it.

“This is the servant’s kitchen, we don’t use it anymore,” she gestured forwards, “Through that door, then the first room on your…” she gestured with her fingers, “left.”

He nodded in thanks as Elpir and Amalia fell in to talk behind him. He thought he heard the slap of bare feet on wood as he entered the hallway, but saw nothing.

The room was small, and couldn’t fit more than a bed, a dresser, and the crib. Probably a servant’s room for the servant’s kitchen, Ranvir thought noticing scuff marks on the floorboards around the crib matching with a bed of similar size to the remaining one. A window sat over the dresser, glass thin and distortion free, looking out onto the grass lawns. Both the crib and bed had been prepared with fresh linens.

He briefly deposited Frija on the bed so he could dump his borrowed bag on the floor next to it. Amalia cleared her throat from the door, as Ranvir picked Frija up before she crawled off the edge of the mattress.

“I’ll just leave this here,” she said leaving the cane leaning on the wall, she said more but her words were in Fiyan. Frowning, she pulled out the bead which had begun flaking off small segments. Sighing, she nodded at him before closing the door, causing the cane to fall.

Ranvir sighed.