“Its quaint,” Pashar muttered as they paced the circumference of the building.

“I know it’s small,” Ranvir said, knowing he was being defensive. “But it’s cheap and comes with a relatively large plot of land.”

“It is too small,” Latresekt said from the depth of Ranvir’s spirit.

“How cheap?”

Ranvir coughed into his hand, “About five-hundred fullkeys for the shed and basically as much of the land as you can see,” then he hurried to add, “that includes the building materials I’ll need to expand the shed into a proper home.”

Ranvir couldn’t stop himself from a slight grin, partly at the prospect of his own house, a home of his own, but also at the information he could glean from just a glance around the forested clearing. He could’ve told Pashar the exact measurements for how far they could see and how much of it would be his, though that wouldn’t have helped her understanding any further.

Pashar turned towards him, putting her back to the small building at the center of the meadow. The shed was barely more than a shelter with a fire pit inside, but it was still plenty for Ranvir’s current purposes.

“How exactly are you going to pay for it?” Pashar asked.

Ranvir smiled despite the chagrin he felt. “Ione has some contacts in Legea that could always use an extra hand. I’m going to start there, then see where things go afterward.”

“You’re not going to try out for military or guard position? You could probably get into the Sentinels with relative ease,” Pashar cocked her head to the side as she stared into his glowing purple eyes.

Scratching at his chin, the young tethered shook his head. “I don’t think so… Not for a while, at least. Frija is so young and even a guard’s job is dangerous. Especially compared to a hull cleaner.”

“Hull cleaner?” Pashar cocked an eyebrow. “Did I hear that right?”

“Ships need constant caretaking and with them that close to the…” Ranvir paused, searching for the right word in Elensk only to find it missing. “big lake, there will be plenty of boats going around.”

“You’re going to be cleaning ship hulls for a living?”

Ranvir nodded.

“Have you even looked into other jobs, things that might pay a little better? Get you out of Ione’s debt faster? What about jewelry? Your mother taught you, right?”

“She makes a salient point,” Latresekt agreed.

Frowning, the young father took a step back, examining the place that could likely become his home in the future. “Jewel work is challenging and I haven’t been taught that much. Not to mention that Korfyi’s metal work appears to be leagues ahead of Vednar. In all likelihood, it would be like picking up a new trade, rather than expanding my old knowledge. I will look into it, though.

“Then I suggest reconsidering taking on a job as a guard or soldier,” Pashar said. “I doubt you’ve really experienced poverty, it’s… not fun.”

“I don’t even know if Limclea is at war with anyone,” Ranvir confessed. “I’m not at all sure of the rigidity of social structures,” he paused, searching for more words related to social issues he’d read in the library. Sure, it had been mostly incidental, and he hadn’t been paying much attention and most of it had directly related to ankirian society rather than elusrian. “The political issues…”

“In spite of yourself, you make some decent points,” Pashar said. “Limclea is a decently safe country, lodged well into its niches without too many natural resources exclusive to the region, but their ability to transport trade goods is great due to the potragos and the river tributaries.”

“So it’s stable?” Ranvir asked, surmising her point. “The country’s got enough value to support itself, but not so much that it’s becoming tempting?”

“Eh… King Phormos is related to Kaesara of the Stars, Isadora, which comes with her enemies as well, so it mostly depends on her keeping a cool head and playing things safe.”

Ranvir did not relish the idea of fleeing from a country at war and an insane and powerful tethered, to a country at war with a powerful and insane braced on the throne. He would much rather avoid that if such an option was at all possible. The idea of leaving for five years and not getting to see Frija in all that time was killing him, and it wouldn’t even happen any longer.

Which brought up another subject.

“I know this place is a little out in the middle of nowhere,” that is to say, a twenty-minute walk from Eriene through the forest. “But that also gives me the space I need to work on my powers. With Latresekt’s help, I should ne able to start looking for Vednar soon.”

Pashar nodded hesitantly, creating a wriggling worm of dark yellow worry in Ranvir. “That’s good. Any time line on that?”

Ranvir paused, giving the spirit-creature within him time to reply. It did not. “It’s not sure. We could get lucky and have it in a few years, but more realistically, we’re looking at least a decade if Kirs cannot create a guide for me to navigate by.”

Pashar pursed her lips. “That’s… Not quite what I expected.”

Ranvir shrugged. “It’s what we’ve got. If Kirs does make a guide, it said I should be able to sense it within a few months of its construction.”

Pashar nodded, “Thank you, Ranvir,” she turned to the shed. “I think it’s nice. It’s very… you,” she grabbed her forearm, the gesture meaning she was opening up Amanaris’ interface. “Time’s up, I’m afraid,” she turned back to him with a small smile. “Consider getting a better-paying job.”

“I’ll think about it,” Ranvir replied. They shook hands, and she departed in a burst of smoke, rushing through the trees. He waited until he could no longer sense her, and then another minute. “Maybe I should pick space with Amanaris,” the idea had circled his mind since it had come to him. Constantly revisiting him whenever he had a quiet moment.

“Don’t,” Latresekt sounded exhausted and more than a little tired of the argument. “There’s no point. You already have the powers you need from your tether. Amanaris would hone your skill with a few specific techniques, but it wouldn’t do anything you couldn’t learn if you just tried harder.”

Ranvir furrowed his brow. “But stone is so…” he was going to say normal, but realized the hypocrisy in it. At first, he’d been excited by the prospect of a ‘normal’ element, but the more he thought about it, the less the idea pleased him. The choked and bloated mass of yellowed ivory ego was pushing its way about in his mind. Running the place whenever he started thinking about it too long.

“You don’t want to be guy number five-thousand who got amazing at a basic element,” Latresekt supplied. “You want to be guy number three that got decent with a really rare element.”

Ranvir licked his lips. “No, that’s not…” he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “A bit. A lot, maybe.”

“That’s good. Self-awareness is an important part of your next steps. Now, instead of looking at elements and day-dreaming, let’s look at what your actual goals are, regardless of what element they are.”

“Power, to one degree or another, but… understanding, as well. The more I read about Amanaris, the more it seems like the same puzzle that my tether is made of, but fitted together differently with a few key pieces changed out.”

“That is a good way of putting it.”

“You know something,” Ranvir said speculatively. “Not just about my space powers, but so much more than that, a lot more than I gave you credit for.”

“That is…” Latresekt paused, as if perusing his options for the rest of the sentence. “True. I am aware of much more than just your space powers.”

“Like what?”

The creature tsk’ed, “Now, now, Ranvir, the first hit is free. If you want more, you’ve got to trade.”

“You know what, you do you, Latresekt,” the young tethered muttered in reply as he picked his way over to the shed and opened the door. The room was small. Five steps—six small ones—wide and twice that long. With the roof sloping down into the ground, Ranvir could only stand straight in the middle of the building. It wasn’t made for long-term living, but Ranvir could work on that. Just like he could work on his powers, his ‘understanding’, and his control over Amanaris.

A snarl ripped from deep in Latresekt’s chest, the kind of ripping sound Ranvir related to the shattering of rock and impact of warp. It sent dark and shrill needles of fear down his spine, even if for just a moment. Latresekt had changed somehow. Sometimes its behavior was like he’d remembered from before, but ever since its return, the creature had been more bestial.

Shrugging it off, Ranvir set to work. He needed to have these measurements ready before the next potragos to Legea arrived. He had a meeting at the harbor he had to reach. A new life to begin. The circumstances hadn’t been amazing, but Ranvir would forge a life for his daughter that he could be proud of.