Ranvir dropped Frija off at Elpir’s. This time his little girl didn’t even stir at being put into bed. Getting to his feet, Ranvir hesitated as he sensed someone else up, if not quite awake, in the house.

Making his way to the kitchen, Ranvir found Amalia slumped against the island, a mug steaming in her hands as she snored quietly. Frowning, he stopped at the doorway.

“You don’t snore when you sleep,” he commented.

“Oh, it was a…” Amalia stirred sliding the mug across the tabletop as she straightened, “Wait, how do you know?” As she looked up, Ranvir could see from the bags under her eyes that she was actually tired.

The only light in the room came from Ranvir’s glowing eyes and the little bit of night light from the window.

Amalia let an over exaggerated shiver run through her, “That is kinda terrifying. I mean, not for me, since I’m both stronger and more capable than you. But you cut a scary image.”

“What do you mean?”

Amalia blinked once. “Is that a joke? What do you mean, ‘what do you mean?’ Dumbass, you’re standing in the threshold lit only by your own glowing eyes,” she threw her hand up before finishing the rest of her tea and putting it in the sink.

Ranvir scratched at his chin. “I’m sorry?”

“Whatever, let’s just go,” she brushed past him, whipping him in the face with her hair.

Spitting to himself, Ranvir followed. They walked in silence, Ranvir because he felt awkward disturbing the peace of the town, Amalia because she didn’t want to break the sanctity of Nysea’s silence.

They only paused when they came across one result of last night’s tremors. A crack a meter-and-a-half wide, and thirty centimeters across, had ripped the road. It wasn’t a big problem, but a cart could get a wheel stuck in it and break. It wouldn’t be that hard to fix for some of the stone-focused in the town, but it would take a while.

Since he was already embracing the pressure, reaching out to Amanaris was less of a leap and more a light skip to the side. Drawing on Amanaris felt like breathing through a straw compared to his tether. Then he reached through with both powers at once.

Unsheathing his Veil fully from his soul, Ranvir raised small ten by five centimeter pillars all around the crack, before drawing out two bridges in case someone couldn’t go around.

“That’s…” Amalia shook her head as they continued on their way. “That’s still crazier to me than any of the other things you can do.”

“It’s just simple manipulation,” Ranvir replied. Ranvir considered mentioning the sanctity of silence, but he’d come to learn that there were too many rules in the Thriskeía. They sold entire books about events and procedures and how they interacted. To his mind the religion was as complicated—if not more so—than mana.

“But Absolute isn’t supposed to do that, not as a Kistios.”

Ranvir shrugged. “It’s not supposed to have that range, but I don’t get that from Amanaris.”

“It’s still weird and strange.”

Ranvir shook his head, and they continued walking, Amalia once more assuming the lead. Once they reached the potragos station, Ranvir realized he hadn’t picked up a stone to manipulate yet. Then just because he knew Amalia didn’t like it, he reached out with his tether-sense looking for rock as he unfurled his Dagger. Finding an appropriately sized pebble, he flung from the ground ten meters away and into his hand with ease.

Amalia just shook her head and turned her back on him. Ranvir grinned to himself as he examined the small stone. What should this one be?

“What kind of animal would fit this stone best, do you think?” Ranvir asked as he held the item in question up for Amalia to see.

The woman turned to look at it, her lips pursed as she examined it. Ranvir knew she could see it as well as he could, if not better. Her element a mix of water and shadow that had no official name, but was often called murk gave her enough of a sensory power that overcoming a relatively bright night wasn’t an issue.

“A frog.”

Ranvir took a moment before agreeing, “That’s a good one,” then he hovered the stone in the air with Veil as he shaved off parts to get the general outline right. He chuckled as she scoffed at him and turned her back. Since Amanaris increased one’s reach through specific Abilities, it could achieve much greater distances than a tethered of equal strength, but their Absolute—their manipulation and generation Ability—was left weakened. Ranvir was still figuring out the specifics, but he’d ascertained that Kistios and the rank above them, Urityon, were both limited to the same short reach as a pre-stage, however many of the rules seemed to fall away for Arkrotas so he wasn’t sure about them.

There were other differences as well. Most of a tethered’s power came from their manipulation or generation. A braced could do both, but neither of them were very strong. Ranvir wondered if that due to the duality of the powers clashing, or maybe it was some other factor that limited their effect but braced disdained Absolute and not for poor reasons.

Though he still believed in training all his skills. At least the power related ones.

“That’s not half bad,” Amalia said as he finished the frog miniature. “I mean, sure, frogs don’t actually look like that, but the actual shaping isn’t that bad.”

“Thanks,” Ranvir said, selectively picking what he heard.

“It’s especially impressive since I remember what your stone work looked like when you began,” Amalia said. “You’ve been practicing a lot.”

Ranvir scratched at his neck as he narrowed his eyes. “Some.”

Amalia chuckled, “You forget that you’re not the only one trained by Kasos. I’ve been gazing the lines since I was eight. I know what you’re doing when you’re here on the potragos.”

“I’m just trying to make the ride go by faster,” Ranvir replied tentatively, sensing a trap.

“By gazing the lines in the middle of nowhere?” Amalia countered waving her hand at the grassy foliage passing them by as they rushed down the river. “There’s not exactly anything special to find out here.”

Ranvir frowned. “It’s good for passing the time.”

“Books are good for passing the time,” Amalia replied. “And then you’d actually get something out of it as well, instead of wasting your time examining the wilds.”

“I’m not wasting my time.”

“Yes, you are. Gazing the lines while moving is pointless, it skews the information too much. You’re just wasting your time, rolling your thumbs. You might as well be looking out the window for all the good it does.”

“That’s not true,” Ranvir replied, feeling orange heat starting bubble beneath gray crust. “I’ve—“

“Yes, it is,” she cut him off with a sharp gesture to shut his mouth, “Maybe your senses aren’t sharp enough to pick up on it yet, but any information you get while moving is useless.”

Gray cracked, revealing the roiling and bubbling orange anger. “I’m not stupid, Amalia! It’s a simple transit conversion. I just have to know how fast the damn potragos goes. And I have space powers! I can calculate the speed in less than a tenth of a flare, even if I didn’t already know it! It just takes a little practice! And I’ve put in the damned work! You know as well as I that Kasos said I was a natural. It’s not that goddessdamned difficult!” he switched to Elensk towards the end of his rant, which was when he realized she was smiling.

“So you’ve practiced the skill? And you’ve gotten really good at it?” She cocked an eyebrow as Ranvir felt his peak retreat, orange withdrawing into the now cracked and burnt gray crust. “What else have you been working on? Your stone shaping, your ley lines, your Foreign powers, maybe more?”

Ranvir pursed his lips and turned to glare out the window. He was not having this conversation. He was not letting her bait him in.

“You know I heard something funny that happened yesterday?” Amalia said, ignoring his foul mood. “A child came into the Legea chapter yesterday. Sure, he was a little big for a three-year-old, but he absolutely crushed all the tests. It was amazing. The tester hadn’t ever seen a baby that big before. Everyone was astounded,” she elbowed him in the side.

Ranvir pursed his lips to avoid the amusement that was seeping up through the cracks left by his anger. He shook his head and turned fully towards the window.

“You have a break after today, right?” Amalia asked, changing tact. Ranvir glanced at her with narrowed eyes. “Two days without work, where you can get stuff done at home.”

“I only take single day breaks,” Ranvir said.

“You know as a Sentinel that’s part of what I enjoy the most about my job.” Amalia sounded as if she was airing out her thoughts without much of a goal or purpose. “One week on the job, one week off. Nice and easy, gives me plenty of time to keep up with both work and family life.”

Ranvir’s shoulder twitched. “Wouldn’t work for me. I need the pay.”

“Oh,” Amalia said, knocking her feet up on the opposite bench’s seat. “How much does it pay to be a hull cleaner?”

Ranvir paused his work to tap his chin as Tolis strolled in. “Hey, Milo!” the older man exclaimed, tapping his chin in reply.

“Tolis…” Ranvir said. “I…” he squeezed his eyes shut, “I need to leave a little early today.”

Tolis tensed up, his spine going rigid. “Why? Something wrong back home? It’s not your girl, is it?”

Ranvir shook his head. “No, no.”

Tolis calmed down some, his shoulder visibly relaxing. “Why?”

Ranvir licked his lips. “I’m taking a Sentinel trial.”

Tolis’ shoulders tensed up, his stomach visibly clenching under his shirt. “Why?”

Ranvir blinked temporarily at a loss for words, “Because I’m… kinda stupid,” Ranvir closed his eyes as he realized the words slipped out.

“Oh.”