Strong pillars and a roof surrounded the burrow leading into a nearby hill, a burrow that was clearly not constructed by human hands- or any hands. Yet it was intentional and solid, even reinforced at various points by humanlike support structures. It was not a small burrow, but rather massive merely to allow its denizens to fit inside. A small and curious child walked into the darkness he did not understand, feeling his way along the walls and floor just as he would any other place.

Vertical shafts poking through the top of the tunnel to provide a modicum of light and air didn’t affect Chidi’s journey in any regard. They were just as mysterious as everything else, and less tangible since his arms didn’t reach anywhere close to the ceiling.

He continued onward until he heard something. Breathing. The clacking of something on stone. A strange whine. Then he ran face-first into a mountain of fur. Arms probed, feeling upwards. Traces of wetness along an edge led to something hard, a narrowing pillar of stone nearly the size of his arm. Not just one, but many overlapping similar shapes. Some pointed up, some down.

Then the teeth clamped down on his arm uncomfortably, and he found himself lifted off his feet. “Uwah! Help!” Chidi called out, forgetting that he had specifically snuck away from the sources of help.

The creature with his arm began to move, bouncing his body as they went. His arms were trapped, and wriggling rubbed his upper arms uncomfortably against sharp points so he remained limp.

Then he was set down, but not expecting the motion his legs were not prepared to catch him. He fell backwards onto familiar dirt and grass. “Grrr,” an unfamiliar voice said.

“I don’t know grrr,” Chidi said. “What’s your name?”

Then Chidi felt a familiar feeling wash over him, and knew his time was up. As expected, a moment later his mother appeared next to him, lifting him to his feet and holding his hand in hers. “Thank you for bringing him, Spikes. As for you, Chidi, what have I told you about wandering off?”

“Don’t wander off.” But he wasn’t wandering. He was exploring. “You’re big, mister Spikes.”

“Spikes is a lady.”

“You’re big, missus Spikes.”

“Rrah,” Spikes replied.

“I don’t know that word either,” Chidi admitted. “What does that mean?”

“It means be careful where you go.”

“... That’s a lot of words for one word.”

Catarina looked down at her son, “How do you keep getting away?”

If Chidi had been craftier, he might have kept that knowledge to himself. But he’d gotten used to answering questions truthfully. “I move when you aren’t looking at me.”

“How can you even know when I’m looking?”

Chidi shrugged, “I just know. You aren’t looking now.”

“Of course I am. We’re talking.”

Chidi tilted his head in confusion. “No. You’re not.”

“Of course I- ah. How about now?”

Chidi felt the warm fuzzy blanket that was both comforting and restrictive. “Now you’re looking.”

The grip on his hand squeezed tighter for a moment. “I see. You can sense energy already… I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Be careful, okay?”

“I am careful,” Chidi countered.

“You stuck your arms in a wolf’s mouth.”

“What is a wolf?”

That lack of knowledge was her own fault, given that they had some good friends that were wolves. But they couldn’t take Chidi over to their den without constantly guarding him from playful but overly zealous wolf puppies. Fuzz and Spikes had pups that were only slightly larger than normal, but that meant they had teeth sharp enough to cause serious damage to a child like him.

At least her worries that Chidi wouldn’t be able to cultivate were unfounded. Though they had been foolish worries to begin with. Everyone could, to some extent, even if it was more difficult to get started in the upper realms where there was only upper energy- more powerful, but more difficult to control.

-----

“Do you think we’re being too restrictive?” Catarina asked Timothy later.

“Your grandfather said raising children for the first time is just as difficult as reaching Life Transformation. Maybe we’ll make some mistakes but… we are trying to keep our son from getting hurt. Everyone should protect their children. Chidi in particular just… has fewer ways to predict those dangers.”

“... Is this my fault?”

“No,” Timothy answered quickly. “Of course not.”

“But I- all our troubles should have told me it wasn’t meant to be. We finally had a child, and he was born… like this.”

Timothy wrapped his arms around Catarina, pulling her face into his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. We both wanted it to happen… and this just makes things a little bit harder. It could be worse.”

Catarina leaned her head back and furrowed her brow, “Worse than being born without eyes? No medicine can help that, because there’s nothing to fix.”

“That’s right,” Timothy said. “There’s nothing to fix. He’s our wonderful son. And if he had to be missing something, we should be glad that it is not cultivation ability.”

“You’re right, of course,” Catarina admitted. “But it’s still hard. For him, and for me to think about. Also… did you know we have blind spots?”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that when I intend to fill my entire surroundings with energy for sensing, there are places that are less complete. And I can’t even tell. But he can, apparently. He always slips into them, even if he’s not sneaking off.”

“The constant observation probably makes him uncomfortable,” Timothy noted. “What if we hire someone to watch him… normally.”

“What do you mean? We can handle him.”

“We certainly can,” Timothy admitted. “We can watch him across the city, and no doubt we will adapt to him trying to sneak off. We can arrive in an instant to protect him. But except during the evenings we spend together, the rest of the time our focus hasn’t really been on Chidi. Having someone always there watching in a way that is less bothersome for him in particular… might be best.”

“Couldn’t it be one of us?”

“It could be,” Timothy said. “But what we do is important. Can either of us afford to give up several years for that focus, especially right now? We can still keep up our current schedule, except the time when we would be watching from afar we can have someone wholly devoted and attentive.”

Catarina sighed, “I feel like you’re just saying we’re bad parents. And who would we trust with that?”

“Why not Spikes?”

“... And leave him with wolf pups all day?”

“Some of the day,” Timothy reminder her. “And Spikes is just as capable of shielding him from an aggressive nibble as we are preventing him from stabbing himself with a fork. Besides, we also wanted to find some way for Fuzz and Spikes- and their children- to be more included in the community here. They are big and scary. We could get others involved and improve Chidi’s social situation as well.”

“... We are overprotective,” Catarina sighed.

“He’s four years old and lives in a house with a dedicated armory. We had to be careful.” Timothy shook his head. “Of all the things that cultivators excel at, however, that list is never raising children. Then again, most people in general are only passable. We just have to do our best. And keep him from being completely isolated.”

-----

“It’s official,” Hoyt announced to the Xankeshan council. “Everheart is back in the upper realms- and active. We anticipated that, of course, but now it’s confirmed.”

“Do you think he’ll return here for revenge?” Zazil of the Dark Ring asked.

Catarina shook her head, “Attempting to predict his movement is pointless. However, I do believe Xankeshan itself is secure from him for the moment. He was not able to take control of the local wards in his long duration occupying the planet, that should not change with them being better able to function. And I believe I can at least manage to keep him from having the time to figure them out.”

“More importantly,” Hoyt said, “We only angered him indirectly. So we’re… probably not at the top of his list.”

“What did he do this time?” Prospero asked. “Wipe out a fleet?”

Velvet had been the one who brought this particular information. “It was covered up but… he drew mustaches on the statues of the saints. On Rouhiri.”

“That’s… underwhelming,” Prospero admitted.

“He was on Rouhiri,” Velvet countered. “And he set up formations that prevented them from fixing the statues. Currently the whole central square between their towers is covered up for ‘renovations’. They had to toss a huge box over the whole thing. Then they disappeared most of the workers and disciples who saw it.”

“Most?” Prospero asked.

“The disciples that reported it were dealt with in various ways, but some others saw it and didn’t make themselves known. But the information is reliable. I think the whole thing is just informing people that he’s back.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier for him to operate in secret?” Zazil asked.

Hoyt shook his head. “You know he only functions in high profile. And when he wants to be secretive, he can be. Like sneaking onto the main planet of a powerful sect with a kingly bounty on him.”

“Could it have been someone else?” Zazil asked.

“Someone that would do that and then could set up formations that weren’t easily dismantled?” Catarina shook her head. “I can’t think of anyone that such things would align for. There are other formations grandmasters, but none with a conflict with the Harmonious Citadel and the inclination to pull a prank.”

“It’s more than a prank,” Vari said. “The Harmonious Citadel would see it as sacrilege of the highest order. It’s a declaration of war, whether he intended that or not.”

“It does not seem that he is the type to do things by accident,” Zazil replied. “Based on what we know of him.”

Kseniya had been quiet up to that point. “So, what? Is there something we should do about this?”

Hoyt shook his head. “I don’t think so. We just need to be aware of his presence. He could show up at any time to cause trouble.”

“I don’t know how that’s different from any other time,” Kseniya said. “Even when we knew he was in the lower realms, I expected he could show up to cause trouble at any moment.”

To shift the topic away from Everheart being from their world- something not all of the council was aware of- Hoyt brought them to the next topic. “Our current troubles are the ongoing conflict with the Harmonious Citadel. Our growth outpaces theirs for now- at least proportionately- but we’ll still need to gather more groups to work against them. In addition, there is some possibility of the surrounding powers moving against us. Velvet, were you able to gain any information on that?”

“Only a small amount,” she admitted. “Neither the Trigold Cluster nor the Exalted Quadrant are exactly open in their motives. We don’t know how much they understand about us and our connection to certain places in the lower realms. It’s not exactly secret, but they might not have looked. The good news is they still hate each other. Apparently along the southern border they had a few skirmishes as their armies returned from the shifting tides. That’s nothing new, exactly, but they’d mostly been ignoring each other’s presence there.”

“Could that also not be bad news?” Zazil asked. “If they go to war with each other again, we’ll simply be caught in the middle. The Scarlet Midfields can’t functionally resist either of them.”

“That is true,” Catarina admitted. “But if something is to escalate, it will be over decades or centuries. We will have some opportunity to improve our strength before then.”

“What can happen in just another couple centuries?” Zazil asked.

Catarina exchanged glances with those from Ceretos. “We can get hundreds of Integration cultivators and, perhaps, a handful of Augmentation cultivators.”

“A handful?” Zazil frowned. “That’s both extremely ambitious… and insufficient. How long do you mean?”

“Three centuries. Maybe two or fewer,” Catarina said confidently. “I’d personally place myself in the mid Integration stage right now.”

“Is that really possible?” Zazil asked. “I have witnessed your growth potential, but… it seems too fast. Can anyone even reach Augmentation in less than a millennium?”

“How old do you think Everheart is?” Catarina asked.

“... maybe nine hundred?” Zazil frowned.

“Less than six hundred,” Catarina said. “Which meant he reached Augmentation before he was four hundred. I’m only saying I shouldn’t be much older than five hundred.”

Zazil shrugged, “I like your confidence. I hope it’s justified. We could use that sort of boost to our alliance’s power.”