“So where is it?” Yuriko asked the giant boar Avos.

“What is?”

“The nexus?” Yuriko tilted her head in confusion which Shillogu mirrored. The sight of a boar head that was about half the size of her body tilting sideways like a curious sparrow almost set off a gale of giggles, and from the muffled snort from Krystal, she wasn’t the only one tickled.

“What do you mean? You’re already standing in one.”

“You mean this patch of bank?”

“Yes, and that too. And those over there, and that way too.”

Shillogu used his snout to point at the water, or perhaps he meant the opposite bank, as well as the area to the north and south.

Yuriko blinked, then said, “You mean the entire shallow lake.”

Shillogu rumbled. “Hrmmm, yes.”

Yuriko eyed the entire vista. The lake was more than a few hundred paces wide from where she was looking. The mists it emitted obscured most of it from her aerial surveillance, and she knew it was the Twin Falls' headwaters. Where did the lake’s water come from?

When she asked, Shillogu said, “From an underground spring.”

Feeling her intuition twinge, Yuriko remarked, “And the source of that water might be where the barbarians were trying to alter its nature?”

“Perhaps.”

Yuriko sighed as she expanded her Anima perception and activated Chaos Sight. She stared hard at the ambient Chaos flows above the lake, and even within it. All the while, she absently noted her friends and their team, as well as Shillogu’s get working to clear corpses from the water. While a few in the lake would have been fine, so many would befoul the streams. This was also one of the River Caradec’s source waters and it would affect Faron’s Crossing.

The town had recovered the foreign district from its previous abandonment before she left for Federation lands. She recalled that Kadracki Rangers as well as continued bombardment from the Steam Cannons had reduced many buildings to rubble. Not the entire eastern side of town, but enough that it would have taken a lot of work to fix it.

What they did now was to clear the rubble and use the land to plant gardens. The Protective Dome still wasn’t wide enough to cover both sides, but someone, probably Spellweaver Merill, etched runescript formations around the gardens to create miniature domes. Coupled with the fact that the Haveenians had stopped bombarding, mainly because Finan’s Chaos warship blasted any that came within range, meant that the minor barriers were more than enough.

She only fouund out about Finan’s actions after she came back from fetching her brothers. Well, except for Kato. He was probably still across the Zarek. After she finished here, she should go get him.

While part of her mind wandered and observed her surroundings, the greater part was getting frustrated over what she saw. Nothing distinguished the ambient Chaos she was looking at from anything else. The ones in the water followed the current and the waves, while the ones above followed the breeze. The ambient Chaos locked in the mud underneath the water was still and barely moved, twitching only when the Radiant Sun heated the water and transferred it to the earth.

She couldn’t find anything unusual, but that wasn’t a surprise since she’d never taken the chance to observe ambient Chaos flows over a large area. She watched flows in battle, or around herself when she experimented with things. When meditating, she paid more attention to what was happening within her Anima as well as her body over the environment around her.

Were those eddies an indication of something? Was that whirlpool saying that there’s something underneath the funnel? The winds swirling in a vortex above the water, did it mean something?

Each and every time she thought she saw something unusual, or something she thought was a clue, the movement pattern eventually dispersed or morphed into another shape, leaving nothing in its wake. In fact, her agitation had transferred over to her Anima and was making waves amongst the ambient Chaos flows, which also affected the water, the air, and the mud.

An odd thought crossed her mind. Was it the environment that caused the Chaos flows, or was it the Chaos that created the environment. She suddenly felt as if she was about to grasp something, but it was so slippery that even the merest touch sent it skittering away…

She struggled to find that nugget of enlightenment, feeling that if she did, she would find what she was looking for. Her eyes felt hot, her body aflame. Her hands reached out subconsciously to the skies. Her fingertips touched upon the concept, which skittered away, though it remained tantalisingly close.

Just…a…little…bit…more…

“I’ve found it, young Ancient!” Shillogu roared.

Crash!

It felt as if a thousand panes of glass shattered right in front of her and the cacophony drove the insight away. Yuriko felt nauseated and bile rose up her throat, just on the brink of spewing away. Dizzy and annoyed, Yuriko’s Anima flared and undulated, and rays of Radiant energy stabbed into the lake, the mud, and the skies. The water boiled instantly, creating huge columns of steam, with the mud revealed underneath turned to lava.

A startled scream brought her back to her senses and she hurriedly reined in her power. Yuriko turned to glare at the Avos, who had been standing nearly a hundred paces away. She couldn’t read the boar’s expression, but from the way he stood completely still, his tentacles frozen in mid swish, he was more than startled.

“Sorry…” she muttered.

Even as she held in a spike of anger. It wasn’t Shillogu’s fault that she lost focus, just as it was a coincidence that she touched upon enlightenment while trying to do something. The annoying thing was that she couldn’t even remember what touched it off. She had just been looking at the water and ambient Chaos…

“What did you find?” she asked as she flew over to Shillogu’s position. The water was up to his flanks, and if Yuriko stood there, it would reach well past her hip, though not quite to her bosom.

Shillogu snorted in triumph. “Take a closer look.”

Yuriko did so, but even after a few minutes, she couldn’t see what the Avos saw. She was loath to give up, but time was of the essence.

“I can’t see it.”

Shillogu snorted again and coaxed her, “Keep trying, young Ancient. I will not be with you for every nexus.”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow. “A hint?’

“Very well. It’s not just the flows.”

Then what was it? If it wasn’t the flows, then is it the ambient Chaos motes themselves? She observed what she could detect, and when she finally saw it, she smacked her forehead. It was simple.

The ambient Chaos motes near the spot were too…similar to each other. Each mote of ambient Chaos was different from each other even if only in minor details. Size, shape, recessive attributes, and dominant notes. Colour.

These ones were just a shade of blue a bit off from the sky’s colour, and were all the same size. They were different shapes and attributes, but all the same size and colour. And they were all leaking from a hole beneath the lake. When she drove her Anima perception deep inside it, she spotted the same type of ambient Chaos motes, set in a runescript pattern that made her feel it meant something like…multiply. Or propagate.

Acting without thought, she summoned a flare of Radiant energy and slammed it into the pattern. The motes were immediately consumed by the Radiant, and multiplied into a conflagration that burst out into a pillar of Radiant light. As it changed from her Radiant energy, she wasn’t immune or in control, though her resistance and refinement of body and Anima meant it did little damage, and most of its potency was absorbed and shunted to her hair.

“That’s one way of solving things,” Shillogu grunted. “Thank you, young Ancient. Shall we head to the next site?”

“Alright!” Yuriko grinned. Though she was still slightly irritated at Shillogu’s interruption of her moment of enlightenment, at least the Avos was a big help to her task.

_____________

When Riley trod out of the tunnels and into the sunlight, his gaze was immediately drawn to the second Chaos ship tethered in the Watchtower’s airdocks. His eyes widened in recognition, even as he inadvertently compared the Silver Tiger and the Implacable Jade. He wasn’t quite sure which was more impressive, especially since he hadn’t been aboard the Jade at all.

Either way, the Tiger was actually longer than the Jade, even if it was narrower by a smidgen. The Jade also looked slightly more aggressive, with its swooping falcon-like wings as opposed to the Tiger’s backswept specimen.

Wait, if that thing was here, did it mean Yuriko’s mum was there? Aidan bumped into him as he came out of the tunnel entrance, and like Riley, his eye caught the Silver Tiger.

Unlike him, Aidan didn’t seem to recognize the ship. Huh, why wouldn’t he? Did it have to do with the fact that after coming to Realmheart, all three of them practically drowned themselves in liquor?

His amused snort had Aidan squinting at him. Unlike his brother, he only drank the wine. Aidan managed to get himself entangled with the ladies of the night for quite a long while, and they probably drained all logic out of his mind along with his Sovies.

Shaking his head, Aidan said, “Well, come on. I’m hungry.” The messenger crane told them to return for an assembly, but that was still a couple of hours later.

The two of them entered the Watchtower’s surface level and made their way to the mess hall. The officers’ mess and not the common hall where they fed slop for free. Worse than ration bars, they were!

They lined up and paid for the meal, which weren’t ration bars, thank the Ancestors! Instead, it was a fillet of some kind of river fish smothered in citrus sauce. It wasn’t the best Riley’s tasted, but was quite a bit better than what was available now. Expensive, too. He had to pay a silver crown for it.

Before they finished the meal, Aunt Layla wandered in. She looked like a thunderhead and her searching gaze found them almost as soon as she entered the mess hall. She plopped herself on a chair and pouted. Riley resisted the urge to snort, but asked, “What’s got you in a snit?”

“I met Yuriko’s aunt again. And Yuriko, too! Her mum and cousin Virgil arrived.”

“Cousin Virgil…he was missing, wasn’t he?” Riley noted.

“Yeah, Yuri stumbled upon them. Through that portal she talked about, I guess. Didn’t have time to debrief.”

“Alright, so why’s her aunt so annoying to you?” Riley asked.

“You know! She…” The results of an idle question became the subject of a ten minute rant, and though Riley tried to interrupt several times, he didn’t manage to interject until she wound down.

“Didn’t the two of you hash that out back then?” he finally asked.

Layla blinked at him. “We have never met.”

“Huh, I’m pretty sure she was on the Silver Tiger when they picked us up from the Pure Lands. Wasn’t she the one who told us about the extra bounty?”

“I don’t remember,” she muttered sourly.

Riley just shook his head and chuckled. Yup. She drowned herself in booze and forgot everything but the Sovies.

Keeping his mirth to himself, he asked, “So, why were we recalled from patrol duty?”

Layla rolled her eyes, and from the suddenly aggressive glint in her eyes, Riley realised he hadn’t quite hidden his amusement at her ranting.

“Everyone’s been recalled and Lady Sadeen Mishala has a job for all of you.” The mocking lilt in her tone emphasised the name.

“Well, what is it?” Riley asked.

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise. You’ll find out after the assembly. I’m sure you’ll love it.” With her wicked grin, Riley was sure they wouldn’t. He met Aidan’s gaze, and his elder brother just shrugged.

A couple of hours later, after the assembly, Riley and Aidan found themselves outside the walls of the Watchtower, carrying shovels and were hip deep in the mud. Digging. His crystal screen projected a map detailing where and how deep the trenches should be. They weren’t a simple circle around the Watchtower, but rather, a complex pattern with varied shapes and depths, clearly a formation of some sort. Nearly the entirety of the Watchtower’s complement of troops had been pressed to this.

And no, he didn’t enjoy it at all.