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Maiya sat with her legs crossed in a lotus position, as Cirayus had recommended. Centering herself, she focused on the concept of stability.

With each passing day, the feeling came both quicker and more easily, and Maiya was sure she was on the verge of a breakthrough. On the verge of ‘opening’ her Foundation Chakra.

The voices that had nearly killed her were now a distant whisper, and if she was right, would recede entirely when she mastered her Foundation Chakra.

It was all so wondrous—to think an entirely new form of power had existed all along, hidden to the realm. It brought about a myriad of questions in Maiya’s mind. Why had no human in recorded history ever opened a Chakra? Why was there no documentation of this? Was it a physiological problem? If so, why was Maiya able to unlock it?

Her intuition told her it might’ve had something to do with her time in that Illusion realm with Vir, but if so, that only brought up more questions than it answered. It was all enough to make Maiya’s head spin, but now that she’d had some time to digest it all, she’d concluded that this mystery was not one she could allow to go unsolved.

She also had a sneaking feeling that the answer would be bigger than anyone had thought… And that made her both excited and more than a little nervous. What would she find? What effect would it have upon the world? Would it be a great boon? Or would she only find horrors best left undisturbed?

Neel’s arrival forced Maiya out of her meditation—though since she’d let her mind wander, it’d ceased to be meditation some time ago. The crisp Sonam winter air tickled her nose, and a brisk chill swept past her as the bandy pushed open the closed door and bounded into the room, circling Maiya several times, tail wagging.

“Well, somebody’s in a good mood,” Maiya laughed, hugging her old friend. “And I wonder why!”

The sight of the old bandy never failed to lift her spirits, no matter how low they may just have been.

Neel barked in reply, eyeing the orb that sat in front of Maiya. He looked at Maiya and barked again, tongue lolling.

“Yes yes. It’s almost time,” Maiya said, easing herself out of the lotus position for a more comfortable cross-legged one. Cirayus said it’d get easier over time, and it did, but Maiya doubted it’d ever be what she could call comfortable.

The image of Vir’s serious face brought a smile to Maiya’s face, as it always did.

“Hey, you,” she said warmly.

“Hey, Mai,” Vir murmured, looking embarrassed to call her by that name despite all the time they’d spent together. It was more than a little endearing, so Maiya had never called him out on it. She didn’t want him to stop.

“Aroo arooo!!!”

Neel jumped in front of the orb, trying to lick Vir’s face.

“Hey Neel! No! Sit! Down!” Vir commanded, even as an enormous grin crept across his face. “What are you even doing, you big dummy? You can’t lick me! I’m not even in the same realm!”

“Aroo?” Neel said, tilting his head in confusion, even as he obeyed Vir’s command, plopping his butt down on the carpeted surface of Maiya’s meditation chambers.

“You’re at home, I take it?” Vir asked. “That was a pleasant surprise. Wasn’t expecting to see two familiar faces today.”

“I am,” Maiya said, cradling the orb and bringing it closer to her face, lest Neel accidentally step on it. “Just got here, in fact. I gotta say, it is good to be back.”

“About time you got to enjoy that place. If I had a mansion as big as that, I’d never leave!”

“Hah! Say that after you see all the doting attendants. I swear, I’m never truly alone here.”

“Milady, did you need something?” A muffled female voice called from just outside her room, as if on cue.

“Nothing at all, Hema,” Maiya called back. “And please see to it I’m not disturbed for the next while, if you will?”

“At once, milady,” came the reply, followed by the shuffling of feet.

“See what I mean?” Maiya said. “They’re not even ordinary handmaids, either. This is Ira we’re talking about… She assigned me her elite handmaidens. As bodyguards! I have bodyguards now! Both Kin’jal and Children. It’s like I’m some celebrity!”

“Uhm, I hate to break it to you Mai, but you kinda are. Blessed Prophet? Blessed Chosen? The right hand of Princess Ira Kin’jal? If you’re not a celebrity, I don’t rightly know what is.”

Maiya stuck her tongue out. “I swear, even Bumpy’s living like a king.”

“Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a while. I assume he’s happy?”

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“Couldn’t be happier. I don’t ride him these days, but he gets doted on by the staff. He eats the most expensive feed and gets more groomings than he has any right to. They even ride him around to keep him well-exercised. He has so much energy now that his leg’s been mended.”

“I’m happy you did that,” Vir said softly. “He deserves everything he has.”

Maiya smiled. “He truly does.”

They could easily go on like this for hours, chatting about nothing important. They usually did. Just that today, there were more important things to discuss with their limited time.

“So,” Maiya said after a comfortable silence had passed. “How goes the tournament? Last we spoke, you’d been about to take the qualifiers.”

“How’d you think I did?” Vir asked with a blank expression.

Maiya’s extensive training allowed her to keep her voice hidden, and she prayed that Vir couldn’t see her prana through the orb, or he’d see her heart beating madly. During the entire conversation, she’d tried to gauge his expression and his tone for any sign of happiness or anguish.

Unfortunately, he had most of the training she did, and any tells would be intentional.

“You sound… relaxed. I don’t think you’d be this relaxed if you lost.”

Vir held his blank expression for a moment. Then another. It was then that Maiya knew something had gone horribly wrong.

“I passed!” Vir said, finally beaming.

Maiya’s eyes flew wide, before her expression warped into a frown.

“Vir? Thank Vera we’re two realms apart, because if we weren’t I would absolutely strangle you right now.”

Vir sniggered. “I have no doubt you would. Who knew you’d be so violent when we first got together. I must say, this is quite the surprise!”

Maiya raised a brow. “You did. Ever since we were kids. So I’m afraid the blame rests entirely on you. I must ask that you take full responsibility for your actions.”

Vir let out an exaggerated sigh, placing the back of his palm to his forehead. “If I must…”

He held the pose for a moment longer, but broke down laughing, as did Maiya.

“I can’t believe you actually did that,” Maiya said in between fits of laughter.

“The things we do for the ones we love,” Vir said, leaving Maiya at a loss for words. Vir was typically more formal over their calls. She hadn’t been expecting such words from his mouth.

It was nice, though, and once again, they settled into a comfortable silence, content to look at each other through the marvel that was the Communications orb.

Maiya slowly reached out and touched the orb, as if holding his cheeks—which had grown a bit chubbier and more manly compared to the child she’d once known.

“I miss you,” she said at last.

“I know,” he replied softly. “I do too.”

“I just wish there was a way we could meet. Even briefly. Maybe with your ability to create Ash Gates…”

The revelation that her lover had somehow mastered this ability had upended Maiya’s world at the time. Despite the demons she wrangled, it made her excited in a way nothing had for months while she was ill. It gave her that most dangerous of things, which could both uplift and destroy. It gave her hope.

Vir gave her a pained expression, and Maiya regretted her words immediately. She’d never say something so foolish—why had she let those words slip? Even if it was what she wanted, it was an entire realm for him to cross. He couldn’t so easily—

“Can you wait, Mai? Just a bit?”

Maiya blinked. “Come again?” This was not the response she’d been expecting. She’d expected outright refusal. She’d expected him to balk at the very suggestion. Instead…

“I can’t immediately. Not with this tournament. And I’ll need to tend to the troops immediately after, whichever way it goes. But as you said, I can stabilize Gates now. Crossing the Ash no longer poses the same difficulty as before. I'd planned to establish a network of Gates in the Ash, anyway. Making one to the Human Realm isn’t any more difficult than stabilizing yet another Gate…”

Maiya’s heart was beating so fast, she felt it might leap out of her throat at any moment. “You’re serious?”

The words came out as a whisper, for her voice seemed to have failed her at that moment.

“I am,” Vir said confidently, looking her in the eyes. “I miss you so much, Mai. I want to see you again. And now, I finally have a way.”

“I just… I don’t know what to say, Vir! You better not be messing with me.”

“I’m not.”

“That’s… wonderful! Oh, gods! I have to prepare! I have to buy new dresses! And we’ll have to pick a place to meet! How long will you be able to stay? I’ll take care of everything, I promise—”

Vir barked a hearty laugh. “Mai! Maiya! That’s a bit premature, don’t you think? I don’t know when I’ll be able to make the journey. It could be months!”

“Months, Vir!” Maiya cried. “Not years! Can you imagine what this means for me?”

“Sorry, I… Yeah. I know. It’s a big deal. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay, even if we do meet. But let’s not make any plans for now? Just in case…”

Maiya nodded vigorously, grinning. “Y’know? It’s a good thing you’re not here. If you were, I’d be smothering you with kisses right now.”

“O-oh. That’s, er… Haha,” Vir said, scratching his nose awkwardly. “That’d be nice,” he then muttered, but too softly for Maiya to hear.

Maiya took a deep breath and massaged her temples. “I needed this. I truly did.”

Vir’s expression hardened. “Your coup. It’s happening soon, isn’t it?”

“Hopefully. It’ll all depend on Riyan. And as we both know, one does not simply summon Riyan Savar for a conversation. We’ll have to infiltrate his base of operations and hope he doesn’t try to kill us. All just to pitch our plan. From there… Well, it’s a mountain’s worth of planning. It’ll be awhile yet.”

“So, what are you worried about?”

“Oh, just a talk I need to have with a couple of people later today. Possibly the most important talk I’ll have in this whole war effort.”

“Then may Yuma be with the both of us,” Vir said. “My first match is tomorrow as well.”

“You’ll win,” Maiya replied immediately.

“Wish I had your confidence,” Vir said, looking away. “These demons are strong, and I’m fighting blindfolded with one hand behind my back.”

“You’ll still win,” came Maiya’s firm reply.

“Mind sharing where you’re getting this confidence from? I’d like some of that myself.”

“You’ll win because I know you, Vir. When you’ve reached your limit, you push past. You’re relentless. You’re talented. And you have a reason you can’t lose. So I know. You’ll win.”

Vir stared back in stunned silence for a long moment, before uttering a “Thanks… That… really helped, Mai.”

Maiya replied with a warm smile that came from the heart. “You too. Talk after your fight?”

“You bet,” Vir said, then nodded and ended the call. They used to exchange goodbyes when they first started chatting over the orb, but those exchanges went on forever, as neither wanted to hang up. In the end, they decided foregoing the goodbyes altogether worked best. It made their parting feel less final, even if only a bit.

Maiya stared at the orb long after it had gone dark. The conversation had brought far more than the familiar face she’d so longed to see. It’d brought with it hope. Real hope, this time. Not the delusional fantasies she’d had earlier. It gave her something to look forward to. And it emboldened her for the distasteful conversation she was about to have.

“Milady?” came Hema’s voice through the walls. “Your guests. You asked to be informed when they arrived? They are awaiting you in the garden.”

Maiya rose to her feet, set her face, and opened the door.