⸂I agree,⸃ Conrad said as he appeared behind Emilia, still standing in front of the bush she had found the yurken hiding in, ⸂I don’t think th’sacrifice part of th’ritual the Enclave thinks is th’key to unlocking our system access is necessary what is that thing?⸃

The other visitor’s purple eyes widened as Emilia turned towards him, dirty yurken pulled tightly to her chest. It had calmed while she sobbed into its fur and now seemed content to just be carried around.

“A pet.”

⸂You know we ain’t stayin’ here, right?⸃

“Sure.”

⸂Then… shouldn’t you let it go?⸃

Emilia gazed down at the soft orange creature. It had been a long time since she’d had a pet, and she knew she couldn’t keep it, even if it felt good to have it in her arms. She had—rather stupidly—brought animals into a war zone before and suffered for it. This creature wouldn’t suffer the way her last pet—her friend—had.

[Emilia: can you come here?]

[Boundary: Why?]

[Emilia: because everyone from the Ingogia family is either dead or gone]

[Emilia: and i can’t just leave this thing here alone]

[Emilia: it doesn’t look very bright]

[Emilia: it’ll probably starve to death]

[Boundary: What am I supposed to do with it?]

[Emilia: keep it as a pet?]

[Boundary: Seriously? We have a new kid in our house, and you’re trying to pass someone’s abandoned pet off on us?]

[Emilia: you know, kids love kids]

[Boundary: I don’t need to bribe my child into liking me! He already likes me well enough.]

Well, that was true. Emile had immediately attached himself onto Boundary— Well, that wasn’t true—the child hadn’t seemingly chosen the man as his new parent until after they had met again at the Risen Guard compound. That first night, as Boundary had worked to move them all to the compound, the still-nameless Emile had mostly clung to her, but he had occasionally peeked out at the world and—

And, now that she was thinking about it, she remembered thinking his energy was moving way too much. At the time, she had chalked it up to nerves, but despite how stressful the labyrinth itself was, his energy had been calm throughout their trek through it. In the hours after they left the Livery Labyrinth, however, it had been active, vibrating within his tiny body. After they entered that city… after he had overheard Sawyer and Benny and Caro talking about the basics of reading the universe…

Well, no. Not heard—the kid couldn’t hear—but could he sense things? It wasn’t uncommon in the real world for kids who lacked one sense to by hypersensitive in others. Had Emile learned how to read the will of the universe simply by watching the older kids do so? Was that how he had decided Boundary was someone he should befriend?

Was that something they should be concerned about? It was definitely something she should warn Boundary and Villy about, right? That their kid might have accidentally acquired an awareness of the universe that wasn’t normal? Wait… did they even believe in such things?

[Boundary: Of course we believe in such things. Why? Did something happen to the yurken? Did it run away?]

[Emilia: can you just come here?]

[Emilia: this conversation would be so much easier in person]

[Emilia: plus, i’m starting to get a headache]

[Boundary: Is your friend going to attack me this time?]

Emilia glanced at Conrad, who had taken the yurken and was slowly washing it clean, his nose wrinkled up in disgust as red dripped from it. “Hey, if Boundary comes, will you attack him?”

⸂Only if he attacks us first,⸃ the man grumbled. His eyes narrowed and suddenly a burst of hot air was rupturing out of the aether and drying the creature. ⸂He won’t be able to teleport into my membrane, as you called it.⸃

Emilia hummed and contemplated the situation. They needed to get rid of the yurken. They needed to find the others. They needed system access and to not run into anyone who might alert Clarity that they were looking into things and—

“You didn’t learn anything about the others?” she asked, already knowing that since Conrad had brought up her hunch about the unnecessary sacrifice part of the Ingogia ritual sacrifice first, the people he’d questioned probably hadn’t known anything about their missing friends.

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Conrad shook his head, passing the now clean and dry—if slightly traumatized from the magical cleaning—yurken back to her. It needed a name, and she raised it up, contemplating it as the man told her that he hadn’t found their bodies, and none of the formerly living people within the building had seen them.

⸂One was part of another group. Fran messaged her about what happened, like she did th’other group. They also fractured after learning th’truth. She didn’t know what happened t’Fran after everything went down, but her own system indicated th’woman was still alive. Seems the Enclave family did something to everyone’s systems, though. They only had partial access.⸃

Right, because names of the dead disappeared from the messaging system.

“So… we have to find that terrible woman, is what you’re saying?” Not that they had any way of doing that. “Do you think she went back to Clarity’s city system?” she asked, deciding to just go for it and ask Boundary to come to them. Her own instincts weren’t tied into the universe, and she was way too tired to try doing so at the moment, but something told her they weren’t going to find the kids or V or even Fran here.

⸂She was born into that group?⸃ Conrad asked, his eyes flicking to the right as Emilia told him she didn’t know—all she knew was Fran was apparently a descendant of a visitor. A moment later, Boundary stepped into Conrad’s defences and Emilia received a very curt, very threatening message from Villy about making sure his husband stayed safe.

Emilia was… pretty sure Conrad would be nice, but just for good measure, she told him that unless they wanted a pissed off husband chasing after them, he needed to play nice. The man glared a little harder at Boundary but made a grunt of acknowledgement. Something in the aether shifted, and Emilia watched as tension within Boundary eased—Conrad letting his energy exist within his membrane, she assumed.

“What do you think about Yo-Yo?” she asked the men as Boundary came to stand in front of them. Both looked at her like she had lost her mind, and even when she explained she was thinking of names for the yurken, they didn't look any less concerned. Rude.

Effectively forcing the creature into Boundary’s arms, muttering about how it would have been much easier if Boundary had just transported them to the Ingogia estate in the first place. Glaring at Conrad, he shot back that he might have, if certain people hadn’t attacked his house.

Conrad simply snorted and looked away, hands lazily tucked into the pockets of his pants. ⸂If we’d done that, things wouldn’t have ended up as they had,⸃ he said, and Emilia understood what he meant.

If they hadn’t taken the long way, Conrad wouldn’t have told her the story from his homeland, and they wouldn’t have realized they both had suspicions about there being something tangible behind the war and echo events. They wouldn’t have become friends. Maybe they would have found the kids and V here, had they come earlier, maybe not. Maybe they would have entered into a firestorm, and Conrad’s defensive membrane wouldn’t have been able to protect them fast enough.

They could be dead.

Worse, Boundary could be dead. As it was, Emilia already didn’t like calling him back to her, but yurken, Emile’s potential universe reading abilities, and a few questions meant they kinda needed to talk.

“Should we go somewhere else?” she asked, looking nervously around. In theory, the combination of Conrad’s ability and her {Blood Ball} would protect them. In practice, someone super powerful could pop in out of nowhere and kill them off. That would totally suck.

The Risen Guard glared at Conrad but nodded, stepping forward to move them… somewhere.

⸂We are in an abandoned building, near where our intel tells us Clarity’s hideout is located,⸃ he explained, stepping away from them and pushing a curtain open to reveal they were on one of the lower levels of the building. It was run down, the windows caked over with grime and letting only the barest of light in, the city beyond a blur of grey and red. ⸂I do not know if that is where you will head to look for your friends, but this area is also relatively free of spying eyes.⸃

⸂A little off from the entrance,⸃ Conrad noted, although thankfully, he didn’t sound smug or taunting. One of his gifts allowed him to find any location, as long as he knew it existed. It was what had allowed him to find the Risen Guard compound, Clarity’s city system and Boundary’s house. As for how he had found out she was at those places? Well, it didn’t take a genius to realize he had tortured the information out of people. Practically every Risen Guard had apparently been told about what went down in Livery and where she and the kids had ended up, although she didn’t actually know how he’d found out about the other two spots…

Emilia blinked into the middle distance, trying to make out details of the foggy world outside, as Conrad gave Boundary more specific details of Clarity’s location. Apparently the Enclave his family belonged to had already known some details about Clarity’s plan, although he had only been told they knew an attack was coming. He hadn’t known for sure that that’s where she had ended up, but when he overheard them talking about how the group had found another visitor for their plan, he figured why not search there for her.

The man hadn’t gone in the front door, of course. Instead, he had taken a passage that led into the ceiling of the Clarity City System, which his gift had led him to.

⸂That gift seems to lead you to the most ideal entrance,⸃ Boundary noted, likely thinking back to the way Conrad had invaded not only his own home but the Risen Guard compound as well.

A smile split across Conrad’s face, a slash of red that Emilia could tell made Boundary uncomfortable. It made her a bit uncomfortable as well, but she’d grown a little more used to it during their time together.

⸂That it does,⸃ the man agreed before backing up to lean against the wall. He hadn’t moved far, but the sudden lack of him standing right there seemed to lessen the tension as she and Boundary began to speak.

The most important thing: her concerns about Emile.

Well, the other kids and V were also important, not to mention the other, other kids that Clarity was probably still holding and once she thought of that—

No. She needed to chill. They were probably fine, and if they weren’t, there wasn’t much she could do for them at the moment.

Emile—Emile she could potentially do something to help.

⸂It… is possible,⸃ Boundary agreed after she’d spouted off her concerns about how the kid had managed to snag himself a parent so easily. ⸂Reading the universe is… complicated. The act itself is something that can be learned, but many people do not believe it is real—or at least accurate—as they cannot interact with it well or do not understand that the universe’s guidance can lead them to strange places. Those who read it well are both feared and revered by many.⸃

“Like Carne?”

⸂Like Carne,⸃ the Risen Guard agreed, gazing off into his thoughts. ⸂There isn’t much we can do for Emile, except watch his abilities. He didn’t— He didn’t touch the heartcore, in the Livery Labyrinth, did he?⸃

Unfortunately, she had no idea. Astra or Benny might, as they had touched the thing, but while Emilia suspected a few of the kids had realized the pair touched it, most hadn’t. They’d been too busy panicking and worrying about what they would exit the labyrinth to. Half the kids had slept, and while Astra and Benny had to have been moved by someone, given they had been napping next to her own unconscious body when she woke, she wasn’t positive who had done so. A little part of her suspected Kelly had moved all of them. Kelly was a sweetheart who wouldn’t have told anyone what they had done, not unless it was actively putting them in danger.

“You can’t tell?” she asked, remembering that the activation of the heartcore had been what attracted Boundary to the city in the first place.

⸂I could only tell the heartcore was activated by a local, the specifics of how many locals is unknown.⸃

“I see…” No way to tell if it was natural or a gift, then. “Don’t imagine anyone in your Risen Guard messages has run into Astra, Gale or Caro? Or my missing friend?” she asked, giving Boundary a brief run down of what had happened, having previously only told him they were going back to the Ingogia estate because children were stupidly brave. He was equally unimpressed with Conrad just letting the kids run off, although the other visitor continued insisting that Astra made him.

⸂Are you a child?⸃ Boundary asked, rolling his eyes—actually rolling his eyes!—at Conrad. ⸂Visitor or not, that girl is still a child. You should have been capable of stopping her, especially given your defensive ability.⸃

Actually, that was a pretty good point. Emilia would have asked about it if, at that very moment, their maps hadn’t lit up with a person indicator.

A person coming straight at them.

Great.