The meeting went on for a few more minutes as Marron described what he saw. At one point, when he spoke about his return trip, he hesitated and looked pale. He paused for a couple of seconds, then continued as if nothing had happened.

Yuriko held his arm, stroking it soothingly. He returned a slight smile but continued with his report.

Afterwards, Commander Perry said, “It looks like we have little choice. It’s a good thing we recovered Adjudicator Sharine’s granddaughter already, otherwise, this decision would be weighted in the other direction.”

“We have?” Marron asked.

“Yes, thanks to your sister, Knight Davar,” Perry smirked. “Thank you for your report, Knight Davar, and for your bravery in taking the journey. The council will discuss our options, but more than likely the meeting will be to plan the logistics of our…er, evacuation.”

“Well then, I’d rather not get bogged down in those details. I’ll return after I rest and freshen up. To plan our route?” Marron stood up and saluted.

“Yes, thank you, Knight Davar. After dinner then.”

“I’ll arrange the schedule.” Decanus Dumont said.

“Right, thank you,” Marron replied. He nodded to Niamh and nudged Yuriko. As soon as the three of them left the conference room. “You rescued Sharine’s granddaughter?”

“Yup!” Yuriko chirped. “She’s a friend of mine. I, well, it was more an accident really. I came into Rumiga and she happened to be there already.”

“Near the Tidelands?”

“Yes. Ah, we also rescued some of the captives. The ones who still resisted anyway.” She finished morosely.

Yuriko had the impulse to save the rest of the captives, but practicality dictated that it was impossible. She had walked through the halls of Ouera Bo and she had passed by several of their women. She couldn’t distinguish the barbarian ones from the former Imperials.

Although, if she was being honest with herself, it was more the presence of the Chaos Viscount, and the strong chieftains that stopped her from doing as she wanted. She had escaped relatively unscathed, but that was with more than a dozen Knights and several Colossi on her side.

Commander Perry and the other Knights had made it quite clear that they weren’t capable of just charging in. Maybe if the Legates of the two legions were here.

Still, she knew not to pursue a self-destructive course. She would think about returning here once she was stronger, and when she had the might to make a real difference. For now, she wanted to see her other brothers and from there, determine where her future lay.

“There’s still that prince, too,” she muttered.

“Prince? What are you talking about, Yuri?” Marron asked.

“Ah, uh, nothing!”

“No, it’s not. Tell me.”

“Not here.” Yuriko insisted. They were still in the keep after all.

“We can talk in our rooms.” Niamh said brightly, “Ah, bring all of your girls, little sis!”

Marron shuddered at Niamh’s words, then did a double-take. “Your girls?”

“Her friends, of course,” Niamh said with a sly wink.

Yuriko stared at Niamh for a moment before dismissing the woman’s quirks. “Maru, uhm, I’ll see you at dinner, I guess. You should rest. You need it.”

“Oh. Sure. I’ll see you later! Where’s your room?”

“Right next to yours.”

“Ah. Alright!”

Yuriko waved goodbye. She was sure big sis Niamh wanted some time alone with him, and it wasn’t as if he was going anywhere. Besides, she had interrupted her mediations and she had felt quite close to, well, not quite an epiphany, but a realisation.

She jumped up to the roof and settled on her old spot, sinking back into a meditative trance. She observed the Radiant energy as it was absorbed in her body and noticed a difference almost immediately. It was more lively within her now. The individual motes, which were still a largish clump of Radiant, wiggled around and vibrated at a higher frequency once they entered her Anima. It hadn’t been that lively a few hours ago.

She couldn’t help it though, she was really happy to see her brother again! After so long, and after worrying that something might have happened to him! And this excitement…transferred over to the Radiant. Even when she exuded it out of her Anima, it kept its excited state for a few minutes before reverting, and subsequently merging into the ambient Chaos.

Now that was interesting. Radiant energy was present wherever the Sun shone. It was less so in shadowed areas and indoors, nearly absent as a matter of fact. What was the difference between Radiant light and light from an Animus panel? Or a candle or campfire for that matter? She didn’t notice before, and perhaps she should look.

The discovery of the day, however, was that Radiant energy was subsumed into ordinary ambient Chaos. Did that mean she could pull it out of ambient Chaos too?

Curious, she captured ambient Chaos, or rather, tried to. It wasn’t easy. Even using her kinesis, it was similar to trying to scoop water from a puddle with her hands. The water seeped out of her hands quickly and before she would have been able to lift the water up, it would have already drained away such that nothing was left but droplets.

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Her kinesis captured a large glob of ambient Chaos, and even as she brought it close to her face, it ebbed away into thin air. The air and the Chaos didn’t exist in the same space, at least she didn’t think so.

Recalling her Natural Sciences, she knew that air consists of particles that were necessary to breathe. She didn’t quite remember much of the details though she was sure it was probably in her textbooks. Those had been left in her dorm room.

Ah, her Golden Willow room would have been given away by now, since the bank had stopped paying for her room and board a few weeks after she had been deemed missing. So who had her things?

Oh! What about Hunter Kitty Cat? The black tomcat had been a constant companion and was a lovely pet. He did enter her life abruptly though, so she wondered how he had dealt with her sudden disappearance.

Anyway, her things were probably with one of her brothers. Probably Kato.

And, with her thoughts wandering all over the place, her meditation time had come to an end. The dinner bell had been rung, and her tummy had growled loudly.

_________

“Wonderful to meet you, Miss Sharine.” Marron gave Gwendith a small bow upon their introduction. He glanced at Yuriko’s other companion, a winsome woman who was also clearly a Chaos Lord.

“I am the Songstress of Heartfelt Desire,” the Chaos Lord introduced herself. “Bound to my master, Yuriko Mishala Davar. Hmmm, I’m also apparently someone who used to be human, but I honestly don’t remember that.”

“Really?” Marron’s eyebrows rose all the way to his hairline. Songstress certainly looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place when he’d met her before.

“She was Ashley Sommer Gin,” his sister said helpfully. “One of my classmates back in Faron’s Crossing. A Chaos Lord, Seeker of Delights kidnapped her from home. Er, the Seeker had apparently taken my form after I beat him during training camp.”

“Ah, that one. But didn’t Armsmaster Byrne claim he drove that Chaos Lord off?” Marron asked.

“It was to conceal my part in it, I think. It was too conspicuous?” Yuriko said.

“Ah, yes. A girl who had just gone through with her Atavism had defeated a Chaos baron with an artefact she happened to find. Yes, that would have been troublesome,” Marron agreed.

“Ah, well. Er, one last. Saki, show yourself please.”

“What the-?” Marron yelped when a petite woman with short tawny hair popped out of the shadows not a couple of paces from him. He wasn’t the only one either, the other two girls, and Niamh shrieked.

“This is Saki Mishala,” Yuriko said, “my attendant and Shadow Guard from Mum’s clan.”

The woman curtsied to him and gave him a lidded stare. “An honour to serve, young mistress’ brother.”

Yuriko glanced at the woman. “Shouldn’t he be the young master to you?”

Saki shook her head. “Of course not, he may be Lady Sadeen’s son, but he doesn’t really have the proper Heritage.”

“Ah, of course,” Yuriko sighed.

“Er, right,” Marron grunted, regaining his composure. “It's nice to meet all of you.” They were in his suite’s living room. Niamh had moved in with him as soon as they formalized their relationship, of course, though now that it had her stamp on it, the rooms were cosier and welcoming. “Now, little sis. Tell me all about your travels.”

Yuriko grinned and spun her tale. It was both unbelievable and utterly bewildering. He also knew exactly when she tried to lie or omit details. It was painfully obvious with the tone of her voice suddenly going flat, along with her face becoming blank. It was cute, actually, though not the lying part. His sister had never been a liar, and it was always painfully obvious.

Still, there were parts that she tried to omit but were clearly important events.

“So you didn’t take our Ancestors’ path after all?” Marron ascertained.

“No,” Yuriko shook her head, “I didn’t. The Heritage I got was incomplete.”

“And how did you learn of the path you took? It could not have been something you invented, Yuri, you wouldn’t have been able to advance so quickly otherwise.”

“It’s called the Ancient’s Way. And, er, it focuses on Anima expansion over compression.”

“Oh?”

The air around her was suddenly filled with golden flames. A Protective Field? Then she lifted a teacup with those flames. Huh. He was sure she didn’t have a telekinetic technique. He would have been able to see the Animus concentrate on her head otherwise.

“This is my Anima.”

“Truly? How remarkable.” Marron murmured.

“What? That’s not a Protective Field?” Gwendith blurted out. Saki looked surprised for a moment but quickly controlled her expression while Songstress just looked on calmly.

“No. It’s really my Anima.” Yuriko shrugged. “I can condense it and form a powerful defence too, and I can use it to move things and myself.”

“I see. Interesting. You didn’t tell me where you learned this though.”

“Ah, ehehe.” Yuriko stuck out her tongue and giggled. Marron eyed his sister, then noticed how the other three girls suddenly looked flustered. For that matter, he felt a slight wave of something pulse out of her when she laughed. Huh, even Niamh was red-faced.

He shook off the influence easily enough after recognising its rather benign and involuntary nature.

“Yuri,” he said sternly.

“What?”

Marron sighed. “Nevermind.” It seemed like Mum’s legacy had fully materialised in his sister. She continued her tale and he oohed and ahhed at the appropriate parts, even if he felt sick to his stomach at the sheer amount of danger she had gone through.

He wanted to smack her upside the head for her recklessness, and he wanted to keep her next to him forever, keep her safe. But…she was already a Knight and was his equal in power.

“That was quite the adventure,” he said.

“It was eye-opening.” Yuriko agreed.

“Hmm, one thing I’m wondering about though. Why did you leave Realmheart?” Marron took a sip from his teacup, swirling the liquid in his mouth and savouring the flavours. “You didn’t have to leave. You got to the Academy in the Capital which would surely give you a better boost in your career.”

“Eh. Ahahaha.”

“You’re running from something?”

“Er, maybe.”

“Ah. What?”

Yuriko leaned back against the couch and looked shiftily at everything else but him. “Don’t lie, baby sister. You know you can’t pull it off.”

She gave him an annoyed look which only made him snort in laughter.

“I’m running, yes,” Yuriko sighed, “From my…er, I suppose there’s no denying it, really. I’m running from my fiance.”

“WHAT?!”

Nearly everyone screamed out, and Marron had been in mid-sip. The tea went back up his nose and he sprayed some of it out. Yuriko’s Anima flared and caught the spray, contained it into small bubbles then she tossed it to the sink.

“Fiance? Who!” Gwendith growled as she grabbed Yuriko’s sleeve and pressed up against his sister.

Niamh squealed out loud and giggled. “Ooh, ohhh! Who is it?”

“Er, the, uhm, the 29th Pia’Vasi. According to the Mishala Prima, anyway.”

“An Imperial Prince?” Niamh and Gwendith squeaked. Saki looked uncommonly calm though.

As for Marron’s part, matters were simple. “If you don’t want to, then that’s fine.” He said firmly. “I’ll help you, no matter what.”

Yuriko gave him a relieved smile and said, “Thank you, Maru.”

“You’re welcome. And, Yuri?” His hand darted over the table and pinched the back of her hand. Her Anima resisted automatically, and after a moment, he invested his fingers with penetrative Animus, which broke past her defences. He pinched her hand and twisted it. “Don’t call me, Maru!”

“Aiieee!” Yuriko squealed in both surprise and pain. “Fine, fine, I’m sorry!”

He nodded happily and let her go.

“Well, that’s not an immediate concern. Now, we have to focus on what we need to do to escape this place, preferably with the rest of the Imperial forces.”