When I did manage to knock I could hear a flurry of movement from behind the door and a voice called out.

“Who’s there?”

He spoke in Russian although I could understand it again for whatever unknown reason, I replied in English though.

“It's uhh, it’s Lucian, Lucian Clark. We met yesterday?”

I stumbled through the sentence and then immediately felt heat rise to my face and I lowered my head into my hands as I groaned inwardly.

I heard the door click and I lifted my head seeing Alexander in the door looking up at me smiling lopsidedly. He was wearing a similar white shirt, grey pants, and an oddly familiar grey hat. He was just in his socks making him even shorter.

“Good to see you up and walking Lucian Clark from yesterday.”

He smiled at me as I tried to distract myself from him and my embarrassment by looking over him into the room behind him.

It was slightly bigger than my room and lacked a bunk bed but had the addition of a small desk and chair as well as a few cabinets. I looked at the cabinets trying to guess what might be in them but all I could see was what looked like a loop of blue yarn peaking under one cabinet door. The desk was covered with stacks of books, a few notebooks, and a laptop with a charger plugged in. His jumpsuit was laid across a hastily made bed and I could see dirty clothes shoved under the bed which I ignored.

“You want to come in or did you just come to look around?”

I looked towards the voice seeing that Alexander had moved to the side to let me into the room which I walked into gratefully.

Alexander motioned to the single chair at the desk and I sat down as he went and sat on his bed crossing his legs as he looked at me intently. He didn't seem to have any problem with silence and I felt my anxiety grow as we sat there no one speaking for what felt like hours. Finally, Alexander spoke,

“So I'm assuming you have questions you think I can answer?”

He was still smiling and he spoke gently in his slightly high voice as he continued to watch me as he spoke.

Running my hand over my head I pulled the hat off and massaged my bald head grimacing slightly at the odd sensation.

“Same.”

Alexander grinned at me as he pulled off a very similar hat and revealed his bald head although I seemed to remember him having hair.

Realizing that I was definitely the cause of our mutual baldness I opened my mouth to apologize but Alexander shushed me before I could say anything.

“I've been going bald since I turned twenty. It was time, I should be thanking you for ripping off the bandaid.” He smiled as he rubbed his head again, “Besides it looks good no?”

I couldn't help but smile as he struck a heroic pose, his chin in the air and hands at his sides.

“Anyway, enough talk about our new haircuts, you have questions, I maybe have answers.”

Alexander slapped his hands down on his knees and looked towards me expectantly.

Swallowing I tried to think of a way to word my questions without giving away my sheer level of ignorance and alerting him to the fact that I was even stranger than he already thought. Working it through I decided that coming at this sideways was likely the best tactic I had. I’d ask questions that were likely common but could give me background information so that I could piece things together for myself. Deciding this would be my method it was pretty easy to think of what my first question would be since it seemed relatively obvious.

“Could you explain cores to me? Obviously, I know what they are,” (not in the least) “but what are mine and how do I control mine?”

What followed was one of the longest and most mind-bending conversations I had ever had as I quizzed him about magic and he eagerly explained. Cores were apparently a colloquial term for centres of magical power within a person and each usually held a specific affinity. It turned out that the terminology that was most commonly used was based on the Chinese element system which I only recognised from his describing the different cores. He did say though that there were a few exceptions to this system one of his cores being just such an exception. Alexander explained that he had a light core which was one of the more common exceptions. He also explained that he had a second core which was a water core and this is what he had used to counteract my loses of control. My embarrassment and shame were obvious when we got to this part of the conversation and he tried to assure me that it was okay and it was natural.

“You have to understand that my family was sure I’d be cored so I've been preparing to use magic since I was old enough to understand the concept.”

He caught my eyes with his as I tried to look away,

“You had no idea this was going to happen to you, feelings are natural, don’t beat yourself up for having them."

I nodded at his words feeling a lump rise in my throat and stopping me from properly thanking him. He continued to look at me and I could tell he understood how grateful I was even without me having to actually say the words. He went on from there to explain that it looked like I had at least two fire cores from the strength of the magic I had exhibited. Two cores were apparently common with one core being the most common and going all the way up to extremely rare four cores. From his explanation of my likely core makeup I was able to assume that someone could have multiple of a single type of core with each increasing the amount of magic one could use. I was confused at this though and asked him how he had been able to stop me if he only had one water core. He smiled and rubbed his bald head sort of sheepishly before he explained that skill in the use of your core often trumped pure power and he was rather skilled. He seemed embarrassed to admit to his own ability with his power and I gathered that he wasn't used to being spoken highly of even if it was from himself. I asked him about this and while he seemed hesitant to share at first he explained that his family had actually wanted him to have a fire core. A sun core was the common name for when a person had a combination of both a light core and a fire core and it was what Alexander's family had wanted him to have. Core combinations often had specific names, his specific combination of light and water was called a crystal core for instance. Alexander apparently came from a long line of arctic sailors who had used sun cores to break through the ice and navigate in the long winter nights. He mentioned that his water core was essentially useless here in the arctic and as a lookout he only really used his light. I was confused by this as it seemed obvious to me that a water core would be the most useful for a sailor to have. He chuckled at this without any real mirth before he explained,

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“The classification system really isn't perfect, some of the cores fit perfectly like fire, others, like water, really don't fit. For instance, before the system was standardized where I'm from we called the water core the ice core and that's a much better name in my opinion.”

Alexander explained that the water core really didn't let him manipulate water and more let him cool things or drain the heat from objects. It was an extremely useful skill he said but it was the nature of where he worked that meant that it was relatively useless. His light core on the other hand though was extremely useful aboard the ship as it had many uses as a lookout. Light cores allowed him to create fields that amplify or dim light inside them an effect I'd already seen Repun use when he had flashed the lights in the lounge. Alexander used them as a lookout to make lenses that allowed him to look for far off icebergs or any other obstacle. He also explained that while not efficient he could use the same effect as a massive magnifying glass. Alexander did admit though that Repun was far better at this than him considering the captain was an actual suncore. I could tell that the fact that Repun had the cores Alexanders family had wanted for him rankled him and I quickly tried to shift the subject.

“If cores are hereditary how come I have cores when I don't know anyone with them?”

I could tell my question hit a point of interest for Alexander as he leaned forward excitedly and paused dramatically before responding.

“We have. Absolutely. No. Idea.”

He smiled impishly as he spoke and watched my face for any reaction before going on.

“Of course there are theories and we know some things about them but we really have no idea why some people get cores, we honestly have very little idea why cores exist at all.”

I could tell he was ramping up as he leaned forward towards me as he spoke speeding up as he continued.

“Core origin is the very cutting edge of metaphysics and even still we only know only a few things concretely. Cores clearly have some sort of genetic or metagentitic component as they're passed on within families although with some variation clearly.”

He gestured towards himself as he said this to indicate his unfortunate water core.

“The leading theory is that cores are some sort of quantum evolution that allows us to directly effect base aspects of the universe. I disagree with this on both a scientific and philosophical level though considering it some elevates cored people as more evolved.”

He grew grim at this last statement and looked me in the eye as he spoke,

“I know what I just said is not the accepted doctrine but I don't want you thinking you're better than other people just because you're cored now. Cored people are only roughly a third of the population and having a core despite popular sentiment makes you better than no one.”

Alexander's speech confirmed what I had already begun to suspect since my very introduction to the concept of cored and uncored people. I knew from my own experience on my earth that if humans could find a way to discriminate then they would. The idea that something as defining and powerful as cores wouldn't create some kind of class divide was preposterous. I had held out some kind of hope that maybe there would have been some sort of mass uprising though. However, as Alexander went on to explain that while uncored and cored people technically were equal citizens in most countries, in practice this wasn't true. Most governments were run by cored people and uncored people were largely kept in the dark about cores and their nature. They were, of course, aware of magic and its existence, however, the governments and other organisations of the world were essentially only comprised of cored people. I assumed this was the reason my ignorance hadn't raised a host of red flags for Alexander and the rest of the crew. It was likely that my level of knowledge about cores and the systems that governed the world was only slightly below that of an uncored native to this universe. I also was less surprised to learn that my newly blossoming understanding of Russian was a side effect of my new cores. When I questioned him about this he explained that while the why wasn't well understood it appeared when gaining cores people tended to learn things quicker for a time after. It was assumed to be some sort of boon that helped your body and mind deal with the introduction of new abilities and senses to one's body. The intensity and length of such neuroplasticity were variable with it only lasting a month for some and up to a year for others. Alexander did seem both surprised and impressed as he quizzed me and we determined that I was already somewhat capable of speaking somewhat conversational Russian. I told him that languages were something that I had always been good at and proceeded to speak some Spanish as well as Portuguese. I explained that I had let my language skills languish somewhat as I had pursued other interests but that even as I spoke them I could feel them returning.

As we continued to speak I noticed Alexander slipping in and out of Russian as well as the other language that he and Repun had spoken in front of me. I found that I picked up Russian much easier than I was the other language he spoke which he hadn't named yet. Eventually, though we were both speaking in Russian which he seemed to do just out of the sheer amusement he got from seeing me speak. As we spoke I did ask him about the other language he was speaking as the more I heard of it the more I thought it sounded like Chinese, or maybe Japanese. He seemed slightly taken aback as I said this to him and it took him a few minutes to reply and he was hesitant when he did.

“It’s the language of my family,”

He reached up as if to stroke a beard which was a strange habit I’d seen him do before.

“I'm from an island off the east coast of Russia near Japan and this is our native language.”

He looked at me obviously waiting for the other shoe to drop as I made the obvious connection.

“You and Repun are related!”

I was more excited by putting together the puzzle than the actual realization and he seemed to realize that as he waited to see what else I’d say.

“That makes a lot of sense, I can't imagine a regular sailor getting away with talking to him the way it seemed you were, although if it's such a secret you could do a better job hiding it.”

I snapped my mouth shut as I realized I had let my inner monologue tumble out of my mouth and I watched Alexander to see if he took offence to what I’d said.

Alexander only laughed before responding,

“He's my uncle, he was around off and on when I was young since he was in the Russian Navy. He was always very kind to me despite the fact I hadn't lived up to what the family wanted, so when he got this ship I asked to join the crew.”

At this point, Alexander looked away from me slightly ashamed and I understood he must be assuming that I thought he was just another case of cored nepotism. I understood his feelings, especially considering that he was obviously a case of nepotism although very minor. I also knew that his cores had little to do with his position on the boat and if anything they'd been a hindrance to him. I struggled though to find a way to articulate this and we ended up sitting in uncomfortable silence until I couldn't take it anymore and broke it.

“So, I’d hopefully like to avoid burning the ship down around me, again, is there any chance you can help me with that?”

Alexander looked up at me with a smirk and a somewhat evil glint in his eye,

“Oh, I can definitely help you with that.”