Even with my newfound Firmament Control and Firmament Sight, the aligning step is... a lot harder than I anticipated.

It's not impossible by any means, but it does take an effort of concentration and will that leaves me physically exhausted. The experience is not unlike having to tense every muscle in my body and then having to hold that tension for as long as I can. Firmament layers resist being directly manipulated the way I'm trying to do it.

"Can you show me how you do it again?" I ask Virin for what I think is the fifth time. He's being remarkably patient with me — in fact, he still seems more excited than anything else, really.

"Yes!" Virin says immediately. He pulls out yet another stone and the Firmament within him abruptly flexes, wobbling and abruptly aligning itself with that of the stone. Firmament Sight and Quicken Mind give me everything I need to observe the phenomenon in detail, all the way down to the way the layers of Firmament push each other apart.

The problem is that Firmament Control is still a step less precise than I need to be able to manipulate Firmament to that extent of fine precision. I remember the method I first used when Mari taught me imbuement — a sort of rocking back-and-forth with my Firmament until it slipped into the object I was trying to imbue — and the motion makes a lot more sense now. Every time I push against foreign Firmament with my own, the two end up a little bit more aligned.

What I'm trying to do now is to refine that process. The method I developed works, but only if the layers are already close to being aligned. If the layers are too different, then no amount of rocking can align the Firmament enough to let me imbue the object. And while the imbuement stones I got in the arena were easy enough to push Firmament into, they also weren't the higher rarity ones.

Based on the names of the rarities, I'm guessing higher rarities are going to get progressively harder to imbue, even if the imbuement will be anchored more deeply and can hold more power.

"I don't suppose you can help me out here, Ahkelios?" I say absently. I tap on his presence within my Firmament, calling him out with a quick application of Temporal Link. He manifests in his usual spot on my shoulder, already poised to answer even as Virin lets out a startled squawk.

"I thought you'd never ask," Ahkelios says.

"You sound smug."

"That's because I am. You should've asked sooner." I can practically hear him preening. I consider pointing out the fact that he could simply have offered — it's quite clear he's not entirely unaware, even when he's 'hibernating' when the skill is deactivated — but honestly, I think I'm just going to let him have his moment. He's clearly enjoying himself.

"Alright, well..." I hold out my hand and the stone. Ahkelios clicks his tongue, then dives forward, flickering into the stone and vanishing.

Then the room falls silent. Virin is staring at me and the stone, his eyes wide, and he speaks after a solid minute of opening and closing his beak. "Are you, uh... going to explain any of that?"

"I can try, but I think it'd be more confusing than anything else," I say dryly. "He's an echo of a past Trialgoer created by temporal Firmament and bound by the Interface."

Virin nods slowly. "Forget I asked."

I can feel Ahkelios doing something while his Firmament is bonded to the stone's. It's not the same as a traditional imbuement — it's like he's making it a part of himself, and then adjusting his Firmament to match mine. Which isn't a very difficult task for him, because he's basically made out of my Firmament to begin with.

And with that little change, Hueshift locks into the stone Virin provided me, aligned perfectly. Ahkelios pops out a second later, looking none the worse for wear. Maybe a little tired. He gives me a weary grin and a thumbs-up that I'm not sure where he acquired, then collapses back onto my shoulder.

"Thanks, 'Kelios," I say, giving him a little pat on the head.

Now for the second step of the plan. Virin is watching me in rapt attention, and I try to focus as I bring Firmament Control to bear. The outermost layer of Firmament here is a little more slippery, a little harder to manipulate — no doubt because I have to deal with two different types of Firmament layered on itself.

But the alignment Ahkelios and I performed together works perfectly. Pulling on one layer pulls on the other, and although it's harder, it's nowhere near as difficult as it might have been had the two types of Firmament been even slightly misaligned.

Just like before, I peel back the layer long enough to flood it with more Hueshift, and then seal it shut. Then I stare at the freshly imbued stone critically.

"You know, I never asked, but what rarity would this stone have, if you had to give it one?" I ask Virin. He glances at me, surprised.

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"Rarity?" he asks.

"You know, like... grade. The system categorizes imbuement stones. The two I saw back when I was buying them were 'shallow' and 'submerged', which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but..."

"Oh!" Virin brightens, clearly recognizing the system, if not the words. "Yes! Firmament quality different. I not know what yours called, but this one... five."

Five. Grade... B, by the Interface's standards, even if it's chosen to give the stones an entirely different set of categories for some reason. Or maybe there's a good reason for that and I shouldn't compare the two.

"Does the quality make a difference?" I ask. I'm still not sure what these rarities mean.

"Big difference!" Virin agrees. He fishes around in a rickety drawer, filling his hut with the sound of rattling; up in her little nest, his daughter grumbles a bit from the sound. He finally pulls out a nondescript looking stone that's much smaller than the others. "This weakest type. You imbue before?"

I examine it critically. It doesn't look that different from the Shallow stone I imbued in the last loop. "Yes."

"Weak stones break," Virin declares. "Good stone last."

"That can't be the only difference."

"It not," Virin agrees. "But biggest difference. Better stone hold more Firmament. Also... ah... how to say." He pauses, as if struggling for the words. "When stone is good and old, it absorb... memory. Make imbuement stronger."

I blink. That's new. "You're telling me higher grade stones will affect whatever imbuement I put in it? What if I don't want my imbuement to be changed?"

"Then you find stone that match Firmament!" Virin says, as if it's obvious. "Or you make yourself."

"...I can make imbuement stones?"

"Oh! Yes." Virin doesn't appear to have considered that I might not know that. He looks at me quizzically. "Imbuement stone hard to make. Need..." He struggles to find a word. "Essence."

I blink. "Ahkelios, can you translate?"

The little mantis — still lying half-collapsed on my shoulder — gives a shrug that nearly makes him fall off. "Never tried making an imbuement stone that I remember," he says. "I'm not sure I even bothered with any of this crafting stuff. Are you sure this is how you wanna be using your time?"

"How did you know how to help me with imbuement if you didn't bother with it?" I ask, exasperated.

Ahkelios shrugs and, to my surprise, gives me a serious answer. "The whole bonding-with-Firmament thing I can do is new. Something that happens because I'm made of Firmament now, I guess," he says thoughtfully. "Makes it a lot easier to modify something when I'm connected to it."

Something about the way he says that sparks a thought. "Made of Firmament," I mutter to myself. "Ahkelios, you're like the Integrators."

"What?" The little mantis pulls the most offended expression I've ever seen him make and seems to regain all his energy just so he can stand on my shoulder and cross his arms at me. "I am not like the Integrators!"

"I meant that you're made out of Firmament like they are," I clarify. "Which means anything you can do, they can probably do."

Ahkelios's offended expression fades away, quickly replaced by one of delight. "And I can do anything they can do!"

"...That wasn't exactly what I meant—"

"Too late!" he announces. "I'm going to do that phasing thing they kept pulling on me back in my loops now."

I pause and stare at him as he concentrates. Nothing happens.

"I can't do it while you're looking at me," he says.

"I don't think that's the problem here, Ahkelios."

"Fine," he grumbles. Some of the mirth fades away from him as he composes himself, and I'm reminded that he's been through a lot more than he lets on. So much of his behavior is... It's not a front, exactly, but as much as he uses humor to connect with me and cheer me up, I think he uses it to distract himself, too. "So... what do you think that means, exactly?"

"I'm not sure yet," I say. My mind is racing, but I know too little about what the Integrators can do. I'll need to talk to Gheraa again.

Which means it's probably finally time to bank those Durability points. I've got 548 of those points clogging up my Interface.

Might as well put them to good use.

----------------------------------------

For the first time in a long, long time, He-Who-Guards was aware.

That awareness was only partially appreciated. It came with a good deal of pain and a feeling of rawness that he would have preferred not to feel. But he was himself, and that was more than he could have said a week ago.

His memories weren't entirely clear. He knew he'd faced an attack of some sort. He'd felt something beginning to pull at his Firmament. He knew he hadn't been able to fight it. No matter what he tried, his influence on the foreign Firmament trying to tear him apart failed. It was almost like it wasn't really there.

He-Who-Guards remembered the brief flicker of awareness that came to him. It was more impulse than coherent thought — just the barest flicker of cognizance that told him that he had an opportunity.

He couldn't quite remember what he'd done after that. There has been something around him, suffocating, that was being damaged, and his instincts had insisted he fight it off. The process had felt a little like pulling off his own skin. He was stripping himself bare, in a manner of speaking. Tearing apart the patchwork Firmament that held him together. That pretended to be him.

Now all of that was gone, and he was free. That freedom meant everything to him.

Even if his Firmament was in tatters. Even if it meant he would be lost; gone forever.

Yet he was holding on, somehow. He wasn't sure how. The remaining Firmament that formed his core should have long since dissipated, and yet it clung together.

Nearby, he could feel a familiar presence humming to herself, and a cold spark of purple Firmament.

He tried to tell himself that this time things would be different.

He wasn't sure he believed it.