They were far into dark space. Valin hurt all over. He anticipated that running all day would make the bind ache, but this was far far worse. His legs were on fire.

He caught Companion casting with song swift to keep up with the group. Valin wanted to do the same, but he could not cast with song like the selkie did in his own voice. The translation amulet he was wearing didn’t help. He was fascinated with the human’s stamping their feet to get the sixth symbol when not using a tool. He used his toes to get the higher numbers needed to control tools, but he would never have considered trying to cast an enhancement spell with tool casting. His people used different methods to make up for the lack of fingers when casting enhancement and battle magic. His amulets were one of those. He did have a swift amulet, back in his shop at Seagrass, but he didn’t bring it with him to Home Square. There was no time to go back for it.

He assumed Alex was leading the group because as a tier three he was one of the slowest members of the group. Now Valin wasn’t so sure. Without magic the slowest member was obviously Companion. With magic, he suspected the slowest member was him.

Alex might be able to sing the swift spell just like Companion. Valin was astonished when Alex cast the nimble spell with song. He knew Alex could sing the language, but the selkie communicated using one note at a time. The selkie could produce two or three notes simultaneously. Their casting method included this multi-note sound. Valin didn’t think humans were capable of it.

They stopped the first day only after the lights transitioned to night mode. It wasn’t until the second day that Valin realized they were heading into dark space. His estimate of the first night's late stop might have been off since the halls were dark from failed light panels. As they ran the second day Alex or Ellen would cast light spells ahead of them, igniting the dark panels. They aimed at one panel in ten, leaving the party running in very dim light.

Valin was sitting in a corner of what might be a rest. There was so little left of the furniture it was hard to tell. Everyone was eating travel food. A true selkie like Companion wouldn’t drink much water, but Valin was gulping it. His enchanted water flask was having trouble keeping up with him. No one mentioned it.

“We’ll get to the upgraded rest tomorrow,” Todd observed. “We will stay there the night to recover, before the final leg out of the structure.”

“If you change your mind about coming out to the Speedwell, you can stay in the rest,” Grandmother offered.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” Valin responded, slightly offended they thought a little run would stop him. They were making their way up out of the structure. Valin wasn’t certain why they came so far out into dark space to make their exit. He’d overheard two humans in Home Square talking about another nearby square called OpenSky where there was an exit to above. This exit must be closer to their vessel, since they ran the whole way Valin could understand why they did that on the uniform surface in the halls instead of the rough terrain above.

Valin was also confused by their direction. He expected them to head to the nearest ocean. There was an ocean to the east, but it was far, far away. He couldn’t remember if there were any large rivers inland. This continent was rarely visited by his people, that was why he was here.

Alex set up for the first watch. The group set a watch each night, even though it was obvious there was nothing in this region that could harm them. They didn’t ask him to take a turn, for which Valin was too grateful to question. He curled up around his water flask and quickly fell asleep.

“Slow the pace a tick tomorrow,” Grandmother instructed Alex. “Our master jeweler is having more trouble keeping up than I anticipated.”

“An easy run sounds good to me,” Alex replied.

They arrived at the upgraded rest late the next day. Valin managed to keep up with more ease. He was feeling better. The upgraded rest, as the humans called it, was actually a house outpost. It contained a strange assortment of upgrades. There was the ultra rare storage and library, yet it didn’t have a transportation room or even an inventory access. Grandmother's question about if he knew how to spark a transportation room made more sense. His people would never have put so much effort and expense into upgrades on a house outpost that didn’t already have one.

There was even a bunk room, although it contained only one selkie bed and one human one. The human bed was left for Grandmother, while Companion claimed the selkie one. The one stuffed sofa was taken by Ellen. Everyone else set their gear down onto a section of floor, preferring it over the wooden slats of the benches that stood in place of the usual sofas.

Valin decided this weird arrangement must be because they were in dark space. The food preparation area was close to the top upgrade, rivaling what was found in an inn. Todd cooked a meal for them all. Valin consumed the offering before once more collapsing into sleep.

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“He’s asleep,” Todd reported as he stepped back into the main room of the rest. Grandmother looked up from where she was studying the interface for the crystal. Her sudden movement automatically closed it.

“Well tomorrow should be interesting,” Grandmother commented. “I’ll lead the way up to the ridge, since I am the least affected by the transition. I want you and Ellen to bring up the rear. If he reacts badly I want you both to still be inside Control’s area in influence. I am not certain how we should position the rest.”

“Put Companion behind, and Alex and Sarah ahead,” Todd recommended. “Companion always has trouble catching his balance when he loses the enchantment on his breastplate. If there is trouble he should still be inside the structure too. Alex and Sarah ahead will keep Jeweler in the middle.”

“We will go with that,” Grandmother responded. “Remember to keep an eye out for outside dangers. We don’t want to get jumped by another cougar because we were paying too much attention to Jeweler. He seems very certain he can leave the structure. Perhaps his disguise amulet is self powered. That will be interesting in itself.”

“Wouldn’t it have to power the nanobots in our eyes?” Todd asked. He was familiar with Grandmother’s theories about how magic in the structure worked. One of the founding principles was that a lot of the visual animations they saw were only light projections by nanobots in their corneas.

“That is why it will be interesting,” Grandmother responded.

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They left the gallery in the morning after a hot breakfast. Valin was surprised again, when instead of going out the surface exit located right there in the outpost, they went back into the halls and down three stories. At least they didn’t run. The group proceeded at a fast walk. They checked cross corridors and holes in the floor and ceiling like a pack of bears could jump out at any moment.

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They emerged into a ruined temple.

“I haven’t seen a screech since I left home,” Valin said. He uttered the statement in surprise before he thought it through. The selkie didn’t have a word for temple, that was why his translator sputtered.

“A what?” Ellen asked.

“A space to worship Oversight,” Valin said again, trying to pick words that would translate.

This translated to selkie as, “A space to make offerings to the true god.” Companion was confused. The selkie didn’t make offerings to the true god, the true god provided for them. Grandmother told them Jeweler wasn’t a selkie but something else in disguise. Companion found it hard to believe until now.

“I’ve always thought of it as an entry courtyard, early introduction and training area,” Grandmother responded. Grandmother led the way out of the courtyard and across the grass meadow to a small stream. They waded across before crossing a last strip of grass and starting up the path. The walk up wasn’t that hard at the slow pace.

Suddenly the bind gave a twinge. It seemed worse than normal. Valin stumbled a little. Weakness leached into his muscles. He rubbed his back, trying to loosen his muscles. He touched something wet. He looked at his hand, it was stained red with blood. Alarmed he tried to spin around to see what had injured him. He lost his footing and fell to his knees. Something was darkening his vision. He tried to get back to his feet. He managed a stumbled step or two forward before his legs gave out beneath him. He fell forward landing on his face. The darkness claimed him.

Grandmother was at the jeweler’s side in moments. She slipped her staff through her belt to free her hands. She pulled the pack off his small form and cut through the white almost plastic that Valin’s cloth armor transformed into, with her knife. She pulled aside the armor to reveal a white almost plastic vine threaded through the flesh of the jeweler's back. The vine was complete with leaves and thorns. Blood was streaming not just from the small cuts they could see, but from where the vine entered his body. He must have a lot more damage internally. She noted the blood was red, like a human’s not blue like a selkie’s.

Grandmother picked the small form up and carried him back into the structure’s area of influence. She set him back down, as soon as color returned to Valin’s armor. The cloth appeared to be made out of a ceramic fabric. Over the top of it Valin wore a glass breastplate, bracers and greaves. There was no backplate. Grandmother thought the vine probably made it impossible for him to wear one.

The cloth armor was starting to stain dark green around the cuffs and collar, while the glass, insulated by the cloth armor from Valin’s skin, remained clear. The stain was darker than a tier four crafter’s but not dark enough to be tier six. The jeweler was tier five.

Grandmother stepped back. Companion, Todd and Ellen stood at full alert with weapons in their hands and ready. Ellen was edging closer to get a better look. Sarah and Alex were hurrying back down the trail. Color, yellow and blue, returned to their armor as they approached.

“You better heal him, before he bleeds to death,” Grandmother commented.

Sarah and Alex kneeled down and both cast a tier three heal onto the jeweler. The jeweler came off the ground in a ball of fury. Everyone caught a flash of extremely sharp teeth, before Grandmother reached out and caught him. Valin’s movement just stopped. For a second everything just seemed to freeze, then the jeweler collapsed again.

“Should we heal him again?” Alex asked. There was a trace of fear in his voice that was completely at odds with Alex's personality.

“No,” Grandmother replied. “I think that was a reaction to the pain. Some sort of animal instinct.” Grandmother could hear Valin's heart beating. It still didn’t sound like a human heart, but it was strong and steady. “I think he has passed out now from it.” Grandmother pulled the cloth armor back from his back again and inspected the vine. It looked like it was made out of oxidized bronze. It was much easier to see against the pure white of the jeweler's skin than the depowered white plastic version. Grandmother felt around the edges of where the vine penetrated, trying to determine if he was still bleeding internally. It felt like the vine penetrated really deep. The jeweler’s skin was coarse, almost like sandpaper. Grandmother thought it must be covered by small scales.

“We could try cutting it out with nimble,” Alex suggested.

“If it was that easy, I think the jeweler would have already done it,” Grandmother observed. “I think it’s wound all through his ribs and organs. I suspect just cutting it out will kill him, even with healing.” She pulled slightly on one leaf and the vines flexed under her fingers like it was a live thing. Grandmother remembered how she told Jeweler she thought he was wounded. She was guessing at the time. It appeared she was more right than she realized.

She pulled his cloth armor back down and rolled him over so he wouldn’t wake up with his face in the dirt. This action allowed everyone else to get a good look at him. Grandmother noticed that he had four fingers, so he wasn’t a member of the builders' race.

“Do you know what race he is Companion?” Todd asked.

“No,” Companion replied. “Enchanter will know.”

Grandmother straightened up and pulled her staff back out of her belt. She walked up the path to retrieve Valin’s pack before returning to the group. She sat the pack next to Valin.

“This means he didn’t know what ‘outside the structure’ meant,” Sarah observed.

“True,” Ellen agreed.

“Should we carry him back down?” Todd asked.

“No,” Grandmother said, as she tried to get comfortable on a nearby rock. “I’m going to have a little conversation with him first.” She shifted a few more times. “We’ll wait here until he wakes. Why do I never bring my stool?” she asked.

Everyone else was on high alert, keeping a watch on both their environment and Valin. Grandmother considered what she was going to say. Valin made a noise. A kind of growling grinding noise, that Grandmother thought might be the Jeweler’s true voice. One of his hands rose to clear the dirt from his face.

Grandmother rose and walked over. She knelt down next to the jeweler.

“I told you the Speedwell is beyond the reach of Control. It would appear you did not know what that meant,” Grandmother said to him.

Valin jerked back, trying to jump to his feet again. Grandmother placed one hand on his leg, holding him firm. He ended up in a sitting position, his eyes jumping to each member of the party. One of his hands came up and rubbed the ring through his ear.

“What are you going to do?” Valin asked in a human voice in the human language. So the ring was a translator. Something else on his body must be the disguise generator. Grandmother wondered if he understood her first comment and thought about repeating it. She decided to skip it.

“I can take that vine out of your back,” Grandmother stated. “You're not going to like my method. This is your chance to say no. If you say yes now, I won’t stop later if you change your mind, so make sure you mean yes.” Grandmother could see that Todd was surprised by her offer. Actually they all looked surprised.

“It will kill me,” Valin said.

“Maybe,” Grandmother conceded. “I think not. What is your answer?”

Valin looked at the old woman. She seemed different. This wasn’t the absent minded ruler who smiled at her subjects and brought them prosperity by accident. It also wasn’t the kind version he remembered from Redfalls, who just wanted to be accepted and loved. This version was smart and hard. She was going to do this for her own reasons that had nothing to do with him. She saw him clearly, including that flaw within him that always betrayed his best intentions in the end. Suddenly he knew he would never betray her, because she would always remember he was capable of it. As long as he was loyal to her he would have a future, when he stopped he would be dead.

“Yes,” he said. Irene smiled.