Captain Morwen rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to keep the headache that threatened to overtake her from setting in. The Federation was failing the Brotherhood by keeping all its ships posted in home waters. The Brotherhood was failing the Federation by refusing to lift a finger to help anymore. Even the token help it offered her was very much just a few acts of contrition, nothing meaningful.

“Status of the system?” She asked Rozien, who’d shape changed into a staff to suit her needs.

“No vessels inbound that can be detected on our systems or theirs.”

Morwen was thinking she’d either been played or outmaneuvered. But staying here was just an over commitment of forces she couldn’t rationalize. She was about to give the order to set a course for New Xinjia when a priority message request came from the station. It was the station administrator.

“Captain Morwen. They have asked me to inform you we’ve taken in several asylum seekers. I believe they were piloting stolen property. They have asked me to arrange its return to you.”

Morwen blinked. Did that mean Amara was there? Questions raced through her mind so quickly she didn’t even think to use her ability to see the web of fate. She shook her head clear.

“Of course. Would it be too presumptuous to assume its original thief is among the refugees in your custody?”

The administrator glanced off screen, likely seeking permission to answer. He turned back to her and nodded. “Yes Ma’am. I can confirm. Private Amara is among them.”

“Would it be unbecoming if I were to request an audience with her?”

“No ma’am. We kind of expected you’d want to speak with her. Landing pad A2 please. We’ll meet you there.”

She brought the Theferis closer to the station. If an attack was coming, they couldn’t see. It would have to pass the ship first, and it connected to her through Rozien who served as the key to it. Forged eons in the past for its former commander, Aeryn herself. Once the vessel repositioned itself in a protective posture, if at a healthy enough distance as she could manage, she finally willed the ship to teleport her aboard the station, directly bypassing any of its security emplacements. She felt a buzz and tingle as she circumvented the installed wards and screens of the Artificer’s guild.

Sensing her thoughts, Rozien spoke up. “It’s funny. Aeryn always dreamed of a sector that could use magic freely. But the dragons would hear none of it. Then they died out so much they fell back to their home world, and Aeryn left her legacy to the artificers. Who then corrupted it with profit and greed.”

“Well, without it, the Brotherhood would be completely exposed and vulnerable.” She replied, half playing devils advocate.

“True.” Rozien sighed as she Morwen left the bridge. “When I fought, the sector was very different. Unexplored. Wild. Dangerous. I fear the only thing that’s changed from my time to yours is the map.”

“And the enemy, from what I understand. There was another working with Sauridius wasn’t there? One you’ve been coy to discuss.”

She could sense Rozien’s hesitation, but didn’t want to pressure him.

“It’s ok. I don’t want you to feel you have to speak out of turn. I’m just teasing, mostly. I doubt having someone else to worry about would help the situation out all that much.”

“Not likely. Sauridius is more than enough of a handful. I just pray he doesn’t awaken. If we can’t stop him, his control and influence will spread like an out-of-control wildfire.”

Morwen paused in the corridor. Some dwarves were hip deep in an access panel doing some repair work after they had cleansed the section.

“How was he stopped the first time?”

“First? No no no, you mean recent. He’s risen and fallen many times.”

“That’s mildly terrifying.” Morwen shuddered.

“It took total eradication of his religion to weaken his power base, and the sacrifice of an entire pantheon to tear him apart. Once Sauridius was sundered, his pieces were scattered and kept under watch. For a time, at least. But the watchers soon died, and they forgot the legacy of the old guard as the children rose to make their own destiny.”

“That explains how the Sauridius rose again.”

“Time is a great salve for the memory. Give it long enough and you can forget much.” Rozien said. “Unless you write it down,” He added.

“Earlier you said the pantheon had sacrificed itself to stop him. What did that look like?”

“They went into fights intentionally positioned to make them lose, knowing it would cost them, but deciding the expense was worth the outcome.”

Morwen frowned. In Aeryn’s case, it meant she knew she was going to her death. But she still went anyway. That really re-contextualized her final moments. Morwen doubted the Erynian counsel cared about that.

“I see. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure I ever saw us making it far enough in this war to contemplate how to end it. I’d spent so long going from losing battle to losing battle. The idea of shaping how the end will look never occurred to me.”

“You sound as weary as she was, near the end that is,” Rozien said softly.

She leaned on the staff for strength, taking comfort in the small things like the support of an ally she found herself progressively confiding in more and more. She reached the hanger bay and took up one of the smaller shuttles, ferrying herself over to the station in relative silence. The pair hadn’t said much more after Rozien’s observation. She wasn’t sure if she was willing to admit to how weary the war was making her.

When she landed and met her escort aboard the Brotherhood station she found herself thankful for the distraction. She exchanged pleasantries and the requisite amount of small talk necessary before she was finally escorted to the small area the station’s detention personnel had used to house Amara and her new friends. Sat before her was Amara in a poised seated position on the floor. She looked like she’d been failing to meditate.

“You look like shit,” Morwen said.

“I feel like it, so it fits.” Amara replied.

“The others probably won’t ask, but I have no qualms about it. Why?”

Amara frowned,breaking eye contact and looking down. Was that shame? Guilt? Fear? Something was going on with her former spell mage.

“Amara, if something is wrong, then tell me. I can help, or try at least.”

“I can’t risk bringing you into it. I-I have to deal with it on my own.” Amara said.

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“Deal with what?”

Amara looked back up. Tears clung to the bottoms of her eyes. So it was fear and guilt. Morwen frowned. Willful betrayal, but there were likely good reasons then. Okay. She could work with that. After all, she wasn’t exactly a straight shooter herself, and if Amara thought this was the best way to keep her friends safe, there wouldn’t be any stopping her.

“I don’t blame you Amara. Whatever it is you’re going through, you took what you thought was the best course of action. I’m certain of that. You’re smart and strong. But you’re only so strong alone. I can’t help you if you won’t let me, and it’s possible you’re being forcibly isolated.”

Amara gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “Possible? I am. But it has to be this way for now. Maybe I’ll be able to find a way back to the squad once the danger has passed.”

Morwen’s brows furrowed in thought before arching with curiosity and understanding. The theft of the Indra and going AWOL. It was all premeditated. She was taking herself out of play without posing a threat to anyone else. Political asylum with the Brotherhood would mean she wouldn’t face penalization by the Federation. She admired the boldness of the plan, but worried at the underlying threat that drove the actions.

“Amara. What is it that made you do this? What scared you so much you thought you had to be locked away?”

“Tell her Amara. She’s your commander, right?” A voice said from an adjacent cell.

Silence followed and Morwen didn’t dare disturb it as Amara fought for the strength to give her fear a name.

“I don’t want to say too much. But there’s a powerful player who’s making moves. He threatened my friends if I didn’t do what he wanted.”

“And you thought being jailed by the Brotherhood was the best solution?”

She shrugged. “They put me in the path of Ominek and some really destructive magical weapons. I figured if I took both elements out of play, no one loses but me.”

Morwen frowned, her mind going back to Rozien’s words from earlier about powers other than Sauridius and how dire that would be for the sector, let alone the galaxy.

“Who Amara. Who is it?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. He promised he would end all of you. I couldn’t risk it.”

Morwen frowned. Whoever it was must have really frightened Amara for her to feel like they pressed her into such a corner. Her troops didn’t spook so easily. Which meant it was someone with the power to back up their threat. She took a moment to scan the web of fate. A psionic spike of pain caused her to wince as they forcibly kicked her from it. She held her head and channeled golden astral magic to soothe the pain.

“What happened?” Amara asked, shooting up from the ground, eyes scanning left and right rapidly.

“Nothing, I’m fine. I tried to scry the web of fate, and they ejected me from it. Violently. Someone doesn’t want us seeing what’s happening.”

“Morwen. We should speak later. When we’re in private.” Rozien said somberly.

“Hey Rozien.” Amara said softly. “I like your new form. But I thought you were better as a tome.”

The staff remained silent, and Amara nodded, taking the unspoken rebuke as intended. “Right. I deserver that.”

She turned and sat down again.

“Don’t worry Amara. We’ll figure this out. Somehow.”

She excused herself and nodded absently as the detention staff explained the situation to her. Once on the shuttle and behind its wards, she finally addressed the golden rod shaped elephant in the shuttle.

“What was it you needed to speak about?”

“Just a moment.” Rozien said before casting several high power privacy shields. “There.”

Morwen studied them, poking the magical lattice work delicately, studying the magic , and the complex weave of runes carefully.

“You’re worried about eavesdropping?”

“It still might not be enough. But I had to try.”

“Okay.” Morwen said. “What’s this all about?”

“What’s been happening with Amara? I think I know who’s causing it. And maybe why.”

Morwen released Rozien so he could float before her. “Go ahead.” She said, folding her arms and leaning back as though about to receive a debrief.

“Long ago, when the Theferis was the flagship of a great fleet of warships fashioned by the gods, a demi god served under a dark god. No one ever knew his true name, the result of some hex, no doubt. But everyone knew him by his title. The Remover of Obstacles.”

Morwen sighed, unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “How melodramatic.”

“The remover was a dangerous arch mage. Skilled in magic that has long since forgotten. He’s among the most powerful diviners, and knows many if not all the greater paths, as well as a Divine Greater Paths. He may not be full god yet, but he has to be at the very peak of demi godhood. Under estimating him and what he is capable of is foolish and dangerous.”

She glanced up at Rozien’s words. She could hear the gravity in the tone of his voice. Foolish as it all sounded, this Remover scared him. It framed Amara’s reaction rather neatly. Which meant he’d approached Amara.

“So this Remover has paid our private a visit. I wonder why.”

“It’s difficult to say. He was so powerful at divination magic that he could obscure other strands of the web of fate, making other outcomes seem more likely than they were.”

“He can hide threads…”

Morwen leaned back. The ramifications of that startling her. She’d known it was possible to court potential strands and increase their probability of realization. But to isolate one from others and nurture it? That was a whole other level of dangerous. And then it hit her like a runaway freighter, with no control thrusters.

“Could others learn this skill?”

“Yes?”

“Is it possible this Remover may have taught any of Sauridius’ allies?”

“Quite so. He and Sauridius spent long sessions studying the web of fate. It’s very likely they exchanged notes on what they learned.”

“We have to go. Now.” She shot up and into the controls of the shuttle, sending it back on its way to the ship.

“Why?”

“Because Erlaut may have been right about a big attack coming to Eryn. Gods, I was so blind!”

The shuttle, which had been running on void magic, shifted to light magic. The spell drive nacelles opened to full burn, and the shuttle boosted hard for the yawning bay of the Theferis. Morwen only hoped she got there in time or they’d have lost everything.

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