It wasn’t until lunchtime that the group continued their discussion. As the group of three, plus Vance and Iselde, sat down with their meals, Miria spoke into Anise's mind again.

she said, as she stuffed a spoonful of soup into her mouth.

said Felix.

Miria winced, and Anise felt a pang of guilt. If she weren’t here, Miria and Felix wouldn’t be so worried about the worldstriders, and Sallia wouldn’t have died. She had already watched one of her best friends die keeping her alive. She didn’t want to see Miria and Felix die the same way.

Miria suddenly leaned over and hugged her, causing Anise to jolt in surprise.

asked Miria, sounding a bit accusatory.

Anise was caught off guard by Miria's statement.

How does she do that? Anise wondered. Sometimes, Miria’s ability to read people’s emotions was eerily accurate.

Miria’s arms tightened, and Anise saw Iselde and Vance raise an eyebrow at them. Since the three were talking mentally, the table wasn't very lively, unlike usual. Anise wondered whether the other two could tell that they were talking.

Of course they can tell, thought Anise, as she glanced at Iselde’s face. Vance had noticed something was wrong almost immediately this morning. Both Iselde and Vance knew about Felix's 'mental communication ability.' However, neither of them said anything about being excluded from the conversation. Anise felt bad about that... but she also felt grateful. When Anise saw Iselde’s face out of the corner of her eye, she looked worried, but not angry. Despite Iselde's general obliviousness, she was a good friend. When Anise looked directly at her, Iselde schooled her expression back into a normal, happy smile. Anise slipped Iselde her pudding as an apology for the group’s silence today. Including Iselde and Vance would be hard for real Market matters... but Anise still felt guilty.

Iselde eyed Anise, before she took the pudding and started eating it.

said Felix. Then, Felix snorted, although Anise could detect a great deal of fondness in his voice.

Anise sighed, but nodded. Knowing Sallia's personality... Felix might not be wrong.

said Felix, after some more thought.

Miria also pursed her lips in thought, while Anise frowned.

said Anise.

Felix frowned.

Anise sighed, and nodded.

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The biggest problem with the worldstriders was that they were on a different layer of reality. Different layer… different layer…

Anise started wondering how, exactly, the layers of reality worked.

asked Anise.

said Felix, after a moment.

Anise nodded, and caught Iselde and Vance giving her weird looks from the corner of her eye. She straightened her head.

she said, making very sure not to move her head this time.

Said Felix.

Anise sighed, but nodded. That had been exactly what she had been thinking of. Realizing it was hopeless felt rather disappointing.

asked Miria.

said Felix.

Miria frowned.

said Felix.

asked Anise.

Anise saw Felix pause for a moment, before he turned towards Anise.

said Felix.

Anise froze.

That… was a very good question. One that she hadn’t thought about before.

Anise doubted the Zelyrian empire could have won against the worldstriders if only a few Mages could hurt them. The worldstriders were reasonably intelligent and capable of combat, after all. So the Zelyrians should have had a commonly-used spell or artifact that hurt the worldstriders. If Anise could figure out what it was… that might create a decisive advantage if the worldstriders came for her again.

It also provided a bit more context for why the worldstriders were so determined to kill her. If Zelyrian magic had an easy way to counter the biggest advantage of worldstriders, it made much more sense for them to hunt her down and try to kill her. Removing their greatest weakness was just a logical thing to do if they had the chance.

There might be an accessible tool to fight against the worldstriders. She felt a glimmer of hope and excitement at that thought.

The worldstriders reappearing in the real world had felt terrifying. She had felt so stressed that she had revealed some secrets to Vance. But now, Anise had a different idea. One that was just forming in her mind.

The worldstriders had returned to the planet, and they might be coming for her. But Anise wasn’t going to be helpless this time.

She was going to find out how the Zelyrians had fought against the worldstriders. And if the worldstriders tried to hunt her down again, she would be ready.