Tala and Terry faced off within the sparring ring in Tala’s sanctum.

There was only one major difference from their previously standard sparring sessions over the years.

Ever since their fight with the wolf, Terry had insisted that there be weapons of various kinds all around the ring.

None were magical, but all were ready for Terry’s use.

The avian had leaned hard into his ability to use weapons after the fight with the wolf, taking the previously often ignored tactic and making it spectacular.

“Begin.” Tala’s calm voice echoed through the air even with her face completely blocked by her armor.

Terry flickered around the sparring ring, beginning a hurricane of weaponry, each thrown with different levels of force to stagger their arrival. Additionally, he continued to flicker, intercepting and catching many of the weapons already in the air to change their trajectory or speed.

Tala was purely on the defensive for the moment.

The goal of the session was for Terry to learn how to utterly overwhelm even her, with her three-fold sight and ridiculous defenses.

Tala, for her part, was simply trying to avoid or neutralize the growing storm of attacks.

She had one limiter and one goal, otherwise.

As a limiter, she was not allowed to claim the iron within the weapons, as that would render the whole process rather unnecessary in the most trivial of ways.

As a goal, she was attempting to keep the weapons functional both to allow their training to continue, and to add complexity, as otherwise Tala could just break each weapon as it got close, and that didn’t really require any skill or improvement for her at all.

Regardless, Tala was mainly working on her footwork and body positioning while wearing her full armor.

She wasn’t utilizing any of her defensive discs or other items. Once again, that wasn’t the point.

The sun rose while they squared off, Terry lasting nearly an hour before he finally collapsed to the side, panting, tongue lolling into the water that flowed around the circle.

All the weapons froze mid-air as soon as the avian appeared, laying on the ground, Tala locking them in place with a simple act of will taking virtually no effort.

She grinned over at her friend. “Nicely done, Terry. That was a full two minutes longer than last week.”

He let out a slightly musical grunt but didn’t otherwise respond. He did continue to lap up water in an incredibly inefficient manner.

Tala’s smile grew. She knew that he was playing it up, even if he was truly exhausted.

Regardless, it was time for Tala’s last type of practice before breakfast with Rane.

Her smile altered slightly, considering that reward coming her way, letting her void-iron practice fall to the side as well.

With her mental plate cleared and her will fully at the ready, Tala manifested a skeleton out of iron dust. She made it perfectly accurate, ensuring she hadn’t made any mistakes before layering connective tissue atop it, followed by muscle and ligaments.

It was exactly her size, because it was modeled after herself. She chose herself, because she knew her own body best, given her various magics.

The only thing she didn’t mimic was the inscriptions that should have been weaving through the bones, muscles, and tissue.

With that one exception, she didn’t let herself slack, building a facsimile of each muscle fiber, analyzing her own form more completely than she ever had before beginning this training.

Tala had come to realize something, or really—more accurately—she had begun to catch the edges of a realization.

The only reason she could make such creations of iron dust was because she distinguished between the parts that she wanted to be connected and the parts that she wanted separate.

It was all iron dust, held in place and moved by her will. So, in theory, it shouldn’t matter, and there shouldn’t be able to be a distinction between two bits of iron dust that were beside each other and ‘connected’ and those that were separate.

It was just a mass of iron dust, after all.

But there was a distinction, and she was building on her understanding of why and how that was.

Regardless, she didn’t get past the muscular stage that day. Indeed, she didn’t even get past the left leg in her efforts to build a perfect replica, even as she perfected her understanding of self.

* * *

Tala felt herself twitch as Rane flew out of the way of yet another blow under the light of the moon and stars.

“He’s going to be fine.” Mistress Cerna placed a hand on Tala’s shoulder.

Tala glanced at her unit leader even while keeping her perspective and focus on the ongoing clash with her threefold sight. “I know… it’s still…”

The older woman smiled. “I know, Mistress Tala. It is hard to watch those we care for be in danger.”

Tala grimaced, “I know… I just don’t really like it.”

There was a momentary silence as Rane cut off another one of the beast’s legs, leaving only seven… no eight hundred and some?

Way too many… Cutting off the legs wasn’t really a winning tactic, here.

She was glad to never have had to fight a magical millipede, but she wished that she could now. It didn’t help that it was large enough that most of it was still in the forest, even as its top was striking at Rane like a snake.

“Yeah… I’m not a fan of just watching.”

Mistress Cerna smiled knowingly. “How do you think he has felt watching you in danger, seeing you fight, and knowing that even when he wasn’t around, you were facing threats greater than those he did see?”

Tala opened her mouth, but had no response ready.

She should have a response, but she’d honestly never put herself into Rane’s shoes in that way. Wow… I feel rather foolish…

It was an obvious reversal that she’d never considered because she knew herself and her own capacities.

I also know Rane’s, but I’m still nervous on his behalf.

The unit leader wasn’t done, though. “Do you know why he never interfered in your fights?”

The image of two Refined holding him back while a wolf tried to bite her in half came to mind, but that had been in rather extreme circumstances, when she was incredibly close to death. Usually, he simply watched. “No. I don’t think I do.”

“My bet? He trusts in your competence. There is no higher compliment between two who fight side by side. We should be available to assist those we care for, but we must trust that they are either capable enough to handle what they’re going through, or that they will ask for help when they need it.”

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Tala shook her head. “That’s… how? How do I do that?”

“It takes time to build up. You, in return, have to have demonstrated that you’ll help if asked. Your help has to come without any negative baggage if you really want this to work, as well.”

She found herself nodding. “Otherwise, they’ll be trying to decide if my help is worth the negative costs, be they eye-rolls, snide remarks, or even just an obvious sense that I’m disappointed.”

“Exactly. We all get in over our heads at times. Having those who can back us up without recrimination is a luxury that few enjoy. Where it exists, it is a foundation of true worth.”

Rane brought Force down on the beast's head, projecting a blade of kinetic force into the wound he had opened, bisecting the horrific creature down most of its exposed length before the kinetic blade ran out of momentum and dispersed.

Rane landed lightly on the ground before turning and walking back toward the wall.

Behind him, there was a moment of wavering stability within the seemingly stunned creature before it collapsed, overcome and bleeding profusely across the ground.

He lifted his sword in salute toward Tala, and she waved back, grinning.

With a smooth motion, Force slid home before Rane bent and sprang upward, his leap containing much, much more power than it should have.

He easily cleared the wall from more than a hundred yards out, his magic giving him near constant propulsion, even if Tala knew it had diminishing returns.

They had discussed his mindset and methodology, and he was well on his way to something spectacular.

He’ll figure out flight soon, if he keeps at it.

-Won’t that be something.- Alat had been a bit quieter of late, though she still weighed in at times. Tala suspected that the alternate interface was trying to give her some space to think and process all that was tumbling within.

Quite. Tala projected gratefulness toward Alat, and Alat returned the sentiment.

The city’s defenses recognized Rane as a gated human as well as a Defender, and thus, they didn’t do anything to interfere with him coming to the top of the wall rather than going to the nearest gate.

He landed lightly on the crenelations before hopping down to the wall walk beside the rest of the unit who had been watching his fight.

“So?” He looked around tentatively. “How’d I do?”

His front was splattered with ick, and he had a bit of weariness about him, but overall, he’d come through the fight cleanly and without being required to exert great effort.

Master Girt slapped him on the back, skillfully avoiding the ick and not moving Rane in the least. “Good! You’re a bit tentative to engage, but once you got the measure of your opponent, you were decisive in ending the engagement.”

Master Limmestare grinned, nodding along. “You did let it attack you a bit longer than ideal. It was learning from you too—if more slowly—and against more skilled or powerful enemies, that could have cost you.”

Mistress Vanga spoke next, “You are still getting used to your Refined body. I highly recommend you increase your stretching and body-movement training for the next little while. You aren’t utilizing your full capabilities by a long margin.”

Master Clevnis came up to Rane’s other side with a smile. “Your style shines against beasts like that one, but don’t forget that you’re fighting a beast.”

Rane frowned. “I’m not sure I understand, Master Clevnis.”

“I watched you triple-feint a giant millipede, Master Rane. It worked, but it didn’t work as well as a simpler technique would have against this creature. When we overcomplicate our solutions beyond what is necessary, we introduce space for missteps and mistakes.”

After a long moment, Rane nodded. “I think I understand.”

He then turned and bowed to each in turn.

“Thank you all for your words.”

Mistress Cerna chuckled. “Don’t thank us just yet. Mistress Tala and I have yet to speak.”

Tala felt her eyes widen. Rust.

-Yeah, you didn’t consider that you might need to give feedback. Think fast.-

The unit leader smiled. “I will go first.”

Tala felt herself relax even as she pored through her memories of Rane’s fight.

The older woman nodded once to herself before continuing, “You rely on the most basic use of your inscriptions. That mainly takes the form of simply allowing them to automatically trigger rather than guiding them or adjusting how they trigger or enact. Be more active in your use of power, and you will get better results.”

Rane bowed to her. “Thank you, Mistress Cerna.”

Then, everyone turned toward Tala, and she cleared her throat. “Well, I think that you are underutilizing your soulbonds.”

That was met with waiting silence, though Tala thought she saw mirth dancing behind Mistress Vanga’s eyes.

Tala cleared her throat. “What I mean is: You’re using Force just like it's a standard construct, but it’s not. Even more than any other soulbound weapon, it was designed and created for your specific magics under the eye of a Paragon at the very least. It has more to give than you’re currently drawing forth.”

That got some appreciative nods, while Rane, himself, seemed to think about her words before smiling and bowing. “Thank you, Tala.”

She smiled in return, feeling proud of her realization.

Master Clevnis clapped his hands. “Alright! We still have a few hours before dawn. We’ve not seen any multi-attack shifts this waning, but I won’t let us fail to be ready if this is the first.”

The unit laughed as a group, but spread back out, returning to their own projects and tasks, throwing last words of congratulations toward Rane.

Rane walked over to Tala and gave her a light bump. “Thanks for the insight. I hadn’t considered that I was underutilizing Force.”

She smiled up at him. “You are welcome. Though, honestly, the sentiment applies to all of your soulbonds. We should look into adding your dimensional storage to that list, and your defenses are good for a Fused, but we should hunt down some merging candidates to up them for the Refined levels.”

He shrugged. “Truthfully, they’ll be growing passively with my advancement, and I prefer things on the simpler side.”

She almost argued, but then realized how silly that would be. “Alright, do what works for you. I don’t mean to force my thinking on you.” She smiled. “And what about your storage?”

“Well, about that. Is it really useful for me to soulbond one at all?” He glanced her way meaningfully.

She smiled, understanding the heart of the question. “Do Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis each have their own storages?”

Rane frowned at that. “You know? I’m not sure, but thinking about it, I think the answer is probably yes.”

“Yeah, I think so too. With the limit of a singular opening at a time, I can easily see it becoming… problematic for spouses to only have one.”

He grunted. “I hadn’t considered that.” With a short nod, he smiled. “Soulbound storage it is, then. That should likely be my next bond.”

“That could be wise, yeah. Though, we might want to get you a soulbound Archive connection first. With the storage, I do understand your thinking, but I’ve actually been giving that sort of thing quite a bit of thought.” She sighed. “Honestly, I’ve considered finding a way to get a second one myself for more… everyday usage?”

“Really? That seems like a bit of an extreme length to go to just for some convenience.”

“And battle capacity, but you’re not wrong. It’s just frustrating, feeling like I can’t have Kit with me day to day. Though, the benefits currently outweigh that inconvenience.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I am curious how that will shake out. you’ve got a rusting city along for the ride these days.”

“That’s the thing.” She shook her head. “That’s the issue. Kit isn’t along for the ride. I’m fighting without her, and that limits me in some real ways. I think it’s worth speaking to someone about, I just haven’t gotten to it.”

“How about we ask when we’re looking into mine?”

“That sounds like a good plan, yeah.”

Rane glanced toward the east where the sun would be rising soon enough. “After this shift? We can just get it done.” He shrugged. “It might be worth it to not have it hanging over our heads?”

She looked his way. “But… breakfast.”

He grinned, a small laugh preceding his words, “After breakfast, then?”

She sighed dramatically, trying to play a bit. “I suppose so… if it’s really that important to you.”

He stepped closer and nudged her, playing in turn. “The critical thing is that it’s important to you.”

Tala reached over and gave him a quick hug before stepping back. Then, she looked up at him. “You know, you can hug me back.”

He returned the look, nervous. “Are you sure? I thought we were still… not telling anyone?”

She hugged him again, and he hugged her in return, obviously relaxing a bit. “You know?”

Her voice had been a bit muffled, but he obviously heard her. His response was soft, “Yeah?”

“You need a bath. That millipede's blood and guts smell awful.”

He laughed, pulling back. “Fine. I’ll get cleaned up after our shift.”

Tala aspect-mirrored the needed magics to force the drying ichor to fall from her face and torso. “Then, we eat breakfast.”

“And then…?” he teased.

A smile grew across her face. “Yes. Then, to the Constructionists!”

They turned to look out over the wall together.

Their hands rested against each other unconsciously without clasping, both unthinkingly taking comfort in the contact. “So… what are you going to do with your kill?”

Rane shrugged. “I think I’ll just leave it to the city harvesters. They’ll give me my cut, and then I can do more important things.”

She chuckled. “Bath, breakfast, Constructionists?”

He glanced her way, smiling once again. “No, standing here with you.”

Tala felt her smile grow uncontrollably, taking over her entire face. So, she leaned her head against his shoulder to try to hide it, her embarrassment and contentment rising as one.