"I've been wondering," said Aine, the shorter girl looking up at Nolan with a questioning stare. "My hair hasn't grown at all since we've been here, and it's been at least eight months. Am I just imagining things, or…?"

  They sat on a checkered blanket near the southern fringes of the forest, as the tiny cabin within the courtyard sat on the north side, according to Jun.

  "I've been thinking the same thing," said Alicia, pulling at her shoulder-length hair and examining the auburn strands with honest eyes. "I was hoping to grow it out while we were here."

  "You wanted to grow out your hair? Look at mine! It's been nine months since we all became acquainted and it's barely at hand's length."

  "Time doesn't affect us while we're here," yawned Nolan, before helping himself to some meat from the demonic fox's last haunch. "I've spent like…damn, over four years in this place, and I only look a bit older than I did when I showed up on Venara." He hadn't given it much thought, but physically he was barely seventeen-years-old, despite the fact that his mind was technically that of a twenty-one-year-old.

  "This place gets stranger the more that I learn about it." After a moment's thought, Aine smiled, a sight that had become less rare after all of the time that they had spent within the glade. "So, how old's Esteban then? He seems no older than ten."

  "God, he's halfway to thirteen I think."

  The girl's mouth fell open, stretching her thin lips. "He's only two years younger than me? Less than that, even."

  "I doubt it helps his chances with women," smiled Alicia, and they all began to laugh.

  Nolan couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the kid. If he took full advantage of the Millennial Ring, then a year on Venara would spell twelve years on Nia. He only had to wait a month or so between visits to build up at least a year’s worth of time for them to stay within Nia, and any reckless uses before that month-long threshold would drastically diminish the amount of time saved up. If they waited the appropriate time limit and made twelve visits throughout the year, then it was inevitable for Esteban to have the body of a ten-year-old by the time he reached his twenties.

  Nolan’s eyes trailed over the kid in question, who was currently avoiding Sean's attempts at tapping him on the back in what had become more than a simple, innocent game of tag. They were moving very fast, more so than somebody at the seventh or eighth level of Integration could manage without the help of a movement skill. This was, of course, because they had long since mastered the standard activation of the Tranquil Void Step's passive functions, and could run around at great speeds for well over a minute. His pity for Esteban was quickly replaced by worry. Maybe he should let the kid grow a bit back on Venara before he allowed him come back to Nia? Now that they all knew how to make basic meditation circle arrayments—all save for the Varai siblings, who lacked talent as arrayment practitioners—travelling to Nia wasn't absolutely necessary to train Esteban’s cultivation.

  Uncle Grey was busy floating around with Jun, the two having struck up an odd friendship despite the volatility of their initial encounter. Both had suffered isolation within this glade for countless years, Uncle Grey having been awake for at least a few thousand of them, and Jun having awoken to the most disheartening news that he could have ever asked to hear.

  The fact that their new teacher was constantly praising their old one showed that, in their prime, Uncle Grey had been the other's superior by some degree, though Nolan wasn't sure as to what extent this was the case. Both were now far removed from the worlds that they had grown up and lived in, and they shared a certain breed of sympathy for one another.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Nyla and the Varai siblings were currently training within the fountains, the former working on an intermediate barrier arrayment, easily the hundredth that she had created over the past four hours. As cultivation had taught them, repetition was the key to success.

  As for Nolan and the two girls, they had all made breakthroughs within a few hours of one another today, so they had decided to take a break and snack on some food out in the field. Aine had even made a picnic basket by hand out of dried-out grass, which added a bit of a brighter tone to the otherwise windless, sunless and soundless picnic.

  "Oh, how I missed making these.”

  "Was it a hobby?" asked Nolan, helping himself to a generous hunk of cheese that he'd just withdrawn from the flimsy yet well-made container. "You're really good."

  "Back in my hometown, my mom owned a little store where she sold all sorts of simple things; quilts, baskets, carvings of spruce and cedar." She sighed to herself, and became lost within her thoughts as she stared at the basket with distant eyes. "How I miss my mother…"

  "You'd be hard pressed to find somebody that didn't have people that they wished to see again." Alicia patted the younger girl's hand in a consoling manner. "Especially us here in this glade."

  "That's just a part of who we are," said Nolan, showing a bitter smile as images of his family drifted through his mind. "It's okay to think about them every now and then, but it's better to focus on the good times. You know, how they lived, not how they died."

  "Nolan speaks wise words." Jun had floated over to join them, as he liked to spend his time speaking with whoever happened to be free. "For me, it's my sons that I miss the most. Them, and my darling daughter."

  "How many sons did you have?" Nolan was interested to hear more about Jun's past. Since many of his stories shed some light on Nian society, it was nearly impossible to not be intrigued.

  "Ninety-four," said the old spirit, his ghostly eyes bright. "That I knew of, at least. Believe it or not, I was quite popular back in my day."

  "Holy shit," said Nolan. "Just a bit, eh?"

  "They used to bring my all sorts of gifts whenever they left home to travel the world. Ah, I remember once, my youngest son completely surprised me by risking his life to obtain a rare medicine. He was a meek boy, mind you, so you could imagine my surpri—"

  Uncle Grey appeared above him, shooing the words from Jun's mouth with a flippant flick of his wrist. "Enough with the melancholy. You lot don't have much time left here, so I figure it’s appropriate that I teach you some new tricks."

  "Ah," said his transparent peer, "so we're doing that now, then?"

  "There's not much time left, so I figure it fitting to get this out of the way now."

  Nolan and the girls looked up at the two ghosts, expressions curious.

  "What are you going to teach us?" said Aine, a rush of excitement bringing life back into her voice. "Is it a new martial skill? Oh, it must be a defensive one!"

  "Ahem," coughed Uncle Grey, who assumed the hands-behind-the-back pose that usually preceded an awkward statement. "Actually, it's only Nyla and Nolan who's going to be learning this." Turning around and floating off into the forest, he motioned for Nolan to follow as Jun went off to fetch Nyla from the fountain.

  They picked a random spot in the forest and hunkered down for the surprise lesson that the two spirits had evidently been planning for some time.

  "What is it?" asked Nolan, once those in question had gathered.

  “It has occurred to me that you're in need of a weapon," said Uncle Grey. "And I think it's about time that you learn how to make one."

  Nolan spread his arms, as if to ask, 'with what?'

  Nyla was quicker on the uptake. "What sort of arrayment will we be learning?"

  "Technically, it's a compound arrayment involving construction, reinforcement, and essence fusion methods. Nolan, why don't you take out that mineral that you won for yourself at that little festival a while back? And some ordinary weapons of iron and steel.”

  Nolan took out the small boulder of black halmite that had sat idly within his primary spatial bag since the day that he'd acquired it, along with a dozen spare swords from his vast collection of looted goods. Noticing the patient looks that his teachers were giving off, he knew that it would take some time for him to learn the arrayment that they planned to pass on. Nyla, on the other hand, simply nodded in understanding as if she already had an idea of what sort of arrayment diagram she needed to design.

  "Now," said Uncle Grey, lowering himself to the ground so that he sat opposite them in a leisurely manner. "Listen closely to what I'm about to say…"

  And so began the nine-day process of learning how to manufacture a simple sword out of nothing but raw materials and inner energies.