“This is faaaanncy,” Todd observed, twisting in his seat to look around at the surrounding restaurant. They sat in a low lit, cushy Italian ristorante, where the gawking of Todd drew the eyes of the well-to-do patrons in their dark suits. Aside from an ornate crystal chandelier outside of the elevator, all of the decor was done in dark hard-woods and wine red table clothes. Even to Randidly’s relatively insensitive taste, the exquisite dress of the hostess and the thick leather linings of the menu spoke of money.

Wonder how Neveah found out about a place like this… Randidly gazed around casually. The top-floor restaurant was relatively intimate; there were only eight tables set. There was a balcony area with a table Neveah had reserved, but Randidly knew that the moss spirits would draw attention to him if he sat outside, so he requested to be seated inside. Some other couple was only too happy to switch for the glorious view of Kharon and the gleaming lights of its sky-islands.

Todd spoke between bites of his third thoroughly-buttered slice of pumpernickel bread. "Never been invited to a posh place like this- they have a few of ‘em in the rich quarter of Kharon Academy, but mostly they are only for professors and kids in their final two years of attendance. But man- I'm gonna start studying harder in order to end up at places like this... who is this person we are meeting anyway?"

Randidly grinned to see Todd's rather blithe behavior, even when the three demerits clattered on his wrist. The kid's mood seemed to be improving in proportion to the amount of bread and honey butter he consumed. "She's... family. My sister."

"Treasure your family," Todd said philosophically, with bits of bread sticking to the corner of his mouth. Randidly could only suppress his smile and nod solemnly at his sensei's teachings. He casually chose a bottle of wine from the list to share with Neveah.

With this new body, I wonder how many bottles I would need to drink before I really feel something… Randidly wondered idly. But then his eyes turned sharp.

Some of the other patrons of the restaurant were beginning to notice the reckless abandon with which Todd wielded his knife to apply butter. Even Randidly had to admit that the process was messier than he cared to be near. But when, always sensitive to the feeling of the room, Randidly began to feel a vague feeling of judgment and disgust from the present population, his eyes narrowed and he pressed his lips together. You fuckers. Who do you think owns this whole restaurant?

Luckily, Neveah arrived at that time, pausing briefly at the hostess station before proceed across the wooden floor toward their table. Todd muttered under his breath 'rich, fancy older sister...' and Randidly could only agree. Since Neveah had visited the Nexus, she had altered her look. She had aged herself, allowing most of the influence of Lyra to fade from her features, although there was still some sharpness present in her chin and the corners of her eyes. But her face bore thin lines that stood out when Neveah smiled, as she did now when her eyes alighted on Randidly. Her hair hung down around her face to her jaw, framing her face perfectly.

Randidly couldn't resist sending her a message. Did you copy my new hairstyle on purpose? Oh, and I've told Todd you are my sister.

I think Helen actually modeled you after me, Neveah responded cheerily. They met and hugged, Randidly's flesh and metal arm wrapping around her body and buzzing through the human illusion that Neveah constantly maintained, to feel the heavy bones of her true form. And with Neveah, Randidly didn’t need to hold back. He squeezed with all the relish he felt to be reunited with her under peaceful circumstances.

They parted and Neveah turned seriously to Todd. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Todd. I hear you've been teaching my little brother all about Scrawl... truly how can I thank you?"

"Well... no thanks is necessary..." Todd's mouth said, but his eyes betrayed him by flicking to the empty breadbasket. Neveah laughed aloud and gestured for a waiter to come over so they could order another.

Neveah clicked her tongue as she poured herself a glass of the red wine Randidly had ordered and then looked at the bottle. “I assume you ordered it without reading it?”

She flashed Randidly the label: Greyman Vinyards.

Randidly blinked. “Greyman… like Theodora-”

“Yup, the very same. Owns a whole skyisland. Wine’s pretty good too, even if sometimes her bottles taste a little… bitter.” Neveah’s face darkened briefly. She gave Randidly a sidelong glance. “I think it’s your influence. I can taste people, just barely. Like each intelligent life form is a bit like a stew that people slow cooked. And everything you add to your own stew affects the flavor. But the downside is… some ingredients are so overpowering you can never escape them. They shape your significance forever, no matter how hard you try to run from them.”

Into the resulting silence, Todd spoke. “Huh. I wonder what I taste like…”

Neveah chuckled, her morose expression vanishing almost immediately. “Probably honey-butter.”

On cue, the waiter arrived and took their initial orders.

Randidly found the meal to be remarkably... domestic. Neveah and Todd quickly became fast friends, with him boasting shamelessly of his own accomplishments and the things he would soon accomplish, while Neveah made admiring noises at the right times. Then when the appetizers arrived and Todd's mouth was busy dealing with those, Neveah and Randidly began talking.

Neveah chatted happily about her continued relationship with her pen-pal, about how she worked as a consultant for Engraving based security companies, and how she lived with Sydney and helped take care of the almost-recuperated Drake. Then she seemed to wilt as she talked about racial tensions arising from the growing presence of ogres and frog people on Expira, with new races arriving from uncovered and exploited Danger Zones.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Most of the real shit comes from Zones 1, 7, and 11," Neveah shook her head. "The Great Sea Zone can't be bothered to care; they are perfectly willing to trade no matter the species. And obviously, Zone 32 is very accepting, considering that most of the commercial connections are concentrated there and in the Orchard. But... it's just sad. Sometimes I think that these people wished all the foreign species of died, leaving the planets for use to exploit..."

"I like ogres and frog people," Todd offered. "They have cool Skills that most humans don't learn. If you want an edge, you gotta gather unique Skills."

"A very intelligent way to approach the issue," Neveah chuckled.

However, the wonderfully intimate feeling of the meal began to fray as the attention that Todd brought to the table with his crass manners began to catch upon Randidly. As they sat there, he sensed the recognition in the surrounding faces and felt the way their gazes became increasingly intense.

Randidly felt very clear differences from his experiences at Selene. No one here seemed grateful or thankful toward him. All Randidly felt from these rich and affluent members of Kharon was resentment and fear.

Keeping his expression even, Randidly carefully unwound his tail from around his waist and brought it down underneath the heavy table cloth. He expertly directed a flow of Nether through the appendage and concentrated it at the tip; although he had never done this before, his dexterity with his tail was sufficiently high that the act posed no problems. He began to weave a Nether Ritual that would screen their table from scrutiny.

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 289!

The lazy, coiling of the motions of his tail unavoidably altered the way Randidly Engraved, but after spending all day observing and practicing the all-encompassing method of Scrawl, Randidly felt a bit more comfortable simply accepting those strange idiosyncrasies. They shaped his meaning in subtle ways that he didn't truly understand, he simply didn't have enough experience, he embraced those changes. The Engraving subtly transformed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Scrawl of the Ghosthound (L) has grown to Level 175!

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 290!

However, Randidly quickly encountered a problem and paused in his work to chew on his lip. Obviously, if he completely isolated their table, the restaurant staff wouldn't be able to keep serving them...

Sensing his confusion, Neveah slid her own bony tail beneath the table and drew on Randidly's Nether to add a few very precise markings to the interior of the Ritual. This is a subject matter that I have some experience with. It is possible to tie the effectiveness of such Rituals to particular associations, but is an extremely precise business; honestly, you'd be better at it than me. If you could sample the spirit of our wait staff and coalesce it into a specific runic sigil...?

Randidly rolled his eyes at how blithely Neveah passed the extremely troublesome task to him but went about his work without complaint. The Stillborn Phoenix stretched its influence outward and took small, hopefully imperceptible bites of the images of the appropriate people. Then Randidly carefully pulled those bites before they were devoured by his image. Which wasn't as difficult as it would have once been; since applying the concrete manifestations of the Hierarchy of Burden to the image, its behavior had improved immensely.

Perhaps it sensed that it was gradually approaching an avenue that might result in its actual birth. Such a prospect left it quite willing to pass on small meals like this.

Ultimately though, the final conversion wasn't smooth; Randidly simply didn't have enough knowledge of these individuals to make a perfect key that they would subconsciously activate off of their presence. Even with his experience creating his own Nether Core, much of what he did was guesswork. But when his tail added the final, flourishing rune to the Engraving, the effect was immediate.

The feedback from Nether was immediately positive; the Nether RItual worked.

Randidly could tell that he hadn't done so well with the maitre de, but their waiter seemed to experience a passing absentminded expression when he approached them, as though the rind of the Nether Ritual briefly robbed him of his purpose. Meanwhile, the surrounding gossipers seemed to be abruptly lost as their gaze swam through the restaurant, searching for the table that had just been present. Feeling slightly vindictive, Randidly studied Neveah's robust keying arrangement for several seconds and then put his own spin on it. When an outside force attempted to use their own Willpower to focus on their table, they would walk directly into the all-consuming hunger of the Stillborn Phoenix.

Randidly’s Egg of Depression was only too happy to extract a stiff task on those foolish enough to wander within its allotted area of influence.

Several of the more determined starers finally shook themselves and turned away, an obvious expression of dread on their face. Which allowed Randidly to grin and turn back to enjoying the meal, with his tail subtly tying itself back around his waist.

Eventually, the group had eaten and laughed their way to dessert, with Randidly forced to rein in his own appetite when he noticed that the much smaller Todd was attempting to keep up with the inhuman amount of food that he and Neveah put away. The waiter explained that they had several dishes, both listed in the sleek menu provided and in a display upfront. Todd hoped to his feet and announced he would go examine their choices.

Which finally left the 'brother and sister' alone.

Randidly tilted his head to the side. "What is it? You've been giving me a look all night."

"This might be strange to say, especially coming from me," Neveah began slowly as she pushed her hair behind her ear. "But... Randidly, what do you want?"

Randidly frowned. "What do you mean, what do I want? I'm guessing that you aren't talking about what I’m craving for dessert."

"No, I'm talking about life. What are you reaching for?" Neveah said.

To Randidly's surprise, his Nether Core began to spin more determinedly in his chest. So he bit back his gut reaction and pondered for a bit. There was meaning to answering this question, although he wasn’t quite sure why…? Perhaps it was his presence in Kharon, perhaps it was his proximity to his Nether Core, but he felt the tightness in the air.

How he responded was important.

So slowly, Randidly did his best to vocalize what existed in his heart. "I want to accumulate enough strength to protect this world, and others, from the Nexus. With Edraine and Octavius and Vualla... we want to gather enough capability to force a change in the entire Nexus. So that planets filled with lives won't be exploited, used, and then discarded. And since I need power to lend weight to my voice... I want to be strong. That’s why I train."

Neveah tapped her finger on the table. "...It's just something that I've been thinking about recently, but... Randidly, your desires center around other things. You want power, yes but only to screen your Alpha Cosmos. Rather than a person... these days, seeing how you steel yourself and throw your mind into crucible after crucible, you are more force than a living, breathing human."