Rose arrived like another Septstorm. The guards were all at permanent attention, looking everywhere and at everything in high alert, the staff were doing their best to tidy things up so she didn’t see even the tiniest speck of dirt, and the researchers were stuck between trying to follow and trying not to crowd her. Riven was surprised to see they weren’t running around in circles, panic waving off them like heat from an oven.

She was waiting for them at the front courtyard, surrounded by a gaggle of adoring fans. “Where have you been? And what in the Chasm happened to you two?”

“We were sparring,” Viriya said.

“Rose, what’s going on?” Riven asked.

Rose scowled at their condition. “What isn’t going on? The whole world is going to shit and all you two can do is play around with your Essence? This isn’t a vacation. The real world didn’t just disappear because you’re no longer a part of it, understand?”

Riven’s face had turned cold. His throat clenched tight, refusing to let him respond to Rose’s baseless accusations. What in the world was she talking about? Damn Viriya for making him too tired to even carry out a conversation.

“Municipier,” Viriya said, undaunted by her outburst. “What happened? We heard something about Providence and the war.”

The word war made the panic rise and soar like smoke from a wildfire. People whispered, hissing at each other like snakes passing on warnings about a predator, fear tingeing every voice. Rose’s scowl deepened. She glared at them all, and they stepped back, quiet again.

She was about to go on another berating spree, but Nivi poked her head through the press of bodies.

“Maybe this isn’t the best place for such a conversation,” Nivi said. “Why don’t we got to my office, while everyone else can simmer down from the excitement and get back to work.”

However politely Nivi might have phrased that, there was a good helping of steel in her voice. The guards who had gathered together began shuffling away, the staff workers and researchers slinking back into the facility’s buildings.

“Chasm,” Rose cursed. “I didn’t miss this place.”

“Not even me?” Nivi asked with the sweetest smile Riven had yet seen.

Rose sighed, then cracked a smile of her own. “Well, maybe you.”

“Maybe is it?”

“Wasn’t it always a maybe?”

They stared at each other for a moment, then laughed. There was a familiarity between them that made Riven look from one to the other. Clearly, they knew each other very well. He frowned. A little too well, maybe.

“Come on,” Nivi said, leading the way back inside. “I want to hear about this war of yours.”

The inside was buzzing. It wasn’t too obvious, but everyone else was abysmal at hiding it. Riven and the others passed a cafeteria where several of the researchers had huddled together to conduct a whispered conversation, while an inordinate number of staff had taken on tasks that needed two or more of them working together.

Rose’s scowl deepened with every person they passed. Nivi gave little apologetic smiles, whenever they happened upon a hushed conversation that was about whatever Rose’s purpose was here, though the talk stopped as soon as it was clear they were too close to the talkers.

All that made the journey to Nivi’s office feel longer than normal. She finally closed the door behind her when they entered, letting out a deep sigh. “Well, that was quite the experience. I haven’t seen them so worked up since we introduced fried salmon for weekend nights at the cafeteria.”

Rose didn’t wait for anyone and took one of the chairs before Nivi’s desk. “I’m sorry, Nivi, but I don’t think I can crack jokes right now. I’m a little wound up with all that’s going on.”

Nivi took her sear behind the desk, leaning forward over the table. “Naturally. But now that we’re in a more private spot, why don’t you tell us what’s going on? And take it easy. I can call for someone to get us some tea if you want.”

Rose looked at her gratefully. “I’ll have my usual.”

“Black?”

“As tar. But not just yet. Let’s get some things out of the way, first.” She nodded behind her at Riven and Viriya. “Is Riven’s little matter settled?”

“I’m still here, you know,” Riven said. It was becoming increasingly clear that Rose and Nivi were close confidantes, friends—or more—who plotted with each other about the whole world probably. But being ignored irked him, and he couldn’t relieve it except by being blatant about his feelings regarding it. “And I can assure that no, my matters haven’t been settled.”

Nivi made a calming gesture, still with that soothing smile of hers. “Let’s not let our feelings get the better of us, all right.” She stared pointedly at Rose. “Any of us. Anyway, the matter is difficult to pursue, since Riven expects our research to help with your mother’s illness.”

“I told you, didn’t I?” Rose turned in her seat to face Riven. “It wouldn’t be possible here. Wouldn’t be possible anywhere, for that matter.”

Riven wanted to protest, but it would have been too vociferous. He cleared his throat, letting the set of his face do as much talking as his words. “There hasn’t been any research yet. Aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves, shelving it immediately?”

“No shelving,” Nivi reassured. “We’ll do our best to find what we can, though we need time, funding, and most importantly, a subject that you said you’d find.”

“Wait a moment?” Rose stared between them. “What exactly are we talking about here?”

Nivi’s light eyes widened. “You haven’t told her?”

Riven remained silent. He’d told Rose a great deal, but the crystal was one thing he hadn’t divulged. Scions, why did he keep being so cagey about it? Since he had told Nivi, it was only right he tell Rose, but he still hesitated. She had helped him, had risked throwing everything away for his sake, and still he hid it.

Viriya coughed into her fist, and Riven turned to face her. Her look back at him was pointed as Nivi’s had been to Rose, leaving no room for negotiation.

Riven sighed. He repeated everything that had been said the last time he had been in this office. “I think my Essence might be able to help Mother somehow,” he concluded. “It worked for Glaven, and I think it can work for Mother in a just-in-case scenario. I think the crystal can do something, since it steals and stores Essence. I just… I think there’s potential that we need to discover.”

Another silence. At some point in Riven’s tale, Rose’s glance had slipped off him, and now she was staring at the door as though she fervently wished she was back outside again. A distant look, a mask that was holding back something, and Riven’s heart squeezed at the sight. He’d hurt her. He had hidden things, and now Rose was distraught.

Stupid. Why was he so stupid?

“The Essence thing is new,” Nivi commented. “Without seeing your brother, I can’t tell how exactly your Essence helped, and even if I did, I may not be able to find much. But,” she added as Riven’s face fell, “I can promise to try.”

Riven shuttered his feelings and nodded. “I don’t expect anything more.”

“You never told me,” Rose said. She still wouldn’t look at him, like the door had spoken to her instead of Riven. Or maybe it was easier to accuse the door of burying the truth.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Riven stared at her though, unflinching from the disappointed look on her face. From the expression intimating that Rose had just had the floor pulled out from beneath her feet, and she was now falling, the bottom of the abyss that had opened up shrouded in darkness. Damn it, he was being too dramatic. “I wasn’t sure if I could say anything. Wasn’t sure what I could say.”

“Wasn’t sure who you could trust.”

Not a question. “Yes.”

“Wise of you.”

“But it’s out now, and we ought to move forward instead of looking back. That’s all I want here, but what’s the issue that brought you here? Please don’t tell me Orbray went crazy and started this stupid war already.”

Rose closed her eyes, face scrunching up momentarily as though she was doing her best to forget something. As much as he hated it, Riven looked away. The last time he’d seen that expression was back when they were still children, when Rose used to pretend she could wish things away if she just concentrated hard enough. Every time something bad would happen, like when anyone would become ill or get hurt, or when Riven got a bad result from some exam, or the time he’d broken some priceless vase in the living room, she would close her eyes and concentrate. Close her eyes, and wish everything was better.

What was she wishing now?

“War,” Rose muttered as she opened her eyes again, face smoothing out into a dark expression. “I don’t know what’s even going on anymore, in truth.” She sighed. “Father wants us all back. He’s bartered with Orbray to pardon us so we won’t be in any trouble.”

“Barter?” Riven asked. It made sense Father wanted Rose back, and Viriya too. They were needed. Trusted. What had Riven done to have his freedom ensured as well? “Why?”

“So we can return without trouble, idiot, that’s why.”

“No. I meant why would he want me freed? Why does he need us back there all of a sudden?”

“Riven, sometimes you need to remember that any stupid grudges you think you have are all in your head. Father doesn’t hate you like you think.” Rose sighed. “I don’t want to get into that right now, but the important thing is, he’s making his move on Orbray and he needs our support to do it. That’s why we need to get back. End of story.”

“So it’s started…” Nivi muttered.

Rose grimaced. “Yes, it has. Like I said, it’s all going to go downhill from here.”

“I don’t understand, why does he make his stupid move now? When everything is already shit?” Riven shook his head, unable to grasp the logic behind such a decision. Deathless running amok all over Severance Frontier, preparing for this ridiculous war with them, hosting Knightforger of all people, all of it was one impossible event after another that missed the mark of what was really needed. “Shouldn’t we all be focusing on the main problem of keeping the Deathless away from innocent people? Isn’t this whole war business really, really insane?”

“It’s something we have to go through with anyway,” Viriya quickly said before Rose’s obvious frustration got the better of her. “Orbray believes this to be the most opportune moment to strike out for the Frontier, which means it’s a perfect distraction. It’s the most opportune moment for your father to strike.”

Her voice was soothing, or at least as soothing as Viriya’s hard, nearly-inflectionless voice could ever be. It had the opposite effect on Riven though. He didn’t need to be soothed. He was being perfectly calm, cordial, and polite.

“This striking…” Riven looked from Viriya to Rose. “It’s not actually striking out though, is it?”

Rose shrugged. “Who knows? The faster we get out of here and get back to Providence, the faster we’ll know.”

“And… none of us here are bothered that Father is essentially planning something illegal?”

They all looked at him as though he had asked if leaving a banana peel lying on a slippery tiled floor was a good idea. Riven stared back. Unbelievable, they were all okay with it. They were all fine with working against the High Invigilator of the Resplendian half of Severance Frontier. Treasonous traitors the whole lot of them, and they had pulled Riven into their coven of treachery as well, without a single thought for his choice.

Good thing he hated Orbray just as much as Father by now, if not more.

“We all know Father’s been angling for the position of High Invigilator for quite a while now, Riven,” Rose said. “Even you know it. Thankfully for Father, we all support it. So long as he doesn’t intend to do something too insane, we’re in this.”

“Problem is,” Nivi said, “Orbray knows. “It’s arguable that he even expects Rosbel to make a move, and has prepared for it. Chasm, for all we know, dealing with Rosbel might a part of this whole war scheme of his.”

“That is a strong worry, yes.”

Riven folded his arms across his chest. He needed to haul the conversation back to a point where he still understood what in the Chasm they were talking about. “Wait a moment, by everyone supporting it, who exactly do you mean? Just us in this room, or…”

“All of us here,” Viriya answered. “In fact, all of the Providence Essentiers who know about it support the Invigilator’s bid for the High Invigilator post. There are several dignitaries—rich merchants, wealthy landowners, and other aristocrats based outside of Severance Frontier—also support the bid. All secretly, of course. It becomes more complicated when we start to account for other Demesnes.”

Riven had to take a moment to think, to let all that information sink in properly. It was as though he had been swimming in the shallow end of the pool all this time, and a sudden wave from nowhere had dragged him to the deeper end. If he didn’t float, he’d sink and never surface. So much more was going on than he’d ever thought. It was insane in a way. They all were.

“I just—” Riven had to pause again. Convoluted feelings made for a poor base for speech. He was summoned, and as an Essentier, he needed to uphold his duty, but he had Mother to think of too. Now that there was an avenue for research to go on, he had to ensure that it went hmsmoothly, that Nivi and her fellow researchers had everything they needed. That they got their subject to test on.

“I understand it’s quite a lot,” Nivi said, kindly. She pointed at the chair, beckoning Riven to take a seat. “Sometimes when I’m trying to learn something new and very complex, I find it helps to take smaller bites that fit in my mouth, so to speak. We can carry on at a pace that’s comfortable for you, Riven.”

Rose glared at Nivi, but she didn’t raise any verbal protests. Riven sighed, then accepted Nivi’s offer of a chair, mouthing a silent sorry at Viriya for leaving her still standing by herself. She replied with the briefest of scowls. He sat down, and stayed silent as they resumed the conversation.

“Will you be fine here?” Rose asked Nivi.

“Of course! I stand apart from all this political crap, you know this.”

“You think you do, but when you publish your findings, who gets to see them first? You need funding, and I imagine that’s another helping of uncomfortable strings attached.”

Valid though those concerns seemed to Riven, Nivi only laughed. “Really, you think I’ll bend over backwards for any old codger who wants to grease my palms?”

“I know, I know. But you know what I mean too.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out. Nothing happens here without me knowing about it.”

“What about the Deathless?” Rose asked.

“They’re fine. We’re getting along well, and your threat has silenced any naysayers.”

There was something missing in that conversation that Riven hadn’t quite caught. Something Rose had said that slipped out of his grasp in the deluge of everything else that he’d learned. “Barter!” it came out louder than he’d intended, and they all looked at him again. He flushed, muting protests that he hadn’t gone crazy as they were surely thinking, given their expressions. Riven cleared his throat. “What exactly did Father barter to free us?”

Rose turned her face away, hiding her expression from Riven. She didn’t answer immediately, and all of a sudden, Riven’s heart began pounding.

“What did he do, Rose?” Riven asked again.

His sister didn’t answer. The silence was a shroud worse than any funeral’s, and Riven might as well have been buried, sunk into his grave with a pile of earth thrown over him for good measure. Only his heart relieved the crushing the quietude. Thumping, pounding, beating away like waves hammering against the fortress of his fortitude, and the walls crumbled.

“What did he—”

“He gave Orbray permission to exchange Essentiers. The High Invigilator will be allowed to pick any Essentier from Providence, and he’ll give one of the Ascendance Essentiers of course, but…”

“But what, Rose? Who did he pick?”

“Glaven.”

Glaven. Riven blinked fast, leaning back in his seat. Orbray had picked unconscious, comatose Glaven? Why?

Riven’s heart thudded loud on his ears, filling his entire head as though it was ballooning to overtake his brain. Orbray couldn’t take Glaven. Couldn’t. He couldn’t do take away his brother.

Not when Riven needed to bring him to Rose as a research subject.

“Who decided this?” Riven’s voice was far too loud, but he made no attempt to quieten it. “Why, and how could you—”

“Riven!” Rose’s eyes were wide too. Watery. Glistening as they always did when she truly became angry. “You need to stop asking why, why, why. It’s not worth it. Sometimes, you need to work with others, and that means working for others too. Listen and obey. That’s it.”

“Maybe you can be very good at that, but I’m not a tin soldier like you.”

“You could try being for others’ sake for once, you know. This is what Father keeps telling you all the time. Think of others, put your faith in them, listen and trust them. Is it really that hard?”

“But Glaven…”

“Do you trust me? You said you did once, didn’t you?”

Riven looked away, which wasn’t the best idea. He found himself facing Nivi, who was gazing at him with her silvery eyes large as twin moons. Of course he trusted Rose. His sister had thrown away her whole career for his sake, hadn’t she? She’d been willing to sacrifice her standing as an Essentier, as the best Essentier in Providence, just to make sure Riven’s foolhardy notion of safekeeping two unfortunate Deathless went well.

Faith. Mother kept counselling it over and over, and maybe it wasn’t just a reminder to trust his family, and the other people in his life who cared about him. Maybe it was a subtle scolding to trust in what happened even when he could make neither head nor tail of it.

“What do we have to do next, then?” Riven asked.

Rose took a deep breath, looking back ask Nivi. Seemed she accepted Riven’s deflection as an adequate answer. “We get ourselves to Providence.”

“And then?”

“And then, we put our faith in whatever Father has planned.”

Riven’s jaws tightened, and he looked down to hide his expression. Rose and Nivi were facing each other, but still. Best not to give them any chance to suspect what was blitzing through Riven’s head.

Orbray was looking to take Glaven, was he? Not on Riven’s watch.

Riven looked up. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”

“Will you take that crystal of yours?” Nivi asked.

Riven nodded after a moment’s consideration. “I’ll keep it for now, and bring it back with your subject.”