There were numerous protocols to being a Ti-mana that had not really come up for either Rin or Chandra in years--protocols about pushing a sense of your own identity into your thoughts so that your partner can easily identify them, and not doing anything to obfuscate emotions, like burying or denying them. That was the main reason why pairs were selected to be sexually compatible--if one person buried a feeling of attraction, it would only make it harder for both of them to think clearly in the future. Far better that they should accept what they felt and act on it freely.

It fascinated both of them to see how much they remembered those protocols, how easily they slipped naturally into old habits. Although neither had been paired with a woman before, there was a comfortable sense of familiarity--a lack of need to explain what certain emotions, certain hormones meant. They had both gotten there with their previous partners, eventually, but starting with that kind of familiarity was almost novel.

Not that nothing needed to be explained. Rin quickly found that Chandra's mind was a mess of wounds, guilt, and terror, and Chandra quickly found that Rin's mind was unusually rigid, the kind of mind she wouldn't have been paired with even without all of her trauma. Chandra's mind had always been sharp, but she needed a partner flexible enough to work with her intelligence. Kentin had been that, and more. Meanwhile, Rin had been paired with someone that accepted her often senseless violent outbursts, directed them, and cultivated them. O'ani was a perfect partner for an assassin--he made her ruthless, and never let her edge dull.

The Djinn had said that putting the two of them together was a favor, one they would only regret for a time. Neither Chandra nor Rin really trusted that implicitly, but their reasons were opposite--Chandra thought she must have been honest but overconfident, while Rin thought she was mischievous and dishonest. She herself had used the Djinn's words to push Chandra, for her own reasons, but it wasn't something she trusted, not emotionally.

Together, the two of them arrived at a conclusion neither did alone. The Djinn was neither dishonest nor foolish, and had done what she did for a reason.

By the time the two of them came to that conclusion, they had both adapted enough to the link that they were no longer dizzy and confused by its mere existence. This was mostly a matter of falling back into those old patterns and protocols, of actively taking command of their own minds and making sure the thoughts that bled through were distinct enough from the other's that there was no confusion. They would still be at a major disadvantage if they had to fight... but first, they had to hunt their prey, and as the moments ticked by, both women feared that the nightmare that was Roan Egrethore might slip away.

Chandra had never really been given free reign of the house, although she had done some reconnaissance before her mission, and so it was Rin's knowledge and instincts that ultimately led the two of them in the right direction, although it didn't seem like it at first. She led the two of them to the basement, the place Wilke had investigated but been forced to abandon... and there they found Wilke, Chai, and Marin respectfully handling the remains of what must have been their missing investigators.

Chai, who seemed tired and dizzy, shook his head to Rin. "You don't want to hear this," he said, "but your path lies through the torture room, the one place she," he gestured to Chandra, "truly does not want to return to. It is not far... but you can't get there from here. She knows how to get there." He paused. "As for time... I don't remember exactly how long you have, but you aren't late, not yet. Keep on their tail, but you don't need to push her."

The two women exchanged looks, but somehow, Chandra managed to keep a lid on her emotions. It wasn't the same as burying or repressing the feelings--but it was close. Instead, she had a kind of demented discipline in place, one rooted in terror, but one she accepted. Being on the other end of that link from her was awful, but in a strange way, Rin could tell that her presence was grounding the other woman.

Then again, she had been linked to a ghost for years. Perhaps Rin's mere presence was enough, because that sense of presence was all she'd had for so long.

As it turned out, while Chandra did not know the normal hallways of the castle, she had something of a mental map of the hidden ways of the house, and in particular, one way into that secret room. Rin could tell from the weight that settled over her thoughts that it was not an easy topic, but nobody was happy--not the others and their burial duty, not Rin as she watched of Chandra. To put it mildly, the day had been terrible, and the whole situation stank.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

There was also the inescapable fact that the house was not empty.

When Chandra begrudgingly led Rin first to the quarters that had once been Roan's, they began to run into guards and servants, although mostly, the guards seemed to have been recalled somewhere--most likely, to guard the entrance to the Vein. As they reached the third story, though, they found more and more servants, some arming themselves in what was truly a laughable attempt to stop two trained, if retired, assassins.

Rin, well versed with using her status as a only former assassin, unsheathed a hidden straight sword from her back and leveled it at anyone who challenged her, letting her casual familiarity with the weapon speak for itself. The servants, too, seemed very familiar with the idea of yielding to superior force, although they seemed to be operating in some kind of hidden pattern that was unclear--retreating, hands concealed, into various rooms. All in all, the chance of them being sniped with a crossbow from behind was entirely too high.

Fortunately, Rin was, temporarily at least, immune to simple weapons of that type. The barriers her spellcards provided would not last forever, and might break under coordinated assault or magically empowered bolts, but as long as she was dragging Chandra around, she was willing to burn up spellcards to power the barrier constantly.

Chandra turned to look at her with that thought, and Rin could tell that she wanted to object to being thought of as dead weight--but no, she understood. A feral part of Chandra wanted to have pride... and that was a good thing, Rin decided, and pushed a subdued sense of acknowledgement back across the link to her. She was an assassin once, and she would be again, even if now--

The shiver that ran through Chandra then was as powerful as it was unaccountable. Even if now you're used goods, a thought came across the link, and it was a familiar memory to Chandra, one she could picture so vividly that it leaked across to Rin as an image. Chandra was face down on a cold stone floor, every joint burning, exposed skin aching until it was nearly numb, and Roan's foot was on her neck, pressing her down. Nobody would ever want you back. This is where you belong, now.

Rin forced an emotion across the link with the force of a slap, but Chandra barely needed it. Although the memory was a scar across her mind, it was only a scar, now--something healed, or healing, a wound long since gone.

"I was never his," said Chandra aloud, suddenly, and Rin suddenly stopped. "I was a slave to his magic, a damaged thing, but I was never his."

"You were never a 'thing'," Rin returned, but Chandra cut her off with a violent swipe of her hand.

"I was," she said, and the hurt and rage in her voice was palpable. Don't take this from me, her thoughts said, although Rin didn't immediately understand. "Rin... please... you mean well, but you have to understand. I was not myself. I feel it, even now. Another thing in me, one that follows, submits, succumbs to its wounds. One that pretended to enjoy it, because it had no feelings left. They did not wish me to be a person, and what they created was not one. Because..." she hesitated. "Because of him, I survived. Because he held on, because I wasn't alone. But I survived inside it. Inside something else, something inhuman."

Rin studied her face. After a long moment, she nodded. "You didn't endure his tortures," she finished the thought. "you broke, and Kentin put you back together."

Chandra could not quite meet Rin's eyes.

"All the more reason." Rin took Chandra's hand. "You were never a 'thing', Chandra. You were always you, just... hiding, in order to survive. Don't put a weight on your own shoulders that belongs elsewhere."

The two of them sat there for a long moment, measuring their own feelings and each other's. After a moment, Rin decided that Chandra really didn't need her reassurances. After facing hell for years, she simply already was ready to face more of it, if need be, to see this all be over. Rin couldn't begin to understand where that strength came from; it didn't seem to be something that Kentin had given her. She simply was that strong.

"It's all I have left," replied Chandra. "My mind was always my strongest feature, and it was all I had. So yes..." Finally, she met Rin's eyes, and in those eyes, Rin saw a challenge, naked and daring--a challenge for Rin to break her, if she dared try. "I will go through hell to see Roan dead. One more time... one last time... for Kentin, and for myself. I will see the end of this."

Rin absorbed her words, and looked deeply into Chandra's eyes. She nodded, and they both understood the feelings behind the action. No more treating her like a liability.

They pushed their way into Roan's study, and then his bedroom. Somehow, the smell of burned flesh here put just a hint of satisfied smile on Chandra's face, and then she put it out of mind and pressed her hand against the secret panel.

"Just once more," she whispered to nobody, as they descended into the darkness of the maze hidden inside the house's walls.