Despite her injuries, Sobon was not late getting up, except in comparison to a family that spent their life running an inn. Although she was up at dawn, Tuli, Lui, and the cook that Alassi was finally able to place as being named Mian were all busy. For an inn this far into the hills, the work would oftentimes be a waste--but not always. And Alassi was quite convinced that an inn that didn't have a good reputation was doomed to never recover it. Sobon... didn't know that he believed in 'never', but he respected the discipline.

Today, of course, the three were taking care of a number of lost souls that had been captured by the slavers. Sobon spent her time forming better designed, more stable aether dynamos, then searching through her database of aether patterns and forming together a better version of the healing pattern, which would accept some combiation of outer and onwards aether, and could supplement them with raw right-hand aether. Going by the various terms and translations of them in the documents, these were not exactly the way the Ri'lef understood aether, but they were fundamentally compatible; if she understood the ship's translations correctly, the various aether spins corresponded to "layers" of reality, and each layer of progressively more complex aether could only really be reached by the next lower layer.

The translated terms were frankly silly. Right and left aether were Righteous and Sinister; while Outer and Inner were Genesis and Consumption. Onwards and Reverse were Acceleration and Revival, and the layer above that, which Sobon was fairly sure his people termed something like Superior and Inverse, were termed Sacred and Corrupt. And there were higher level flows than either of those, but Sobon purged the thoughts from her mind; she'd needed cybernetic implants to understand more than the mere creation of fourth-order flows, and while she could piece together a dynamo producing fifth-tier flows, she doubted she'd be able to hold the complexity in her mind necessary to work those flows into a pattern in 3D space, let alone a more complex working that weaved through the higher dimensions.

It hardly mattered for now. Sobon suspected she would end up working with Onwards and Reverse aether with some regularity; if your enemy had any access to flows of that level, not having it yourself was a death sentence, at least in the long term. Time manipulation, even in its most limited forms, was too much of an advantage. Superior and Inverse flows, which some prosaically called "fate manipulation", were according to her education much less of a direct battlefield advantage, perhaps because the Empire and its enemies hadn't figured out whatever trick there was to them. The calculations necessary to properly apply a higher-tier spin required mastery of those beneath, so unless she figured out something her entire civilization had not, she couldn't use higher spins for anything significant.

Alassi, in a strange contrast to Jom or the braindead squirrel, actually seemed to be studying Sobon's thoughts, and while she made very little progress in understanding the work Sobon was doing, at least Alassi seemed to have enough intelligence to her spirit-form, or whatever she was, to be able to make headway on some of the fundamentals. Sobon noticed her regulating one of the right-hand aether dynamos while Sobon was otherwise busy--Alassi had enough caution that Sobon wouldn't call what she was doing playing, and indeed she was doing what Sobon would have asked her to do, if Sobon trusted the spirit with anything, but it was still a little uncomfortable that Alassi was acting without her active direction.

By mid-morning, Lui had come to check up on her and offer a late breakfast, and Sobon was somewhat ashamed to see that the girl was bone-tired and smudged in several places with blood. Lui, though, shook her head at Sobon's shock.

"It's fine, Grandma," Lui said, tiredly. "I think you would have helped if you could, but I know you can't. We know you can't."

Sobon kept his expression even, although Alassi bristled within him. She had thoughts about Tuli, and what Lui was implying about how he felt, but Sobon didn't care. "I would help," Sobon agreed. She looked down at the breakfast that Lui had brought. "I'm going to get better, Lui. And I'm going to leave this place. But some of what needs to happen..."

"Happens now, I know," Lui said, a tired edge to her voice that was very unlike who she had been even half a day before. "Papa is saying the same. With breakfast about done, Uncle Mian is going to go to town to turn in the body, and to bring back help. He says he knows what to do."

Sobon trusted the steely-eyed man who had taken up a massive, four-foot butchering sword with contemptuous ease. Although Sobon was sure he had a severe case of depression--if not as bad as Alassi's--he had recovered too quickly from the haze of battle for Sobon to think that he had lost himself. Indeed, although the foot-wide steel sword was as sharp as a razor, and although Mian had moved with practiced grace, he had only really used the blade in defense of Alassi, Tuli, or himself. Considering that Sobon had enraged the entire group of criminals, that was more than enough for him to be nearly the center of the fight, even with Sobon supporting him with aether use.

Sobon trusted Mian, but also, she did not trust the world. She would not be surprised if Mian trying to turn in the bounty--if there even was one--would only bring some other trouble down on them, trouble that would pretend to be officials of the nation, guardsmen, or others. This world was full of shit, and while Sobon was sure that Mian was no innocent person himself, that didn't provide him any immunity.

So Sobon just grumbled. "Wish I was going to be ready in time to go with him. But no, even the best healing..." She frowned, but Lui's eyes were on the aether pattern around her hip. Like Alassi, Lui seemed to grasp some of the fundamentals, but Sobon wasn't sure she dared ask. She... wanted to be nice, and stay, and teach Lui what she needed to know to survive. It was not a good idea. "...what I need for now is a few days, and more solid meals than this, if I can get them."

Lui's eyes flicked back to meet hers, and the girl pursed her lips, but nodded. "I don't know what we can do for today. Uncle Mian wouldn't mind, I think, but Papa and I will be trading off cooking duties for... for everyone today," she said, and Sobon watched her evade a thought, but not as strongly as she would have before, as though she wasn't quite as afraid. "Papa... might not agree to cook more for you. And I already think I'll be working the whole time, trying to stay ahead. I'm... not a great cook."

In the end, Sobon noted, there had been about twenty slaves, and one of the most common problems with them all was malnutrition. They came from a number of cultures, all foreign to Sobon, though Alassi thought they mostly from the far south and west. Sobon wasn't much of a cook, but... she shrugged. "Don't try to feed them too much," she said. "With an empty stomach, they can't eat too quickly."

"We know. But enough of them have a little qi..." Lui shook her head. "Some of them are already trying hard to improve themselves. And Papa says we should let them."

Sobon glanced out the window, at the two people in the yard outside who were sitting silently in some kind of meditation, their aether flowing and flickering. She didn't know exactly how the qi gathering exercises worked, but like Sobon, they would need food if they wanted to rebuild their bodies, and those two, at least, were skin and bones. She nodded, and spoke a little flippantly, mostly prodded along by Alassi. "As long as you get paid."

Lui grinned, briefly, and the smile brightened her tired face. "Yes, Grandma Alassi. Papa insists they pay using their share of the bandit money, and... they don't seem to mind."

Sobon personally felt like refugees deserved better than that, but social safety nets were better implemented by governments, not random innkeepers, and in either case Sobon wasn't the person ultimately responsible. She might have sway over Tuli, if she was willing to argue, but Sobon's mind was on other things. "If it comes to it," Sobon finally said, "in a few days, I'll go hunting."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

For some reason, Lui shivered at that. Sobon looked at her, but the girl's look was distant, like she was still coming out of the kitchen, looking on a room full of blood-splattered walls, tables, and floor. Sobon barely thought about it as she lifted out of the wheelchair and moved to put a hand on the Lui's shoulder, but she could see shock in Lui's features even at that small action. It was hard to remember exactly how the girl must see Sobon now, taking over what remained of her old and decreptit grandmother.

"Don't fear, child," Sobon said, as gently as she could, and since she was already standing, she moved to the lift, leaving behind the thin breakfast that Lui had offered her.

What awaited below was nothing that surprised Sobon much. The dining room had been cleaned well, but not perfectly. Wood that wasn't sealed would be difficult to perfectly clean even with advanced chemistry, and although she could have found some way to do the task with aether, it would be a massive waste of time and resources. The inn's new transients were mostly in this room, when they weren't outside, and all of them gave each other space, except those who found comfort together. Sobon suspected none of them would want to be alone in small rooms anytime soon.

Tuli was the only one to register any shock at Sobon's presence, and he buried a wave of anger as quickly as it appeared. "Mother," he said, politely, though Sobon could see as well as hear his clenched muscles in the tone of his voice.

Sobon had done nothing like rehearsing her words, and she didn't feel much obliged to find the right way to say what she wanted. Instead, she gestured for Tuli to step into the alcove behind the desk that stored his records, her gait only a little uneven as she pushed past him into the narrow space. The idea seemed to rankle Tuli even more, and Sobon could convince himself that something in this room stank, in ways that were neither aetheric nor physical. Something itched at him, like a secret, but he ignored it for now.

Tuli fit himself into the room just enough to swing the door shut, but his eyes on Alassi were hard. "What do you want, mother?"

Sobon considered a lot of what she could say under the circumstances, in brief. She considered coming clean, as she had to Lui, but it was foolish. The man before her wouldn't understand, she was sure. "I have something left undone," she simply said. "I intend to regain my strength, and then leave."

Tuli bristled at that, and Sobon thought he understood. The man took a long moment to collect his thoughts, and even took a deep breath, before speaking. "What you did last night will bring danger to this place, Alassi. And you won't even be here to protect us."

Sobon shook her head, knowing that it was true. "There are things I can do to protect this place, even in my absence. Formations. Seals." The words were unfamiliar to Sobon's own mind, but were Alassi's own translations of concepts that Sobon fed her.

"I thought you didn't know any of those," Tuli said, more anger and bitterness creeping into his voice. "After that incident with the army--"

"Things change, Tuli," Sobon said, finally turning and meeting the man's eyes directly. Although she knew that the man, Alassi's son, wouldn't understand, she still stared back at him as firmly as she could, projecting resoluteness as best she could. "The world of qi is complicated and uncertain. Sometimes even an old woman locked in her room can have her life change in an instant. Sometimes people learn things, or grow... or die."

Tuli looked back at her, his anger waning a bit, though the bitterness never left. "You mean when you shouted the other day," he said, his face changing. "Something to do with qi changed with you. You advanced, or something?"

"Something." Sobon held the man's eyes, but didn't explain. After another few moments, Tuli looked away. When he did, Sobon spoke into the silence. "The world is changing, Tuli. There is danger out there. And there is something that I must do."

"Fine," Tuli said, sounding like the only thing on his mind was his bitterness. Sobon resisted the urge to react, letting him speak. "But we're holding to the agreement. When you're gone, I control this inn. Own it. In its entirety."

It was at that moment that Sobon had a strange vision, one that he soon recognized as being an echo received from Alassi's qi core, not any part of his own aether patterns or body. It was... a dim memory, one that seemed etched into the walls of this room. Of Tuli sitting behind the desk, and of a man standing across from him. The two of them had a matched flavor to their qi, and it was a sick feeling.

From what Sobon could tell, Alassi, although she was the one who received the vision, didn't recognize the figure, but Sobon did, and she wasn't even surprised. After all, the marine would never have expected two different slaver groups to meet at an inn unless they had confirmed the owner was either completely bought... or completely cowed. Beaten down, and terrified to raise a hand.

Sobon raised her nose at the man, immediately changing her mind about a decision she'd made last night. There was no way Sobon would leave Lui here with her father. "This place is nothing to me anymore, Tuli," Sobon finally said. That wasn't quite how Alassi felt, but Sobon didn't feel the need to humor the old woman's ghost, not given the mess that was haunting this place's past, and probably its future.

"Fine," Tuli said. "Then go, and Lui and I will be fine without you."

Sobon didn't correct him on that, and instead said, "It will still take time for me to recover. If you want me gone sooner, I'll need bigger meals. Real food, not the thin soup I've been having."

Tuli finally met her eyes again with a sour glare, as though he begrudged even that much. "Fine. Lui and I will make sure you are fed. Real food, like you say."

Sobon thought she detected a poisonous note to the man's tone, an intent to deceive or betray, but nodded as though she trusted him entirely. As Tuli started to open the door again, Sobon stopped him with a word. "Tuli."

He half-opened, then closed, the door, but remained facing it as he waited for her to say whatever last word she had.

Sobon considered her words carefully. She wanted to say something true, as far as Alassi was concerned, but also more useful than anything the old woman would have willingly provided. Finally, she closed her eyes, and sighed. "You were right all along," she said, finally, as she felt Alassi's heart collapse at the words. "Her death was my fault."

The words went through Tuli like a knife. Sobon didn't really feel the same depth of emotion as either Alassi or Tuli, but that didn't stop her body from reacting with Alassi's own emotions. Perhaps it was just her nature as a cyborg to separate that thread of thought away from everything else, but somehow, she finished the words.

"Not because of what happened on that day. But because I was her mother, and because..." Sobon considered the woman's memories, although as she slipped through them, they seemed to crumble from the emotions. "...because I wanted my life back. To be a warrior again, and not a mother. But there was always more to teach her, and I didn't. If I had..."

"Stop it," whispered Tuli, and Sobon stopped. But the man said nothing, leaning on the door as though it was all that kept him on his feet. When finally he looked back at Alassi, there were storm clouds in those eyes, but Sobon wasn't quite sure how to read them. "You were a terrible mother," he agreed, his voice trembling. "But the worst of it, the worst of it, Alassi, was that she thought you weren't. That you did it all out of love. And I know that you didn't. I know. I was there. I saw it."

Alassi's heart squeezed like it was trying to wring blood from a stone, and Sobon let herself collapse against the wall. She still felt very distant from the storm going on around her, but... but also, Sobon found herself thinking about Lui, and about Ki'el. Even, a little bit, about Jom. About children that needed to be taught, and were instead just discarded. And although Sobon didn't feel Alassi's emotions, she definitely felt her own. His own. His attachment to good people that didn't deserve these kinds of horrors.

And yet, Sobon had to march to war. She had to. The world might end if she didn't, in a way that was entirely too literal.

Finally, Tuli forced himself to open the door, and Sobon retreated upstairs without another word to him, or to Lui. She would need some kind of plans, but... but in all honesty, she wasn't sure what. She wasn't sure how she could possibly do everything she needed to, even if she sacrificed everything. And privately, Sobon supposed that one way or another, she wouldn't. That she would fail at something, or many somethings. And her--his cyborg mind told him immediately which tasks she dared not fail at.

Sobon didn't disagree with the thought, exactly. But it felt like an empty analysis, a marine commander's list of prorities on a cheap slideshow. Everyone knew that the orders were banal, rote. The real orders would be whatever the circumstances actually required, even if they were nothing like what the commander wrote up before the mission was even handed down. The presentation might as well just say, "Succeed."

Sobon dared not lose the entire world. But if she didn't preserve the few parts of the world that seemed to be worth fighting for, she wouldn't see saving the rest of the world as much of a victory, either.