Mian started the next morning grouchy.

Although Sobon Alassi had said they would talk in the morning, it was obvious that Lui, due to her obligations to Lady Fau Mide, would determine when Sobon was willing to talk. Lui was apologetic, of course; Mian had always found her to be a sweet child, and although he had little attachment to the girl, he had defended her by instinct, and not only because she was Alassi's. There was something pure and good to her, which Mian envied as much as he wanted to protect it.

When Mian was young, he thought he would be a hero. Alassi, the Blood Witch, had encouraged him to think that there was hope out there. A world of women warriors who would be his equals and, though he was too young to understand at first, perhaps lovers in time. But by the time that he caught up to Alassi... she had been broken by the world. He had heard rumors, and chased them. Not only of her injury, but of being chased out of the Diamond Lord's army. He had expected to find her furious, righteous. Standing tall. But the woman he found was not capable of leading him to become a warrior. Even if he had risen on his own, he could not convince himself she would ever stood up to take a place at his side.

What he saw when he looked at Lui was someone like that younger version of himself, a girl who had a dream, but needed a path forward. Neither Alassi nor he could ever be what she needed, to believe in the future and have the courage to face it.

But Sobon Alassi, this woman, she had saved Lui while she was young enough to appreciate it, and for that, Mian envied the girl, and privately swore that he would protect her. It was the only fragment left of his dream of being a hero that still made sense, after Alassi had been defeated, broken, and then (though Mian tried not to think of it in such terms), replaced.

And so Lui went to work for Lady Fau for the morning, Mian escorting her there and then returning on his own to wait, restlessly. He truly wasn't sure what to expect from Lady Sobon's revelations. She had intended to teach Mian more of qi cultivation, but the rescue of her other pupil had interfered. Mian didn't resent her for that; Ki'el was an intense, serious girl, who had immediately taken some tasks on to herself, and was willing to take a job if necessary, although Lady Sobon had not forced her to, not yet. She had a good, straightforward spirit. And... Mian could also see that Lady Sobon had taught her something, because she had the strange ring-shaped qi cores that Sobon had used.

Mian was not yet close enough to her to consider her a little sister, as he did Lui, but he was impressed by her in spite of her young age.

When finally noon came, Lui returned on her own, although she could have signaled Mian to come and get her. The girl wasn't powerful, but she had strange and subtle ways, like her grandmother... and like Lady Sobon. But she was growing comfortable with the city, and it wasn't far or difficult to get from here to Lady Fau's place.

Sobon Alassi, who had spent the morning in her hidden dimensional space, finally was willing to invite them all in once they had a brief midday meal. Mian, as usual, marvelled at the absolutely, perfectly straight walls, and at the sense that the walls and entrance well and truly sealed them away from the world. But his main attention was focused on Sobon Alassi, who seemed... uncertain.

"Most of what I would like to say to you, are secrets that I must keep within a close circle of trust," she said, as she raised some very strange form of qi. It was not the very light, very dense, and very pure form of qi that she often used; it felt more like a unique flavor of normal qi. "I need all of you to agree--to swear--that you will keep my secrets, now and for the rest of your lives."

Lui and Ki'el swore to it easily. Mian... hesitated, and was willing to swear, although his heart wavered. However, when Lady Sobon's strange qi began to pass over, he felt a depth to it, like echoes of the future. And Mian closed his eyes and considered, really considered, if there was any circumstance where he would actually turn against Laddy Sobon, and against Alassi, and Lui, and Ki'el.

And the qi that was testing him clung to something deep inside, watching his thoughts, but seemingly satisfied.

Sobon Alassi seemed to relax, and somehow, looked tired, though her spirit seemed strong. "The most important thing you need to understand," she said, her words paced out, perhaps a little forced, "is that the Starbeasts are not an invading force."

It was a strange thing, Mian would acknowledge looking back. Deep down, he recognized that it truly was an exceedingly important thing to learn, though he could not imagine why it would be a place to start such a lesson.

But Sobon's thoughts moved on, her words uncertain in their pacing, although they carried no hint of deception. "Far beyond this world, in a place much like the place I came from, there are... powerful beings, who are interested in the success of your world. They visited, in secret, at times in your past, and they left behind an anchor, which would allow them to visit again. But some time ago, that anchor was disrupted, perhaps by the Diamond Lord. And the powerful beings, being busy, sent a subordinate to check on the world in their stead."

The words all meant something to Mian, but his mind was where Sobon had said it should be--at the beginning, at the Starbeasts. As Sobon wove her tale, Mian wondered--were they the powerful beasts? The subordinates?

"The subordinates came on a great vessel from the skies, but they were struck down, we believe by the Diamond Lord, or someone of similar power. And these subordinates were trapped here, but not powerless. The created the Starbeasts so that they could harvest their cores, and other materials from their body, and use them to repair their vessel."

A world exploded behind Mian's eyes, as though he had reached enlightenment in that instant. Beings so powerful that they could create the Starbeasts just to harvest them. Beings so powerful that their farm animals threaten to destroy our civilization. But Mian also understood what came next, even before Sobon said it.

"But the Djang, and many others, are harvesting them before these subordinates can. So they must make more, in order to have a chance of going home, and reporting to their masters. And there is a great chance that if they do not recover the anchor, if they cannot accomplish the mission their masters gave them before those masters discover this betrayal, that the wrath of those masters will strike down on this entire world."

Mian shivered, his mind conjuring images of vastly powerful wizards in the sky, a look of displeasure on their noble, bearded faces, who but raise a hand and all of the Djang empire is wiped out in a dark flash. His soul imagined spiritual pressure the likes of which he had no language to describe, annihilating his entire existence just by releasing their tight grip over the infinite qi within their cores. And... some part of Mian, though he didn't understand it, felt certain that there was a deep truth to that image, a truth that was more terrifying than any supposition, any illusion.

"But these subordinates were not warriors," Sobon was saying, as Mian found himself already exhausted, his spirit having nearly had a qi deviation just from the concept. "They searched for one from beyond this world, and they found... Sobon. Why me, and how, I do not know." She turned to Ki'el, the girl looking somewhere between paralyzed and fascinated. "When I met you, Ki'el, I didn't know all of this. But when I die, these subordinates ensure that I live again. And the last time... after I died, there on the boat with you, I met them. And they gave me my mission."

"I must find a way into the depths of the Djang Empire, to find the Anchor that the Masters left behind. I must protect it, and anything else that was stolen, away from the Djang, and from anyone else who would take it, at all costs, so that when the Masters return, they will not destroy this world in a rage. And I do not know how long I have."

Mian, who had turned to look at Ki'el when Sobon did, turned his eyes back to Sobon, only to find that somehow, now, some part of him saw past the flesh. When he looked, he did not see Sobon Alassi, or even Lady Sobon. He saw something straight as a blade, with the heart of a soldier. Something powerful and wise, patient and knowledgeable, something that could have cut through any opposition--if only it were allowed to be at its full power.

And he understood in his spirit what he had recognized in his mind once or twice, that Sobon was not advancing her qi to some great height. No, Sobon Alassi was recovering. If she only fully healed, she would be a warrior perhaps as great as the Diamond Lord, perhaps even greater. She had been dismissive of slavers and callous towards the city lord, had casually offended a noble Young Master and his bodyguards because like those Star Masters she spoke of, she had held the stars themselves in her hands, and considered them only warm.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

And somewhere inside of Mian, the little boy who had believed in heroes took a breath for what felt like the first time in decades. A small part of his spirit that had been entirely dead began to move.

Perhaps, there was room in this world for a boy with the spirit of a hero, yet.

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Ki'el considered Sobon's words with as much of an even keel as she could hold. It was... difficult. Although she knew Sobon had simplified what she was saying, it was still difficult to place it all into a single idea. That someone was... or was not, now, watching over the world, felt like a story. She herself had barely any attachment to the concept of "Starbeasts", as it was not a thing her people had needed to fight off, although she was aware they existed in other places. No, the danger to her and her family had come from humans alone.

It was Sobon's next words that were more interesting to her.

"Qi," she said, slowly, with an edge that Ki'el thought might have been to pry the others from their thoughts, "is also not natural, although this is not a concept you should even hint of to others. The power that I use," and Sobon nodded to her, "is in a way, more primitive. Qi is a combination of many forms of aether, all to create an energy which people can explore and grow alongside of, instead of mastering the way that I did, with advanced math and powerful tools."

This was what Ki'el was looking for; an explanation of the mysterious power that Sobon had granted her. She had spent some time meditating, although she did not understand what she saw there; she was sure that the Left and Right-hand aether she wielded were some part of qi, but how exactly they related was stil unclear.

"I don't think I could raise someone, even from birth, to be the kind of aether user I am," Sobon said, as the others were digesting her words. "I was not taught to be a teacher, and I don't know which lessons I was taught need to be given, or in what order. There was a whole world of knowledge that may mean nothing and do nothing, or it may have been key to my understanding. History, philosophy, math and science." Sobon shook her head, and looked intently at Ki'el, and then briefly at Mian, before turning back.

"Equally important, the methods that I have to generate and purify aether--aether dynamos, which I taught to Ki'el as the Cycle and Thorn--are something the Masters do not wish spread on this world. I don't think they will care as long as it remains a few close companions of mine, but these are not techniques to boast about or show off."

Ki'el, though, just nodded through that, speaking up as though Sobon had been addressing her own private thoughts and doubts. "I have already felt that it is very different," she said, "different enough that many people are confused and afraid. The ones who captured me," she made herself catch Sobon's eyes, just because she... she felt a need, perhaps, though she couldn't put it into words. "They were angry, and afraid, because they could not break me. Although I was also afraid, the ring, the Cycle," she used his word, "it was the only air that I could breathe in that place. I know they intended me to choke, as though to death, if a person's spirit can die."

Sobon looked pained, and nodded at her, as though she understood, but said nothing.

"But even before that," Ki'el looked away, "even qi cultivators that I met seemed very different. They all had..." she struggled to find words to describe it, and seemed to fail. "Smells," she finally suggested. "Things that were a part of their qi, and perhaps should not have been. And I think they could tell when they saw qi that did not smell, that there was something wrong with themselves. And I do not think the liked it."

"Grandma's qi now is strange," agreed Lui, "but not a bad sort of strange. It is colorless, where others are cloudy. Even Lady Fau, who has a very straight soul, her qi has some..." The other girl tilted her head a little, her face bunched up in thought. "Burnt remnants, I suppose. Like the charred leaves left behind when doing alchemy, or the dregs of tea. But Grandma... I mean, Lady Sobon--"

"Just Sobon, please," Sobon interrupted. "Or you can call me Alassi, or Grandma, if you like."

Lui shook her head at that. "...Sobon made Grandma's aura clear up, removing a lot of old things that were in it. And I feel like Ki'el," she didn't quite pronounce Ki'el's name correctly, although the girl was close enough that she wouldn't bother correcting her, "has also been recovering, and removing things from her spirit. I don't... I don't know." The girl paused, for a long moment, but shortly before someone else could speak up, she spoke again. "I wish that we could share a method to clear other people's spirits, like that. Lady Fau tries to make medicines to do it, but each one leaves something behind as well."

Sobon considered that. "I'll think about how we can work with that. It might help make us money, or alliances."

Ki'el made a face at that. "Alliances," she felt the disgust behind her words. "All I know of alliances is that no one came when we needed them. And all I care for in all of qi and aether is to have the power to protect those who need it." With some care, she withdrew the quartz rod that Sobon had given her on the ship from her pants, and from the look on Sobon's face, she suspected the woman had forgotten about it. After taking care to make sure she was holding it correctly, she triggered the rod, and a blade of pure aether appeared around it, a blade she knew was wickedly sharp.

"I do not know what amount of power that is, but I do not seek any more than that," she said, holding the blade so that the flat of it pressed against her forehead. She knew that the weapon itself, like the floor and walls of Sobon's hidden room, was only an artificial thing, and not a destructive force. She had thought about it, and felt that it suited her. It did not need to intimidate, or corrupt, or corrode. Only cut those that needed to be cut, and block things which needed to be blocked.

"That is honorable," said Mian, and Ki'el felt that although he was Djang, he might actually mean it. Not that she doubt Sobon, and her choice to accept Mian into a circle of trust, but Ki'el was not a trusting sort. Less so, after her most recent adventure.

----------------------------------------

Lui smiled at the nervous, and often angry, Illan girl, although Lui didn't know exactly where that was. She and Ki'el had only spoken a few times, and Ki'el had said that they were a people on many islands south and east of Djang. Ki'el's spirit was badly bruised, and although Lui didn't want to say it, she thought the girl was putting too much energy into her spirit, more quickly than she could handle it.

But she was also very straightforward, and Lui knew she wasn't deceiving anyone, or intending to ever deceive anyone. And since Lui knew... or sort of knew, that she was bad with liars and deceivers, that made her feel safer. Her father had lectured her several times, when people had made excuses and taken advantage of Lui's confusion, but it simply wasn't in her nature to confront others.

"The only other thing I will say about qi, and aether, for now," Grandma Sobon said, "is that there are many flavors of aether, and qi includes pieces of almost all of them. The way I was taught them is very precise, but perhaps you would all better appreciate different names for them." Lui looked at her, and found that Grandma Sobon had a strange look on her face, as though displeased by what she would say next.

"The most fundamental types of aether are Righteous and Sinister," she nodded to Ki'el, "what I called Right-hand and Left-hand to you. Righteous helps sustain and reinforce a body, but only a little, and Sinister interferes with a body, and slows it down."

Even those words, when they met Lui's ears, sparked something inside of her head, something that she was seeing in Lady Fau's alchemy, the patterns and swirls that even the respected alchemy master could only acknowledge, and barely even describe.

"Beyond that first level of aether are others, and each layer can break down into each of the lesser energies below it, but not perfectly." Sobon shook her head. "Above Righteous and Sinister are Genesis and Consumption. Genesis appears to flow endlessly out, and consumption seems to flow endlessly in, but in truth, each is a closed cycle. That which flows out, disappears after travelling a ways, and that which flows in reappears around the edges." Sobon shook her head. "In truth, it isn't that part of it. Genesis is good for pushing energy into things and spaces around you, and Consumption pulls energy out of them. Depending on how they are used, either can be healthy, or damaging."

Although Lui didn't fully understand, and didn't understand Alchemy much yet at all, she waited on every word that Sobon gave with bated breath. She had seen, and sensed, these things. Pills that seemed to endlessly breathe out. Ingredients that seemed to drink greedily from their surroundings. Even before she had begun learning alchemy, she had sensed mushrooms and herbs that had strange effects of those sorts.

"Above that level are dangerous energies. Powerful, but dangerous, and even I use them sparingly." Sobon frowned. "Acceleration aether makes the thing it affects seem to move faster. It... experiences more time than other things, which can be very bad in some cases, but very good in others. Its opposite is Revival aether, which attaches to something's past, and attempts to pull its current form back to what it was. While this has some uses, it can also be very dangerous. It can stop a wound from closing, or even reopen it, and it can keep a person childish and naive when they ought to have learned their lesson."

That last thought broke something inside of Lui. It wasn't a large thing--it was very small indeed, in some ways. But it was something that had always held her back. And she remembered her father's eyes on her, and her mother's, from when she was very young. And she felt something like a squeeze on her head that relaxed, now.

Lui felt everyone's eyes on her, and some part of her wanted to flinch back, but Sobon stepped up, putting her hands around Lui's shoulders, and holding her. And Lui, uncertainly, let herself explore what her thoughts were now, when some part of her had stopped holding into the past, when she stopped dwelling forever on the few happy moments when her parents had been all smiling faces and warm hugs. The past before Papa and Grandma Alassi had become cold and empty people.

And although the world suddenly seemed much colder, with that small thing in her mind broken, Grandma Sobon was warm, and the others also seemed to step up and offer warmth and concern. And although Lui was not sure she was happy that she was beginning to grow up, again, she could also recognize that she wasn't alone. Although she had been, for years... now, she wasn't.

And she held on to her new Grandma, and wept bitter tears.