Zu Mari sat with Alie and Carie, while Turi and Melie discussed something quietly off to the side of the room, and he wondered if they were the sort who could be saved, or if they were as irredeemable as the rest.

"Tell me about yourselves," Zu said, when he grew tired of sitting in silence. "I know you are sisters, a look at your faces makes that perfectly clear, but what is your lineage and potential you spoke so highly of?"

For some reason, that made Alie blush and Carie look away uneasily.

"Our mother was... very powerful among the Avenri," Alie said at last, when Zu did not relent. "She was highly sought after, and... allowed the seeking to succeed more often than not. We are all half-sisters."

"Ah. And your potential, then, is from your mother."

"It is from our unknown ancestry as much as from her," said Carie quietly. "Our fathers were none of them weak, and many..." she shifted nervously, glanced at Alie, then at Zu. "Many she chose specifically for their power in strange and unusual fields," she whispered. "We do not know which of us may manifest any of these rare gifts, but..." her voice trembled, on the verge of tears, "our old home did nothing to foster them. We'll be better off here."

"Indeed we will," said Alie firmly. "Here we will be valued and learn all of what we can do and who we can become. Here we can use our power with pride, rather than hiding it from the weak-willed and the cowardly."

"Not everyone in Avenriheen was cowardly and weak,” protested Carie.

"Enough were to drive the narrative in their direction." Alie softened, putting one arm around her sister. "I'll look out for you, little Cae. There'll be no one to bother you while I'm here to protect you." She looked up at Zu. "And you, you had the courage to step out and ask for special placement. Thank you, for showing me the path forward."

"You needn't thank me, I was doing it for myself. I did not know of your plight, nor would it have changed my actions in the slightest if I had."

"So brash." Alie laughed softly, her voice turning coy. "Have you no pity for us, or is it only that you follow a path of your own making?"

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"I have pity, but not enough that I would change my direction. I know you have to learn to look out for yourselves, if you’re going to survive here. I’d be doing you no favors trying to protect you."

This didn't trouble Alie in the least. She seemed almost to be more interested now, leaning toward him with a look of longing in her eyes. "So confident," she said breathily. "You put the others to shame. None even stood up despite yourself and us leading the way."

Zu smiled knowingly. "They do not want to be acolytes of the Green Flame. Many want to fight, or pursue vengeance. They would not be well suited to the path you and I walk."

"Indeed not. They should be more understanding."

"How could they understand?” Carie cut in before Zu could answer, her own voice trembling. “They are grieving and broken."

"Do not think to reprove me, little sister," Alie said sharply. "I know that we have lost much. I do not diminish it. But loss does not have to break you, you can put it aside and move on."

"Not always," Carie said quietly.

"Always. If you try hard enough."

Carie let out a small gasp, then turned away. Zu thought that she was crying. Alie pretended not to notice, though her eyes softened faintly before she turned back to him. "They should have seen that the obvious path lay in uniting. Alone, none of us will last the month. Together, we can find a new way and a new path."

"I agree. Together we can do anything necessary to survive and thrive." Zu smiled. "I hope you don't mind if I ignore you from time to time as I must focus on my own advancement."

"Of course we would not hold it against you. And you must do the same for us. We must each find our own path and our own future, even together."

Before the conversation could proceed any further, Nira returned with their robes. They were the same sickly green color as those worn by those collecting prisoners back in the city, but without adornment and so plain as to be unflattering almost to the point of being insulting.

Zu Mari looked at his with distaste. It may be preferable to the half-clothed way he'd been traipsing about so far, but the robe was a truly ugly color and an exceptionally poor cut. It would make him look more like a sack of potatoes gone moldy than a mighty cultivator.

With a sigh, he once again swallowed his pride and put it on anyway.

Nira seemed pleased, though Zu found it even harder than ever to tell the sisters apart now that their differentiating clothing had been concealed. Alie was obvious from her calculating gaze and the way she took command of the entire group, but now that she'd stopped sniffling he couldn't tell which one was Carie. Melie had a deeper voice than the others, if he remembered correctly, but until she spoke the younger three were too similar for him to distinguish them yet.

"Good. Now, while the other acolytes undertake their first trial, so shall you. Follow me."

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