To retreat now is reckless folly. The war cannot be won but still it must be fought.

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Stepping outside the amphitheater’s glass dome and onto the black stone path leading to the student housing village felt simultaneously familiar and stifling. Jair had to resist a visceral urge to hunch, scurry, hide—habits he’d thought completely left behind returned in full force.

The impulse irritated him. Jair was no longer the scared, defiant, uncertain child he had been when he lived this life before. He certainly wouldn’t be playing out the same roles. He suppressed the leftover instincts without so much as a hitch in his step, emerging into the familiar heat of the inner academy grounds.

Raina followed along without protest, though she glanced back at the assembly more than once.

The central crystal dome may be the obvious highlight of the Astralla Institute, with its lush incongruous greenery visible even from outside in stark contrast to the dust and bleached sandstone, but the rest of the place did its best to compete.

The library towers dominated the skyline to the south, each an intricate construct of pale stone and metal woven together so tightly you could hardly tell where one material ended and the other began, the subtle patterns of mana containment buried within layers of ornamentation. Jair could pick them out only because he’d once spent years studying such constructs in hope that knowledge alone could change things.

Most walkways were edged with hardy shrubberies in purples and browns set against the vivid black of the walkway stones and the bright white of the buildings. Though sand was omnipresent, subtle spellwork corralled it away from anywhere students would need to walk, leaving the paths pristine and the air above them distinctly clear.

Seeing something as precious as mana spent just to keep walkways clear had stunned him when he first arrived. Now it didn’t even register as unusual. He’d seen far more extravagant displays, and mana was hardly the rarity in cities as in fringe villages and remote outposts.

The outer walls were more decorative than defensive, dark sandstone which provided a stunning backdrop behind the ivory and crystal of the thin square towers interspersed frequently enough to give off a fortress aesthetic.

“Jair, what’s going on? This isn’t like you. Did something…” she trailed off, edging away from anything that might seem like she was prying into his soulspell, but he knew what she was thinking.

It wasn’t unheard of for a soulspell to attune instantly, but such instances were closer to once in a lifetime than once in a generation. How else would he suddenly know she was going to die, but with some kind of prophecy soulspell? Martial mage classes were the second most likely to develop temporal observation abilities of some description.

“You're not in immediate danger, but…” Jair trailed off, torn between the desire to hug her again and never let go, tell her everything throughout the uncountable lifetimes they’d been apart until he ran out of breath, or not say anything until he knew things were going to be different.

They’d been so young. Practically children. Despite being one of those who attended due to ridiculously wealthy parents, she was the kindest and most compassionate person in the entire school. Now there was a gulf of experience between them that he wasn’t sure could ever be bridged.

That would be up to her, in the end. He had a promise to fulfill. Maelstrom hummed in his soul, a silver fire that promised hope. A new factor to change everything.

“But?” Raina prompted.

“Give me a few minutes.”

Raina nodded, unasked questions clear in her expression, and didn’t speak until they arrived at their front door. "Inside?"

"Inside," Jair agreed. He stopped as the familiar furniture triggered a bittersweet wave of nostalgia. The round dining table in the entryway to the right at which they’d written so many homework assignments, the little kitchen area to the left that he’d all but forgotten about. The open half-wall to the livingroom with its matched sofas and the low worktable where they’d done so much reading and debating.

He'd spent so many terrible years here… and so many great ones too. So many moments he wouldn't trade for anything.

Unconsciously, his eyes flicked back to Raina. She’d been there for him when he had nothing and no one, protected him when there was nowhere else to care. Now it was his turn.

She was watching him, caught his glance. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're about to cry."

He shook his head. He didn’t think he could stop smiling if he tried. "You’re here. You’re alive.”

When he didn’t elaborate, Raina finally cleared her throat. “So, why am I in danger?”

"What do you remember about your mother?"

Raina blinked at the jump in topic. “My mother?”

“Yes.”

“Is this really the time…?”

“It’s important.”

Shrugging, she leaned back, eyes going distant as she furrowed her brows to think. "I remember her singing to me at night, so I could sleep. I remember the way she looked whenever anything went wrong, how she shifted into this focused teaching mode. The door of the practice back at the oasis, how it caught the manalight…" She opened one eye to squint at him. “What’s this about?”

“Did she ever mention having enemies?”

“No, never. She was a healer. Who could she possibly have as an enemy?”

Jair leaned forward. “Ryenzo Draconis.”

Raina’s hand went to her chest, mouth formed a trembling ‘oh’.

“Exactly. Ryenzo is absolutely determined to kill you, and I know of no way to prevent it. For each method I prevent, another is ready to hand. Antimagic, poison, fire, stabbing, dismembering… and, unfortunately, Ryenzo is entirely mad. I can’t get any explanation except the mantra ‘kill the child, break the mother.’ So whatever else Tamma Serin did in her life, she has made at least one implacable enemy.”

“I don’t… What do you mean, prevent? What could you possibly… How long has this been… how have you…?” words failed her and Raina shook her head helplessly.

“The full story would take too long to tell, and right now I need to assess what we have to work with. Give me a week and I’ll answer any questions you have after.”

“No chance this is an elaborate joke?” She looked over at him, without much hope.

He shook his head once.

Raina sighed. “I didn’t think so, but… this is insane.”

“Yes. Ryenzo is a matriarch. Not much a new initiate can do. At least, not until now.” Jair patted Maelstrom. “That’s why I have this. I’m hoping to change the power balance in our favor.”

Raina swallowed, her eyes drawn to Jair's ascended sword. "You're putting a lot of hope on one item."

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"It's the only thing I have. I couldn't change anything else, not enough to make a difference." The words came out bitter. "No matter what I say, who I say it to, or how much I try to change things.”

“I’m sure there’s something.”

Jair leaned back, lolling his head sideways on the back of the sofa to watch Raina's profile. She had that look of adorable concentration on her face, trying to puzzle it through.

“We can come up with a plan. You can warn people. Recruit allies."

Jair laughed humorlessly. “Who’s going to be willing to go up against the Draconis for you? They’re left alone for good reason. Any time I’m straightforward about the threat, the answer is invariably ‘run’ or ‘just leave her to die.’ Often both.”

Raina shivered, huddling smaller in the corner of the sofa. “So I’m dead,” she whispered. “That’s all there is to it.”

It broke his heart all over again. “No.” He took her hand in his. “I will find a way. This will not stand.”

“But, you’re right, I’ve heard the stories. Even the Hyperion would hesitate to defend me. Draconis matriarch. There’s nothing anyone can do to stand up to something like that. I may as well walk into the channel as try to fight Ryenzo.”

“Which is why we can’t count on anyone but ourselves and what connections we can use without directly revealing what we’re doing.” Jair crossed to the shelves along the back wall of the livingroom next to his bedroom and pulled down several stacks of oversized drawing paper. “So for the next few days, we’re going to be mapping out exactly who and what we have to work with.”

“What could there possibly be?”

Jair smiled. “A lot more than you think.”

He spread out the pages and they got to work. At one point, Denor Veshin—one of their classmates and an old friend of Raina's—came by to deliver her invitation to observe the annual student exhibition, but she made her excuses and sent Denor away.

"I'm surprised they're still going ahead with it," she commented, glancing at Jair. "I'd have expected your disruption threw things off a bit more than that."

"House Veshin are very proud of their traditions. It takes more than this to stop them showing off."

"Says you."

"Yes, says me. Which is how you know it's serious." He pulled another sheet of paper to the top of the stack. “But, speaking of Denor…”

Three days later, Jair and Raina sat atop one of the outer wall towers with oversized sheets of art paper spread out around them. Some pages were blank, others covered with writing or diagrams. The corners and edges were held down by an assortment of triangular chunks of stone in a variety of colors to prevent the wind from stealing their pages away.

Sandstone from the wall and other buildings was most prominent, but a collection of more exotic materials from the other Veori cities provided variety. All were remnants Jair had carved with Maelstrom during his tests of the sword's capabilities.

The ascended soulsword sliced through sandstone as easily as wood or clay. Less mundane materials, such as the mana-reinforced glass of the dome, put up more of a fight. He could stab through it with enough force behind his attack, but the sword couldn’t simply cut it with impunity. It took a few slices to make a deep enough gash.

The silver and steel lattice that formed the walls of the twin library towers resisted even more strongly. A full lunge could drive Maelstrom’s point through several inches of the material, but a swing with any less than his full strength barely scratched it. It took almost twenty attacks before he cut through to the other side.

He’d made no preparations, spoken to no one but Raina.

There'd be no time in future loops, since conveying everything would take days Jair couldn’t afford to waste in discussion, but as a breath between storms, it was exactly what he needed right now.

"Upperclassmen?"

Jair wrote down the names. "Most of them won't give me the time of day. I'm not even top of the class. It would take longer than I have to convince them that I'm worth their time."

"Money?"

Jair chuckled. "Always your favorite solution. If you can’t convince them, bribe them."

Raina shrugged. "Use what you’ve got."

"I don't think I could break into their groups quickly enough. It's not really worth it anyway."

He began to add new names in the column opposite, drawing lines between individuals and their siblings. "Between our class year and the ones following, almost all the families of the upperclassman are covered. Kael Falkon, his brother Irom is initiated with me. Korin Rhebina was in your initiation, and I can leverage her either individually or as an in with her family.”

“You’d trust a Rhebina?”

“As long as we pay them enough."

"What about Lauta Hasti? We've seen her in the library often enough, she might be inclined to help since we're all academically inclined."

"What would she be able to do? Hasti may do bulk manufacturing, but the time it takes to set something up would be more than we have available."

"More money?"

Jair gave an empty laugh. "Some problems, money cannot solve. We can't force a lunar passage to appear regardless of who we pay off, we can't bribe the seascourge to let us cross the channels to go recruiting. The people within Veor itself are all we have to work with."

"What about resources?"

"Most of what I need is manpower. You can buy me the spell materials I'll need, and I've spent enough years practicing the necessary constructs to get them done in two days. We'll need to order custom armor, and if we want to set up any traps, that will be another additional expense, but I'm not sure if traps are going to be useful."

"That anti-magic power does make things difficult."

"Indeed." Jair returned to writing out the names of their classmates, dividing them into three columns.

"Why are you separating them like that? Shouldn't Veshin be over there?"

"This column," Jair tapped the first, "are the very important ones. I absolutely have to establish a connection with these families if I'm going to gain access to their resources."

"What resources are those?"

Jair smiled, and went down the list to explain. “The problem is convincing everyone to work with me. Which, unfortunately, very few of them are inclined to do. Even with your intervention, you are a known ally of mine and thus biased."

"I am not biased!"

"Biased or not, your word only counts for so much."

"But here," Raina tapped a set of names. "We practically grew up together! Why would they mistrust my judgment?"

"How long has it been since you were back to the oasis? Longer than it takes to pick up an order or run an inspection."

Raina's contemplative pause, complete with uncertain frown, was enough of an answer.

"See? You don’t know. I guarantee you, they don't either. You may not be a stranger, but you’re not a trusted ally whose word carries the weight of years."

"Then what's your attack angle?"

"I don't know. I'll just seize any opportunity I can find, and see how things change."

"Things will be different this time, you think?"

"Undoubtedly. I don't know by how much. But if I can handle Ryenzo on my own, that would be the best. Unfortunately, without any of my imprints, Maelstrom is all I have. I don't know if one sword will be enough, however powerful."

"It will be." Raina's eyes shone with conviction. Confidence, so pure and untainted. She truly believed in him, even when he struggled to believe in himself.

“I wish I could solve things once and for all, but there's no magical solution that fixes everything. Even this…" he manifested Maelstrom and flipped it in the air, tried to catch it but fumbled it onto the floor—curse his untrained younger body—then recalled the sword to his hand in a flash of silver light. "After so much and so long, it's nothing but a tool. A means to an end. This next part is going to be just as hard. I can’t stop now. I’ve come too far to stop.”

“Jair, it’s okay. Breathe. I won’t be left behind. I don’t want you to be alone.” Raina's eyes flashed dangerously, lighting up with determination. "I don't care how impossible it is. I'm going to find a way."

"First you’d have to survive."

"No. Even if I don't." She raised her chin, staring at him with all her regal poise. "I'm not going to let you leave me behind again."

"Never by choice. I've missed you," he said softly. "More than you could imagine."

"I can imagine quite a lot."

“Not this much.”

She looked into his eyes, expression turning contemplative. “I suppose not.”

It was a long time before he replied, very low, “And I hope you never do.”

They sat in silence for a time, then Raina said, "We won't be doing this again, will we?"

"No. Not for a long time."

"I think… I understand."

Jair nodded wordlessly.

"It's okay. Do whatever you have to. You can explain the rest once it’s over."

"I'm never going to lie to you."

"Then don't lie. Just put it off. Tell me you'll give me the answers in a week or a month or a year. However long it takes."

Jair smiled, faint but genuine. "I will. I promise, I won’t leave you behind."

They sat quietly, side by side, watching the sunset Jair knew by heart. Yet somehow, this time, the sky seemed more vibrant.

The familiar pattern of the tiny distant clouds forming and disappearing without rain seemed to him a beautiful thing today, rather than a reminder of tragic inevitability.

A whole new horizon. Nothing changed, but everything different.

It wouldn’t be easy, but at least for this moment, the desert wind tasted like hope.

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