“Dormant?” Ranvir asked once both girls had calmed down.

“It’ll take a little to explain,” Kirs said gesturing to the basin. “See how there’s still a little bit in there?”

In the main circle’s basin about a thumb width thickness of purple energy lingered. The basin should’ve continued draining until it was empty, but he saw no change. Either the basin should’ve activated by now and drained away, or it should’ve already been draining. The basin wasn’t inactive like this.

“So the basin will respond to the demand for power,” Kirs explained. “Most of the time, the demand is more yes or no, rather than on a scale. Especially with determination circles as they lack the nuance of tethered. However, if the requirements for energy is very little, the basin will only give away very little.”

“How did you discover this?” Ranvir asked rocking Frija back and forth. Though she understood nothing of what was going on, her eyes were vividly attached to Kirs’ form as the scholar explained.

“On accident. I wanted to try to make a night light on a starjute. It worked, though it took very little energy. In fact, it took so little that I didn’t even drain the entirety of my small basin.”

“Interesting,” Ranvir muttered making his way over to the dormancy circle. He traced a finger just outside its border. “And this?”

“Actually, it was a thought that’d struck me before,” Kirs replied. “I’d been thinking about maintaining circles for long times, then my mind went to you when you were always dragging about those pocket-spaces.”

Ranvir nodded and mumbled a response as Esmund offered to take Frija from him. Unfortunately, the girl refused and clung to him. She started crying when Ranvir tried to lift her off so he let her stay. It did feel good, though. Just a little. She’d picked him. He smiled as he listened to Kirs continue.

“Despite being at the time a rather under-developed pre-stage, you still managed to drag around a pocket-space for a long time, even after regular training. I wondered how that could be. Was there some kind of alleviation you were doing unconsciously? Was it just really easy? So I started my research.

“I began looking for other clues, but, of course, I found nothing of note in the manipulator section and I headed for the generators when another thought struck me. Space is very similar to one other element, warp. Both energies do not linger once released into the world. And there are thousands of notation on warp tethered, from scholars to tethered to generals and war leaders. Warps have been the backbone of every military since the discovery of tethered.”

Es grinned with self-satisfaction, though Ranvir thought he detected a hint of worry behind those eyes. He knew his friend didn’t enjoy being the most deadly person in the room. Let alone as deadly as his training would make him.

“So I began looking and soon enough I found what I was searching for,” Kirs continued. “The hidden blade technique is one that’s been employed by thousands of warp manipulators over the years. Since they require access to a sharp edge to work their powers, they tend to be pretty obvious when they draw it out. As such, one enterprising manipulator found out he could simply draw the energy into his sleeve and hide it there. It would sit along his forearm, dull, and brittle with barely a flow of energy to maintain it.”

“Wouldn’t another tethered immediately notice?” Ranvir asked with a frown.

“Some would, the stronger ones definitely, but not the ones on his own level. When he filled it with power again, it returned to the normal state of warp and became sharper than any blade once more.”

“Is that what I was doing with pocket-spaces? Letting them go dormant and just dragged them along behind me?” Ranvir asked. He had one right now, hovering just above his shoulder. While the cold box had been pulled out for Hjara to refill, a bunch of other stuff was still there as well. A few toys his parents had given him, a change of clothes—for both him and Frija—and he had his hammer in there. The one he’d picked up from the bar fight so many months ago.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I think so, anyway I started looking at other places and found other examples. Light manipulators carrying a ‘catch’ that they could instantly power to twist light, ice tethered of both kinds working low power effects to keep ice from melting, that sort of stuff. So I went to our friends and had them recreate the effect.”

“And the pattern was the same every time?” Ranvir asked in disbelief. He gently took Frija’s hand in his, as she pulled on one of the buttons on his coat.

“Yes,” Kirs looked down at the dormancy circle, grinning like a fool. “And it’s working. I can’t believe it, it’s working!”

Ranvir smiled at her enthusiasm. “Do you get it, Ranvir? This opens up for so much easier work? We can better test the distributions circle in real time, we can work on it all so much easier. We can make something truly great. I’ve made a pattern that overcomes the immediate limit of your powers, Ranvir. This space could continue to grow, we could cultivate it into a whole new apartment for you.”

Ranvir stared at her, finally it started sinking in. She’d done it. She’d actually done it. The problem she’d worried about…

“You’re going to go down in the annals of history…” Ranvir said slowly, not truly understanding the consequences.

“Or you’ll go down into an ankirian slave camp.”

Ranvir startled at the new voice. All three of them jumped and spun around. Frija started crying at the sudden jerk as she was twisted about. Ranvir automatically shushed her as he watched the tan-skinned, dark-haired woman standing before him.

“Pashar,” Kirs muttered putting a hand to her chest, “you scared the righteous sense out of me.”

Ranvir saw the open door behind Pashar, all the way into the hallway. Another figure waiting out there, though, he couldn’t make out much other than he was a man. He had the same tint to his skin as Pashar, though, Ranvir know recognized it as significantly lighter than was common in Ankiria. Not as much sun, he thought.

“It’s just me,” Pashar said, though, her lips were thin and she had a severe look on her face. “And yet, it proves a good point. You still aren’t prepared for the kinds of actions you’re taking. You’re not prepared for the research you are making. You’re most certainly not prepared for the mistakes you are inviting.”

Ranvir held his tongue and kept his mouth shut. She was right, of course, they’d taken some precautions. More than they had when Saleema and Zubair had shown up, but not as much as they should’ve. She’d waltzed right in and he’d never noticed, though it did confirm two things. Whenever he’d sensed her previously, she’d gone out of her way to let him and ankirians were trained in their tether-sense and native presence. Ranvir didn’t know how far it went, but he could clearly see that she was far beyond any of the teachers at the academy.

He was beginning to realize just how embarrassing and short-sighted calling them masters were. They were strong, sure, but they had not mastered the abilities of a tethered. Their closest neighboring country outmatched them so heavily, it wasn’t even worth comparing them. And Pashar was only a Sword, as well.

Ranvir swept his Veil about him, pulling his pocket-space down until it hung just above his shoulder, well within his native presence. He finished withdrawing as much of his Veil as he could and wrapped the rest about himself. He felt like a child in his dad’s poorly made and overly big coat.

A flicker of a new sense emerged to Ranvir, he didn’t recognize it, but knew immediately whose it was. He gazed at the man standing in the hallway. He caught a flash of embering orange eyes and white flash of teeth hidden in black beard. Just before the tether vanished, Ranvir sensed an immense depth to it.

Sweat pearled on Ranvir’s brow as he squeezed Frija closer. She wasn’t crying anymore, though, she was still clearly upset by the look on her face. Ranvir shushed her, rocking her as he tried his best to avoid looking at the man in the doorway. He reminded Ranvir of Saleema, but controlled and something else. Something…

He shook himself.

Pashar was looking at him with narrowed eyes. She didn’t look back at the man in the doorway, but Ranvir could tell she suspected that he’d done something. He hid his shaking hands by clutching to Frija and whispering soft nothings in her ear. His daughter calmed, though Ranvir didn’t.

“I will get a bell, or something, installed. And I’ll get a lock on this door, as well,” Ranvir finally said. He was aware that Pashar had been in the middle of speaking with Kirs, but couldn’t be bothered to figure out where in the conversation they were.

Unfortunately, as he looked at Pashar, he couldn’t help but notice the Orange-Eyed Man behind her. He grinned at Ranvir and winked, then he ducked away from the threshold and went further into the hallway.

“I’m sorry, Pashar,” Kirs said again. “I will do better.”

“You better, before something goes very wrong,” Pashar softened some, “Look I don’t want to see you hurt, you understand. Both of you. You have so much potential, such great futures. I can’t scarcely believe what you’ve already discovered and you’re both so young. Talent like yours shouldn’t be snuffed out before their time.”

She took Ranvir by the shoulders, aware of Frija between them. Then she hugged Kirs and said her goodbyes.