The basement ceiling shook with heavy footsteps, dislodging a bit dust that rained down onto Kirs’ head. Muttering a quiet curse, she tried her best to brush it out of her hair. But it had been days since it had been so much as washed properly, let alone have a comb run through it.

The cellar was dimly lit, thick shadows mingling with cobwebs around the storage shelves and corners. Footsteps trailed off as whoever had been visiting upstairs left the heavy slam of the door.

Kirs glanced around the room, but couldn’t find anything to do that wasn’t mindlessly grinding her head into her current problem. Half of the cellar was taken up by ritual circles. The one on the board she’d taken from Ranvir’s room leaned against a wall, it was the others she were working on that took so much space.

Between the circles and the three cots that had been dragged out there was barely any room in what had once been a spacious storage cellar. Ringing clash of hammer on metal soon resumed and Kirs shut her eyes forcefully. The floorboards were thankfully thick enough and tight enough that the sound didn’t travel cleanly from the slightly detached forge.

“What time is it?” Grevor moaned groggily sitting up from one of the cots. Evidently, he wasn’t having any easier a time of it than Kirs, his eyes wincing shut at each hit of the hammer.

“Just past noon,” Esmund muttered from where he was fiddling with a bent nail, drawing white lines across his forearm.

Grevor groaned but got up, “We got anymore water?”

Kirs shook her head but it was Esmund who answered him, “Dovar’s out with Asny grabbing some more. Along with lunch. Sansir left about half an hour ago as well.”

Kirs’ heart went out to the smoke tethered. He’d lost most of his family, both his older sister and mother had been executed as traitors to the throne and his father would more than likely join them once he returned with the Queen.

“Any luck on the circles?” Grev asked beginning his stretching routine using a rusted bent sword. They generally refrained from too strenuous tasks when down in the basement as the heat was very difficult to get rid off again, with only the three hand-width tall windows against one wall.

Kirs scoffed and rolled her neck, “No.”

Grev finished his quick routine before he could build up a sweat and put sword down. It was made of iron, though forged poorly, even Kirs could see the warped metal in the dim light. Grev crackled his knuckles, “Why not?”

Kirs winced with another ringing impact, “That’s a little hard to think, especially when we’re also low on water. And the task is basically impossible.”

Grev chuckled, “Basically? So that means what? You’ll have it done this time next year, or just in another six months?”

Kirs chuckled but shook her head, “It’s not that I think it will be difficult, it’s that I don’t even know where to start,” she got to her feet which from the grin on Grev’s face had been his goal. She ignored him as she strode around the circles. “I have to make a beacon of energy that is recognizable as Ranvir’s energy,” she moved on to the next circle, “that means I have to figure out a way to mimic another tethered’s energy signature,” The next circle, “Which means I’ll need to figure out how to detect someone’s energy signature,” the next circle, “And then I’ll have figure how to take energy from the air or objects and insert the mimicked signature,” she tapped a finger against the board leaning against the wall, “all before this circle runs out of Ranvir’s sample energy.”

“So how far are you?” Grev asked stepping over.

“Fucking,” she threw her hands up, “nowhere,” her words came out weaker than she’d intended. She leaned back against the shelf, the wood groaning as it shifted.

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“That’s a tough task then,” Grev muttered scratching at his chin. “Really tough.”

Above them the door to the shop open again and Sansir’s familiar voice called out to the old smith in the forge. The old man didn’t even interrupt his work as the hatch was pulled open. For a moment, the banging grew much louder and clearer before it closed behind Sansir.

“I got news,” he said with a grin his green eyes seeming to shine for a moment in the dark. “The Queen’s entourage is arriving.”

“Really?” Esmund asked standing up from where he’d been sitting against the wall.

“The Queen should still be a day or two out but her servants are trickling into the city.”

“That’s good, right?” Es looked around at the others as Grev sauntered over to Sansir.

“It depends if this Saif is with her or the entourage,” Kirs replied.

“What about Saleema?” Grev asked after a moment of clinging to Sansir’s side. “Any news of her?”

“Nothing I actually believe,” Sansir replied. “It’s been days since she was seen in the city but repairs are only just beginning, though the academy does seem to have been restored to order.”

“You think they will come looking for you?” Kirs asked Grev since she thought he might be the only one capable of attempting to predict the Principal’s next move.

Grev shrugged, “It’s hard to say, after Saleema’s rampage there’s a lot of work to do. He could still be busy with the armies, or one of those forerunners from the entourage could’ve been sent to take care of them, giving Ragnar free reign.”

All three tethered jerked straight, Grev and Sansir opening up a tiny amount of distance between them. A flicker of the light Kirs had occasionally seen in Sansir’s eyes returned as the temperature dropped slightly.

“What’s going on?” Kirs asked stepping towards Esmund, “Es, what’s happening? I thought you weren’t going to use your powers? To avoid others’ senses.”

Es nodded, “Dovar’s here and he’s not alone.”

Kirs didn’t hear the jangle of the bell above the door, nor footsteps crossing to the hatch. Her only warning was the others’ attention slowly shifting as the tethered tracked something she couldn’t.

She frowned a thought striking her and she briefly glanced at the platform behind her, before the idea could take hold the hatch opened spilling daylight into the basement. Dovar walked down the steep stairs ducking his head as he helped little Asny.

Kirs’ heart ached at seeing the child. She was too quiet, too somber for someone of her age. Dovar had been assured that she hadn’t seen anything, but she clearly was just as smart as her big brother. Smart enough to realize what had happened to her family.

Kirs almost didn’t notice the figure that followed behind them. He seemed short with thin limbs. It took her a moment to realize his skin was too dark for the season. As he ducked down the stairs to avoid knocking his head against the floorboards, she felt kind of disappointed. He was supposed to be a triplet master, but he seemed too… small.

“The young man here tells me that you were supposed to come looking for me,” Saif said as he surveyed the group before turning his attention to the circles behind Kirs and Esmund. He raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t react.

“You’re Saif? The Queen’s advisor?”

“Yes,” Saif hadn’t moved from the terminus of the stairs.

He’s keeping an escape path open, Kirs realized as she watched the ankirian.

“Can you keep us safe from Saleema? Or Ankiria?” Grev continued to take the lead.

Kirs frowned as she reexamined her thoughts, Keeping an escape open? He’s a triplet master, he doesn’t need an escape, she frowned re-examining him. Forcing her mind to absorb facts and not feeling. Despite his short stature he’d had to duck under the stairs, like Sansir and Dovar.

“Better than most, though I have to ask, Ankiria?”

“Twin-Master Naadiya came for us during the riots.”

Saif’s gaze raked over them deliberately before nodding, “I can see her thought process. What happened to her? Should I consider her involvement as well?”

Esmund shook his head reflexively. Kirs twined her fingers through his and pulled his arm into her body, bringing him some level of physical comfort. Es was a gentle soul, entirely unsuited for his power. He hadn’t opened the circle but she could tell he was torn about fueling it, despite it being for their own safety.

“You killed her, then?” Saif took a longer look at the circles his eyes flaring brighter for a moment almost turning yellow. Everyone in the room tensed before Saif relaxed. “Interesting,” he turned his attention to Dovar, “With the current state of Elusria, you’re obviously safe. So are you,” he said to Grev then examined Sansir closer his orange eyes narrowing, “Hmm… I’ll have to return to you... the Queen will want to marry you to her cause, but we’ll still have to hide you away somewhere,” he muttered while examining Es, “I assume you both prefer if the young woman is just an addition, rather than another notable?”

Esmund started shaking his head but Kirs pulled him back, as Grev spoke briefly glancing at them, “Very much so, but she’ll need equipment for her work,” the blond tethered nodded at the rituals behind them. “Something better than this.”

“I think I can work something out,” he turned to Sansir, “you’ll have to stay with them for now,” he looked over the group, “I’ll be back tomorrow or the day after, be ready to move.”