"Hey."

"Yeah, hi."

Felony sat down beside Kyle, her back against the same rock he was leaning on. It was a nice evening, for Pyre at least, the slowly setting sun shining through the clouds and making everything pinkish.

"Nice sunset," Felony commented.

"Yep." Kyle nodded. "Pink."

"Y'know, usually I'm pretty good at controlling my curiosity," Felony said, with a glance at Kyle. "But I've been holding out for over a week now and it's starting to really bug me."

"You want to know what's up with the gourd?"

"I really want to know what's up with the gourd."

Kyle smiled his lazy smile. "You know how Ren can do stuff with lightning? And Talise can do stuff with cold?"

Felony shivered at the memory this brought up. "Yeah?"

"I can do stuff with water."

Felony considered this, then she shook her head.

"So, what—"

Kyle pulled the cork out of the gourd, then reached inside and pulled out a stream of water.

"It's not as impressive as Ren's flashy lightning bolts," Kyle said, as he stood and wound the water around himself, "but it works for me."

Felony stared. Kyle's movements were lazy and slow, but the sight of the shimmering water winding its way around his body was one of the most beautiful and oddly thrilling sights Felony had seen in her life. It covered him almost completely, like a second set of clothing, a thin layer of water over his chest and arms and legs, leaving his head, hands and feet dry.

"So ... so..." Felony trailed off, then collected herself and grinned at Kyle. "So, sorry, I mean it looks real nice and all, but I don't get how this is supposed to help with ... anything. What's the practical use?"

Kyle shrugged, the water shifting with the movement of his shoulders. "Why don't you hit me and see?"

"You sure you wanna ask for that?"

Kyle just smiled. Felony grinned as she stood.

"Okay, your funeral, buddy."

Felony feinted to the left then darted right, her fist coming up whip-quick to drive into Kyle's arm.

There was the sensation of impact, and wetness, and a sharp stinging pain in Felony's hand where she'd hit Kyle, and then he was flowing as she staggered back, she had just time enough to see him reach out before his hands were around her wrist, holding her firmly, stopping her from falling.

"You're good," said Kyle, as he pulled Felony up. "Real quick."

"Didn't do me much good this time," said Felony, grinning. "Water armour. That's the craziest thing I ever heard of. So what else can you do?"

"Nothing."

"Can't throw water at people like arrows or something?"

Kyle laughed as he carefully wound the water back into the gourd, leaving his skin and clothes completely dry. "Maybe I could, but that sounds like it'd take, y'know, what's the word ... effort."

"And putting on that water like some kind of weird suit don't?"

"Yeah. Pretty much. I've done it so many times that it comes easy to me now. The way I figure it, you got one trick that works, why bother learning more?"

"Huh. Maybe." Felony watched as Kyle sat down again. "So you're Harmonian, right? Like Ren."

"Harmonian? Yes. Like Ren? Big no."

Felony sat down beside Kyle. "Figured that."

Kyle glanced over at Felony. "Look, it's like Talise says, it's easier just to go along with him, laugh at his stupid jokes, force a smile when he's acting up—"

"I get that."

"Hey, it could be worse.  At least we're not stuck with Edward."

"Keep hearing that name, what's so bad about him?"

"Let me put it this way: Ren thinks Edward is great."

Felony considered this.

"Yuck," she said.

"Yeah." There was no trace of Kyle's smile now.  "Yuck."

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

When Sophia opened her eyes, it was to darkness. She almost panicked before rationality kicked in and she realised that this was because she was inside. Inside something moving. Not the carriage; there was a sense of confinement, and the smell of something strong and sweet, and she could sense four horses, strong and sturdy and reliable. Sturdy, Sophia thought. I could use that right now.

She sat up and bumped her head quite badly against a wooden board.

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"Ouch!"

In an instant a rough hand was over her mouth and she was being dragged back down.

"Hush up," came a whisper from behind her, close to her ear—Ashley. "You wanna get us found out?"

"Sorry," Sophia tried to whisper back, but Ashley's hand was still over her mouth. She reached up to try and pull it away, and Ashley relented.

"Sorry," Sophia repeated, in a whisper.

"We'll explain later," Ashley whispered. "Just stay quiet for now, yeah?"

"That could be an impossible request," Ada whispered from nearby. There was the sound of Maya suppressing a giggle, and after that forced silence.

Wait, Sophia thought, after she'd come to the conclusion that they were, for some reason, in a false partition at the bottom of a cart or large carriage. Four horses. I could sense ... I'm still doing it! I can feel the horses! And the driver, and ... and that's Fin! Fin is up there, sitting next to the driver, he's kind of ... he's the same colour as me! Oh, that's so wonderful, Fin is the same blue-white colour I am ... and the driver ... is ... is...

Sophia frowned in the darkness. What colour WAS the driver? It was ... white, but also black. That makes NO sense, Sophia thought. How can something be 'white-black'? Blue-white, yes. White-black? I don't think so.

The horses, at least, were clear. They were ... they were ... spiky. No, not spiky, Sophia thought, fascinated by this new experience, they're ... raw. Wait, that's not a colour, you can't have 'raw-coloured horses', that's just silly. And yet, that's CLEARLY what they are. Raw. And kind of ... easy? Smooth? Simple? Just keep putting one hoof after the other, one hoof after the other, eat some oats, one hoof after the oh my goodness I'M READING A HORSE'S MIND!

Or not, Sophia corrected herself. Fin said that it wasn't mind reading, not really. It's more like emotion reading. Actually I might as well be precise about this, it's energy reading. The energy of the horses, which is currently focused on pulling and eating—oh, and—

Sophia blushed a little. Let's just keep away from the horses for now, she thought. Gosh, I'm hungry.

"Is there any food?" she whispered. After a moment, something hard and rough was pushed into her hand—a loaf of the dense potato bread that they'd eaten at that little village. Sophia bit into it gratefully, chewing hard as she thought about things. That little village, which we've now left behind, travelling in a false partition in some kind of horse-drawn vehicle. Fin must have left the carriage and the horses at the village, because ... because they'd be too conspicuous? Maybe because it'd be too hard to get them into Sufferance. Yes, that must be it. He arranged for us to travel secretly by cart. And that's where we are now, travelling to Sufferance in a cart. That was easy, Sophia thought, as she finished off the loaf. I didn't need anyone to explain that to me at all.

It suddenly became dark—darker than it had been before. Wait ... we're in a city! All this noise, it's quieter than Unity but ... but ... but...

"Sophia." Fin's voice. "Can you hear me?"

"Of course I can," Sophia said, sitting up and opening her eyes. Fortunately she was no longer in the secret partition beneath the cart, otherwise she would have bumped her head even more badly than before. She was on a bed, in a large, airy stone building, hay scattered upon the hard dirt floor, high windows letting in a little evening light.

"Where is this?" Sophia asked, before holding up her hand. "Wait, no, don't tell me. I'm sure I can figure this out for myself. Is this ... some kind of stable? In Sufferance? Are we here?"

Fin smiled at her. "Almost correct. It's a storage silo, currently unused. You're right about being in Sufferance, though."

Sophia nodded, satisfied. "Where are the others?"

"Currently resting in a slightly warmer room next door. For those of us who weren't unconscious for most of it, the journey was rather tiring."

"Oh. Um. Is there any—"

Fin held up a flask of water and a thick cheese sandwich, both of which Sophia received gratefully.

"I don't know why," she said, after she'd finished both, "but I've just been so hungry lately—"

Sophia gasped as a wave of energy crushed her, flattened her against the bed, there was too much, all around there was the sound of hundreds of voices, all distinct, filling her with their indecipherable screeching, filling her until she couldn't take it any more, she didn't have room inside her for all these disparate voices, and so she began to expand, she could feel her body swelling, her skin stretching and her insides bloating up and tearing and she couldn't—

"Sophia."

She clutched at Fin's voice, at his energy, it was glowing so beautifully and there was a part of it that glowed towards her, and that doesn't make sense, Sophia thought, how can something glow towards me, but even as she thought that she glowed back, she glowed towards Fin, and their energies touched—

"Oh gosh. Oh ... gosh. What..."

Sophia trailed off, panting for breath. Fin was sitting beside her, on the bed, holding her steady.

"I take it you've discovered how to use some of your abilities," he said, rather dryly, as he removed his arm from her shoulders.

"It's ... it's terrifying," said Sophia. She swallowed. "But so, so amazing at the same time. I've never felt ... it's like I can suddenly ... and when you ... when you pulled me back, just then, I've never..."

"Do you understand what happened?"

"I think so," said Sophia. "I ... I could feel everyone, hundreds of people, all at once—"

"You were trying to read an entire city," said Fin. "Not a particularly wise action for one who just today unlocked her ability."

Sophia nodded, her face serious. "It felt like I was going to explode."

"Yes. Rather unpleasant, isn't it? I had a similar awakening. Still, with a little practice you should be able to control these urges. Can you feel the city now?"

Sophia nodded. "It's there, but not ... close. Does that make sense?"

"Mm. That seems like a good way to think about it. Yes, I think that rather suits you. The energy of others is far. Even my energy, though I sit beside you, is far."

Sophia nodded as understanding came to her. "It's an issue of separation," she said, her voice calm and precise. "I just have to try to keep the energy ... no, it's more like ... remembering. I have to remember that I am myself. That others are separate." She looked at Fin. "When we were in the village, I took the fear from a boy and I ... I threw it at the children who were bullying him."

"Yes, I felt that. Rather impressive, actually."

"Um, but I ... is that okay? To just ... steal the feelings of someone and force them on someone else?"

"Well, I think it's rather up to you to decide that," said Fin. "But certainly, I can't blame you for wanting to rescue the boy." He smiled at her. "I can't stand bullies either."

"No, what I mean is ... it seems so ... unnatural. I really felt like I was taking a part of the boy, even though it was a negative part—"

"Ah, I see what you mean. As far as I understand things, emotions are surface energy. You can take away a person's fear, but you cannot take the source of that fear. Do you understand?"

"You're saying ... like with Ashley. She's angry all the time. You don't need to be able to sense energy to see that. What you're saying is, I could temporarily take Ashley's anger, but it wouldn't change who she was. She'd still get angry again."

"Perfectly understood, well done."

Sophia took a breath.

"I feel ... so ... so special," she said, with an embarrassed little smile. "That I can do this, it's amazing—thank you, thank you so much for showing me that I have this power, it's the most..." Sophia trailed off and focused, collecting her thoughts, then she looked straight at Fin, radiating earnestness. "You showed me my path," she said. "You showed me my place in the world. I can't ever ... I won't ever forget that. Once again, thank you."

"You're very welcome. Now, long periods of unconsciousness can be rather wearying, as I'm sure you now know. It's late in the evening, and we'll have an early start tomorrow morning. I think we both could use some rest."

Sophia nodded.

"Definitely," she said. "That's when I'm going to help you get that statue."