Tarin and Naru both lie on little nests of twigs and leaves in front of me. Mari stands nearby, her usual confident demeanor marred by an anxious wringing of her wings—she knows what this means. Knows what we're risking. There's a decent chance that if I give Naru the ability to remember, he'll... well, he'll have the chance to use it against me. But I've already decided what to do. The only thing that's right. If it backfires, if he tries to betray me, I'll deal with it then. For what it's worth, I don't think he will. What he did to try to remember... I shake my head. All kinds of extreme. "Are you ready?" I ask. Tarin nods. Mari doesn't speak, although I can tell she's worried. She's trying her best to suppress that worry, to be the pillar of the family in a time of need. It's unspoken, but we all know that there's a chance this could go very, very wrong. I'm already prepared to pull back and abort on the off chance that I'm not yet strong enough to do what I need to do. If it looks for even a moment like Tarin or Naru are breaking, I'll have seconds to fix whatever happened and repair it or reverse the procedure entirely. The question is more for myself, really. Ahkelios and Guard stand by at the side, in case something goes awry and they need to help, but the main factor in all this is me. Firmament Control, the Abstract Crown—those things have to be enough for me to figure out what's wrong with Naru's core and repair it. They have to be enough for me to move a piece of the Interface, a Firmament construct so complex I've barely even scratched the surface of what it can do. I take a deep breath and begin. "I'm still just looking," I say, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. As much as I understand the anxiety, Tarin keeps twitching in a way that's distracting; I'm starting to worry that he'll talk at the wrong moment and distract me. Maybe we should have put Tarin to sleep for this; I'd suggested it earlier, but Tarin had staunchly refused. But Mari's got to have a few herbs we could feed to him. Even if she doesn't, Akar almost definitely does. I'm willing to bet she's had to do all this before. "Listen, Tarin, maybe we should just let you sleep through this—" "No!" Tarin says immediately. "I want see!" Of course he does. It's the same thing he said before. I sigh, though not without a bit of fond exasperation, and turn my attention back to that region of strengthened soul-stuff. I'm going to just... ignore the way Tarin twitches at me. It's hard to put into words exactly what a soul or a core is. It isn't just Firmament, though Firmament makes up a large part of it. It's something more fundamental than that. I struggle to find the word for it. A container? This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It's the best word I can think of, though it still doesn't feel... right, exactly. It's a form of Firmament that can create and hold other types of Firmament. It's Firmament that's uniquely yours, that generates and distills and interprets everything else you come into contact with. Ṛ Your soul, in other words. Soul Firmament, maybe? That feels about right. Not perfect, but right. It might be more accurate to simply replace the word "Soul" with the name of the practitioner; Tarin's core is made of Tarin Firmament, for instance. And that shard of the Interface is reinforcing that base layer of Firmament. Reinforcing the element of the soul in one area over all the rest, making one section more... Tarin. I'm going to stick with the "Soul" term, I think. Mostly for my own sanity. He-Who-Guards and Ahkelios are both standing in front of me, looking concerned. Guard's hand rests on my shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asks. "You seem... distressed." "I'm—I'm fine." I shake my head, blinking a few times to try to clear the weight of my thoughts. This isn't exactly a huge revelation. I already know that the Interface is lying, that the Integrators seek control; this is just another layer to the manipulation. It's realizing how detailed it all is that makes my head ache. It's the way a half-dozen things are suddenly connected in my mind. I try to clear my thoughts. All these things are important, but none of them are the problem at hand. "I just... realized a few things," I say when I realize Guard and Ahkelios are still staring at me; I clear my throat and offer a weak smile. "I'll tell you all about it later. Need to figure out how to fix Naru. And how to do this without hurting Tarin." "I trust!" Tarin declares almost immediately, even though I'm not looking at him. I laugh. "Yes, I know. Thank you, Tarin." Revelations aside, I'm reasonably sure I now know what I need to do. First, extract the shard of the Interface from Tarin. I reach out with Firmament Control, grasp it with the mental equivalent of delicate tweezers— —and almost immediately, Tarin seizes on his bed. The slightest tweak of that shard has the crow crying out in alarm, and the reason why becomes very quickly clear. Join the discussion! Login to share your thoughts and connect with other readers. No comments yet. Be the first to comment!