Facing Fortune (Guardians of Terath Book 2)

by Zen DiPietro

That was it. She needed to form the mana from two different pools, like skeins of yarn, into one blanket. She’d wrap that blanket over the area in three dimensions. Then she’d have to figure out how to tie off the ends of the mana “yarn” without ripping apart the blanket.

  She created two separate pools of mana and got to work. She barely noticed the sweat that beaded on her forehead and under her arms as she stitched the two mana materials together. When they didn’t fit right and she knew it wouldn’t work, she released it all and started over. Then did it again. And again. She delved further and further into her mind until she noticed a foreign mana signature, something not hers, creeping into the periphery of her awareness. She abandoned the tiny pocket of deep center she’d retreated into, and reemerged into a more intentional part of her awareness. Again, she boosted herself up from the recesses of her mind and then blinked, becoming aware of the physical world around her. Luc’s face was inches from hers, and he stared into her eyes.

  “Easy,” he crooned soothingly. Luc could croon? Damn. She must have been down deep. Now that she thought of it, she did feel like she’d traveled a great distance to get back to him.

  “I’m okay.” She was sure of that, but her voice sounded exhausted to her own ears. She looked around suddenly, and her stiff neck muscles protested. “Where’s Finn?”

  “He left hours ago.” He pressed a bottle of water into her hand.

  “How long have I been at it?” She took a drink, then realized she’d emptied the bottle.

  “Fifteen hours, give or take.”

  Come to think of it, her sit bones did feel distinctly unhappy. She shifted and drew her knees up to her chest. “And you stayed all this time?”

  “Of course. Someone had to be sure you didn’t blow the building up. Or the city. Or transform into some mythical creature and breathe fire.”

  Again, with that. She suppressed a sigh.

  “Tired?” he asked.

  “Decimated.”

  “Let’s go upstairs. There are a few rooms set aside for the workaholic scientists here to get some rest.” He stood and offered her his hands to help her stand. “Not that I’d know anything about that.” He gave her a self-deprecating smile.

  She looked at his hands, extended to her. She wasn’t used to needing or accepting help. She reached up and grasped them, finding them surprisingly strong for a man his age. He boosted her up and put his hands under her elbows, making sure she was steady before he let go.

  “Good?” he asked. His genuine care for her struck her in an unexpected, yet touchingly sweet surprise.

  “Great,” she agreed, and because of him, she was. “Thanks.”

  9

  The next several days followed a pattern. Kassimeigh slept for fifteen hours or so, quickly ate whatever Luc pushed at her, then installed herself in the lab once again. Once there, she picked up where she left off at her last session. Luc had tried to discourage her from such a grueling routine, but she would have none of his advice on that matter. She told him that she had to keep pushing forward or she would lose the thread she was working on and have to start over. He understood, of course. He’d been in the same position many a time in his career. The intensity of her fixation combined with the intricacy of the work, though, concerned him.

  All he could do was watch over her, making sure she slept and ate. Days and nights blurred, as she only followed her own cycle of sleep and work. After the fifth day of this, Arc expressed his disapproval to Luc via the comm.

  “She’s pushing herself too hard, Luc. This isn’t an emergency situation. You need to make her slow down.”

  Luc tried not to sigh. It was hard enough dealing with his own misgivings without having to reassure a concerned partner. “I don’t like it, either. But I understand her perspective. Sometimes, in research, if you stop or take a break, you lose the train of thought and it all falls apart. She insists she has to do it this way. And how do you suggest anyone make Kassimeigh do anything?”

  “I’ll come there.”

  “Because you think you can make her?”

  “Well . . .”

  Luc shook his head. “I understand your instinct, and I’m sympathetic. But if you’re here, you’ll distract her and hinder her efforts. She can’t concern herself with your feelings.” Luc gave the younger man a reassuring smile. “I promise you, I’m with her at all times. I’ve even been sleeping on the couch in her room so I can put food in front of her and threaten to bar the door until she eats. I’m looking out for her.”

  Arc scowled, which was a foreign expression on his face. Luc couldn’t remember ever having seen it. The young man clearly fought a battle with his instincts. Luc felt a swell of sympathy.

  Arc’s mouth pressed into a tight line. “Fine. If you’re sure that’s best. But please keep me updated daily. I’d prefer more often than daily but I’ll settle for daily.”

  “Daily, then. Try not to worry.”

  “Could you avoid worrying if it were Aunt Ina?”

  Luc knew his face gave him away before he could even speak. “No. I couldn’t.”

  “Right. Well, then.” Arc shrugged and his image on the comm panel blinked out.

  Luc heard movement behind the door and knew Kassimeigh was awake. Time to begin again.

  Kassimeigh followed her routine of quickly eating some food and then rushing to the lab. She sat against the same side wall and stared into the space with vacant eyes. Luc settled in for another long day. But only a half hour after she sat down, she blinked and her eyes focused as she sat upright away from the wall.

  “I’ve got it.”

  “You do?”

  “I was doing it wrong. I figured it out when I went to bed last night. I was trying to knit the two different parts of mana together, expecting them to be like yarn in a blanket. But the mana yarns fight each other and push back. After they’re knitted, I have to . . . kind of melt them together and make them homogenous. That’s the key. With one homogenous whole, it won’t tear itself apart. I’ll even be able to tie it off.”

  “How do you know it will work?”

  “I just do. I tried out the concept just now. All I need to do is make it bigger and test it. And make it visible, but that part’s easy. Call Finn. Have him bring the bugs.”

  The scientist arrived at the lab in a surprisingly short amount of time, though he didn’t seem out of breath. Luc had to restrain a laugh when he pictured the eager scientist sitting in the elevator with his ear pressed to the door, hoping to hear something.

  Finn clutched a smooth, white container to his chest. “You’re sure you’re ready? That it won’t harm the sparks? I brought eight of them. Is that enough?” He eyed Kassimeigh anxiously.

  “I’m as sure as I can be. And eight should be plenty. Please keep them contained until I give you the signal. I don’t want them to be attracted to my mana.”

  Luc studied the mana intensely as Kassimeigh harnessed it, transmuted it, and focused an intensely fine release. Luc watched a shape form. It looked like a bubble with a flat bottom that lay across the floor. It reached nearly to the ceiling at its peak and was large enough to contain probably thirty people. To Luc’s eyes, it was beautiful‌—‌iridescent and faintly greenish like the sparks themselves.

  Kassimeigh’s back straightened, then relaxed. “There. It’s tied off. Luc, you feed it mana.”

  Luc harnessed some mana with barely a thought, and gently fed a small amount into the bubble’s outline. The structure seemed to draw from the environment as well as what he fed it, so it needed very little from him. Fascinating. He’d have to discuss the technique with her later.

  “Finn, do you see it?” Kassimeigh asked.

  “Yes.” He stared with wonder at the bubble. “It’s amazing.”

  “Good. Please release the bugs.” She gave him an encouraging nod.

  With obvious reluctance, the scientist opened the container and let the beetles fly out. The three humans watched with anticipation as they flitted about t
he room. When one finally approached the bubble and flew right into it, Luc remembered to breathe. The bug flew in lazy circles, then zipped back out of the bubble at the same time a couple other sparks breezed into it.

  “It works!” Finn seemed to be nearly beside himself with excitement, clutching the now-empty container to his chest.

  “We need to test the other part.” Kassimeigh made a shooing gesture. “Finn, try to walk through the barrier.”

  The man froze. “Me? But what if . . . uhm. Me?”

  “Yes, you!” barked Luc. “We’re busy.”

  The scientist set the container gently on the countertop on the far side of the lab, then turned and took a breath. He muttered something to himself that sounded like “for science.”

  He approached the barrier, then reached out a hand. Cringing, he stretched out his forefinger and extended it. He gave the curving wall of the dome a tiny poke and the worried lines on his forehead smoothed. He flattened both palms against the barrier and pushed, but it held fast.

  “It’s like glass. Solid. I can’t get through.”

  Luc sighed with relief, and he saw Kassimeigh sag with the same sensation. He decided that she was done for the day. He set his jaw. He’d accept no arguments from her. “Amazing work, Kassimeigh. Now. Go rest.”

  “Rest? I just got up.”

  “You’re exhausted. We’re going to need you to do this on a much bigger scale now, for real. We need you rested.”

  She frowned as she tried to come up with an argument, then sighed when she apparently couldn’t. Hah. Luc felt a jolt of satisfaction. Shivs weren’t the only ones who could use logic. He rather liked beating her at her own game.

  “Finn, please have some mana generators brought up. Let’s hook this barrier up to power cells and see how it fares.” Luc had no doubts that it would work perfectly, but it was necessary to run all of the requisite tests with no bias toward his expectations. Besides, it gave Finn something to do.

  “I’ll call someone now. This is so exciting!” The man vibrated with enthusiasm as he tapped a comm panel, and Luc could only shake his head.

  Two days later, Ina Trewe met Kassimeigh, Luc, Finn, and a team of others at the Capital’s monorail station to send them off on their mission. Kassimeigh suspected that Ina quietly wished she could go with them to witness the event herself, but her sense of duty and propriety kept her rooted in the Capital. Besides, the magistrate certainly knew that her presence would add an additional, unneeded dimension to the group. Authority sometimes had its drawbacks, as Kassimeigh well knew.

  “Now, Kassimeigh.” Ina fixed her with a stern look after giving her a hug. “I have the construction plans for an observation lab and living quarters already under way. Leave all of the setup to my teams. I know you’ll feel obligated to see the project through, but after your part is done, you’ll be able to get back to your Guard duties.”

  “And security? It would be unwise to leave all that without protection, given the issues we’ve had.”

  “Of course. Like I said, I have all of that handled. We’d need security just for the mana cells that will power the protective barrier. Add the sparks and support staff, and the need for protection is even greater. I’ll have a rotating team of blades and manahi to keep the entire area safe, replenished, and healthy.”

  “And two Guard members. I’ll see that you always have at least two of my troops at any given time.” Authority had its perks as well as its drawbacks, and Kassimeigh was pleased to be able to add a little extra security.

  “An excellent idea. Thank you,” Ina agreed.

  The monorail delivered them to the closest station to the hinterlands, and the team piled into carts, along with all of their equipment. Still more equipment was scheduled to arrive later, but as Ina had pointed out, that was not Kassimeigh’s concern.

  Kassimeigh had become accustomed to short trips on her kite, so the long way out to the hinterlands via monorails and carts seemed awfully slow. But she couldn’t transport all of these people and materials at once. Besides, she needed to conserve her energy for the task ahead.

  She let her mind wander as the carts’ tires chewed up the miles. She considered her method and mentally traced the steps. She worked through what she’d do if there were any complications, and considered if there was anything she could do to improve the process. In the end, she was satisfied that she had prepared as well as she could. If she encountered an unforeseen complication, she’d have to deal with it as it came.

  When they arrived at the edge of the hinterlands, they all grabbed gear to haul, then began the trek inward. Kassimeigh didn’t love hiking as much as Arc did, and missed her kite. Nonetheless, her ability to persevere ran deep, and she used the time to admire the hinterlands.

  Everyone had agreed that Élan’s oasis would serve as the ideal location for their endeavor. Most importantly, the sparks were already there. The land happened to be particularly even, which would make for easier construction of the observation outpost. Security would also prove easier there, as well. Anyone with anti-spark ideas would quickly find themselves on the wrong side of Ina Trewe’s precautions.

  With a dozen people in tow, the team made plenty of noise as it hiked to Élan’s location. No doubt she’d heard them coming from miles away.

  “Wow,” she remarked as they streamed into her glade. “I haven’t seen this many people at once in months.” She greeted everyone, helped stow the gear that had been carried in, and generally acted like a hostess accepting people into her home. Kassimeigh supposed it was only normal for Élan to be a touch proprietary about the area she’d been caretaking.

  Kassimeigh tilted her chin up to the sky, gazing into the thick canopy of the hinterlands. Her body felt strong and her mind alert. Waves of energy vibrated against her skin, and she opened herself to it. The mana swept into her, heating her blood and her flesh, igniting her senses. She closed her eyes and found the bedrock of centeredness that life as a shiv had made ingrained in her. Everything was right.

  “Now,” she announced. “I’m going to do it now.” She hadn’t expected to get right to it, but the vibration under her skin was too much to ignore.

  Luc immediately began barking directions for everyone to clear out of the area. They didn’t want to be trapped within the dome. After much discussion with Finn, Kassimeigh and Luc had decided that the bubble she created would measure three-quarters of a mile in diameter. This was an area three times the size of the one that Élan had been caretaking. Finn had thought it unlikely that the beetle population would outgrow that amount of space anytime soon.

  So much exciting research and observation lay ahead. There was no telling what the study of these creatures would teach them about mana, Terath, and even the relationship between people and mana. The thought made her glance over to Finn. The scientist’s radiant joy was unmistakable as he practically danced his way to a safe spot.

  Before Luc joined the others in the distance, he stepped close to Kassimeigh. “You’re ready?”

  “I am.”

  “And you’re sure you can do the same thing, on a scale this big?”

  “The size of the barrier doesn’t matter. It’s the intricacy of the meld. Force is easy. Big is easy. This tiny stuff . . . that’s the hard part.”

  He rested his hands on her shoulders and surprised her with a light kiss on her forehead. “You have my every confidence. I’ll see you when you’re done.” He strode away without looking back.

  She began tracing the pulsing currents of mana wending their way around the area. She wished she could sense the sparks themselves, but their signature disappeared into the enormity of everything else. There was no way to hear a whisper in the middle of a cacophony.

  She sank to her knees and closed her eyes. She abandoned her awareness of the world around her. She needed all her senses to focus on the power within. The comforting hum of mana from the ground was like a hug, and she lay back. She stretched her arms out to her sides and let Terath cra
dle her. She lay snuggled in a bed of mana. She let out a deep sigh. If only she could always feel like this.

  With infinite patience, Kassimeigh harnessed the mana she needed. She manipulated it into the two forms, and began the painstaking task of micro-knitting them into one entity. Here, with all of this blissful mana, it was easier to do than it had been at the lab. Her skin pulsed with the energy, making her feel she was only a breath from merging with it.

  She felt the mana pull at her, and she suspected that if she pushed herself into the undulating eddies and curves of voluptuous power, she could release herself into an existence of pure mana. She wouldn’t even need her body. She shoved the thought away and released all of her stays and controls. She made herself completely permeable to the power around her in a way she hadn’t done since the first time she’d harnessed mana. The energy urged her to make herself as available to it as it was to her. The promise of ultimate synergy called to her. Whispered in her ears. Trailed up her arms and down her neck like a lover’s caress. What would it feel like to give in?

  But she had a job to do, and people who counted on her to do it. She had a new home she wanted to return to. She remembered Arc’s touch, even better than the promise of pure power. She anchored herself to the idea of returning home to him, Will, Izzy, and the Guard. They were waiting for her.

  She focused hard on her knitting. She ignored the temptation nudging at the periphery, begging her to pay attention to it. She wouldn’t.

  When the two mana types were knit, she stretched them taut, smoothed them out, and polished them, so that they melded into one. She’d thought this would be the hardest part, but it was the easiest. She understood now how two mana types wanted to merge. The attraction between her and the energy around her let her know it wanted her, too. They were two sides of the same coin, and they could join together, if she let it happen.

  Now she used the power that coursed through her, which was so liberatingly easy to do. She expanded the fabric, harnessing mana and pushing it into the material of the barrier. Once it had enlarged enough, she tugged it down over herself, like a child playing with a parasail. It rippled and billowed before settling into a domed bubble around her and seeping down into the ground beneath her.