Siobahn's spirit core continues to surge as she prepares to attack. I enter into a fighting stance of my own and signal the artificial core to increase its output, but my head explodes with blinding pain once more. Your sister is out to brutalize you and you're still not willing to fight? Come on Gallant, are you for real here?

Try as I might, I attempt to power up the core so that I can at least put up some resistance, but Gallant's opposition to me is overwhelming. Just the mere thought of fighting his sister sends yet another splitting migraine ripping through my skull. The time I spend figuratively wrestling with Gallant is all Siobahn needs to complete her own preparations and launch an attack. Her feet fly off the ground as she blazes towards me, her index finger extended towards my forehead. 

Its over. Without the core's protection, Finger of the Mountain will split Gallant's head open like a bloody melon. I try to duck aside but Siobahn is moving too quick. Before I realize it, the extended index finger is right between my eyes. 

Where it stops just short of striking. 

My heart is in my throat and I don't trust myself so say a word. Even if Siobahn is just trolling me, it doesn't change the fact that I am completely helpless thanks to Gallant. 

Siobahn clucks her tongue with disappointment as she withdraws her hand and her spirit core returns to normal, "Should have known that you would see through me."

"Trying to find an excuse to fight and get your muscle involved?" I ask. Did Gallant know that Siobahn was just faking an attack? Considering Gallant's reluctance to actually fight his sister, he must have guessed from the start that there was no real physical danger involved in this encounter. Though that did not mean I was in the clear. One wrong move and Siobahn could have me dog piled and taken back to Neo-Cardiff. 

Siobahn shrugs and regards me evenly, "Stop being difficult Daffyd and come home. If you explain everything to da I'm sure that he would forgive you for accepting another master. I also doubt that your boss can match our influence in Neo-Cardiff. You'll be free of him there and all this terrorism business. Wouldn't that be better?"

I raise a disbelieving eyebrow and reply, "I doubt that. Da never treated me fairly." Based on Gallant's own emotional baggage on this matter, I am confident that this guess of mine is right. 

Siobahn nods knowingly but does not relent, "I'm not saying that things were easy for you Daffyd, but da just wants what is best for us. Things were not exactly peaches and cream for me too you know? Da's training was hard, but I sucked it up, and became better for it. Now start being a man and face your responsibilities to the family."

The buzz in my minds builds again, Gallant no doubt disputing his sister's version of events. Even I can tell the problem with what Siobahn is saying. Gallant can't cast magic, so how can what his family be subjecting him to be in his best interest?

"That's wrong." I say, "Da was just wasting my time with his nonsense about learning magic. None of it was going to work out."

Siobahn looks hurt at my response and shoots back, "You're not being fair Daffyd. Da got the best teachers for you at Neo-Cardiff. When that didn't work out, he got you a job and money to live on. We spent a fortune on the Archmage for him to research a cure for you. When we heard that you might have died, I dropped everything and came here. I know you are angry, but try to see things in perspective."

"I was disowned." I reply flatly. 

"Only because you could not fulfill your role as da's son." Siobahn replies, "But da and I still didn't give up on you. If we did, we would not have bothered with spending all that money on the Archmage's research. If da really didn't care, he would not have bothered with finding you an easy job at one of his businesses. Show some gratitude."

The noise in my head reaches a fever pitch and I feel Gallant's anger begin to affect me as well. Not that its a surprise. I have said it before and I will say it again. His sister is a bona fide asshole. 

"My. Role." I repeat slowly, "I'm a grown man Siobahn, I make my own decisions! Not you nor da!"

Siobahn scowls slightly, "Don't shout Daffyd. Its unsightly. Do you want the men to hear us having an argument?"

I snort, but quieten down. Siobahn is right on this count, there was no need for me to make a fool of myself in front of strangers. 

"But yes Daffyd," Siobahn takes up the thread once more, "your role as a member of our family. Something that you had failed to perform and still refuse to perform. I can't see why you sound so upset about this when the failing is all yours in the first place."

"Explain." I grind out, "The last I checked, adults are free to live their lives as they pleased. Are you telling me that I don't have that freedom?" 

"No. Daffyd. You don't have that freedom." Siobahn answers patronizingly. 

Before I can cut in, she raises her hand to forestall any objections and continues, "You don't have that freedom in the way that no one truly has the freedom you're talking about. Consider this Daffyd, a son of a poor family and a son of a well-off family. The son of paupers will get a job as quickly as possible to pay back into his family and help support his siblings. The son born into wealth will leave the nest and get a job as soon as possible to stop feeding off his parents. Both have their respective obligations to fulfill. Both have to ultimately stop being a burden on their families."

"Now consider yourself." Siobahn then points her finger at me, "You keep complaining that da demands the impossible from you regarding magic. Fine. Then let's consider how well you have discharged your other responsibilities to us. You eat da's food. You spend da's money. Until recently, you stayed at da's house. You have not paid back to the family in any way. You do not have an independent career of your own. You're an adult, but don't act like one. So don't blame either da or myself for refusing to treat you like the adult you claim to be."

The buzzing in my head subsides to a resentful slow burn. Gallant's still mad, but I am guessing he has managed to rein in his temper. Wonderful. Flying off the handle would do neither of us any good here. I try to recall the snippets of Gallant's past I absorbed while hiding withing his soul in order to find something useful to rebut Siobahn. 

"I was kept under watch at the bar. Everything I did was reported back to da." I reply, "How was I supposed to act like an adult as you put it under those circumstances?"

Siobahn places her hands on her hips and looks at me squarely in the eye, "That's because you were living like some useless young master back in Neo-Cardiff. Da needed a way to keep you working, or at least, pretend to be working."

I shake my head in irritation. This discussion is going nowhere. I just don't have enough information on Gallant to effectively debate Siobahn and she is just hammering me with talking points that she had already prepared. Its only a matter of time before she pushes the issue of leaving for Neo-Cardiff again and I would have no more ammunition to fight off her request with. 

Reviewing the conversation so far, I realize that after Siobahn faked that attack of hers on me, she had deliberately steered the conversation away from the issue of Gallant training under a new master. Instead she had offered a fig leaf in the form of Gallant's dad forgiving him and began to relentlessly beat me down with talk about debts owed and gratitude. I had been thoroughly distracted by the anger Siobahn had provoked in Gallant and been playing into her hands. I needed to get the discussion back on issues that supported my case. 

"All that is irrelevant." I grunt, "Da disowned me. That's a fact. I used the freedom to apprentice under a new master. That's also a fact. No matter what you say, neither you nor da has the right to order me back. My obligations to my new master take priority."

"You're running away again." Siobahn spits out, "You never wanted to put in the work like I did."

"I'm doing something that works for me." I reply, "Going back to Neo-Cardiff is not one of those things. Grinding away at useless exercises isn't one of those things either." 

Siobahn now sounds genuinely angry at me, "Are you saying it was wrong of me to spend my life training under da? You saying you have a better path forward?"

"Yes, Siobahn. A better path for myself." I say as I begin walking away, "Feel free to keep doing whatever you are doing though."

Siobahn starts walking forward as well, keeping pace with me while demanding, "What kind of attitude do you think you are showing Daffyd? You think you can dismiss the struggle I went through just like that?"

"Its the exact same attitude you have towards my struggle Siobahn." I reply, "So, yes. I can dismiss your struggle. Just like that."

Siobahn grabs me by my limp right arm and quickly releases her grip with a shocked expression. "I didn't know you were hurt. Sorry." she apologizes. 

I wave her apology off and continue walking towards the exit. I need to escape Siobahn as soon as possible. The longer I stay in her presence, the more likely I would be railroaded into oblivion. 

But Siobahn is not done with me. She grabs me by my left arm this time and holds me tight. Her eyes have a ferocious light in them, shining with determination. 

"You say that you have found a better path Daffyd. I want you to prove it to me." she says, "You're injured, so I won't seize an unfair advantage by fighting you. All you need to do tonight, is to walk out of this park under the burden of Damavand. Do that, and I'll start taking what you say seriously."

I nod. This is the best outcome that I could have hoped for. It plays to the strengths of the artificial core and does not require me to fight Siobahn. After I accept her challenge, Siobahn walks towards her gang of muscle and signals them to move aside. She then flares her core and begins to move her spirituality. The invisible weight of Damavand presses down on me once more. 

The ground begins to crack and I lumber resolutely towards the exit. As I begin to draw closer to Siobahn and the crowd of muscle, she moves her spirituality once more, and the weight on my shoulders increases. The ground this time begins to sag noticeably each time I take a step forward but the core counters Damavand's effects handily. I don't feel any buzzing in my head from drawing power from the core either. Gallant must be equally determined to pass his sister's challenge.

And so my relentless march presses forward, with the weight of Damavand growing without any noticeable effect on my progress. If anything, this has given me a good opportunity to take notes on how Siobahn moves her spirit while casting that spell of hers. With some practice, I'm confident I can shoot off a passable imitation of the spell. By the time I reach the park's exit, the ground has been completely ruptured by Damavand's weight and my body aches from the strain of drawing the core's power.

As promised, Siobahn lifts the spell the moment I step out of the park. I did it. I conquered the power that could hold a dragon. 

"I don't agree with what you said Daffyd." Siobahn states, "I will never accept that devoting myself to da's teachings was the wrong choice. Tonight as promised, I'll let you go. But one day, we will have a real contest to determine which one of us is right."

"Just make sure you come by yourself." I snark back before tiredly waving goodbye and disappearing between the curtain of snowfall.

That's more than enough excitement for one night.