Aside from the fact that her brothers acted like headless chickens and Mikel blushing just as brightly red as she did, Yuriko was quite thankful that Krystal was in the room with her. Her childhood friend had pushed all the boys out of the room posthaste with Rami screeching at the top of his lungs, “Big sis is wounded! Help!”

She could hear Marron and Kato did their best to calm Rami down as they walked into the hallway. When Yuriko heard Krystal finally slam the door shut, she sighed and got off the bed, face still burning with embarrassment. 

“Well, you certainly have great timing,” Krystal remarked drily.

Yuriko glared at her. “I certainly didn’t want this!”

Krystal grinned. “Oh I know but it's something all of us will have to go through. I guess, congratulations? Hie hie.”

Yuriko tossed a pillow at her then grunted. “Just help me clean this up.”

The room had a private wash area which she was grateful for. Strangely, she didn’t feel weak in the knees or anything similar. She found she could move easily, with the same strength and grace she had before she was injured.

When she came out and Krystal handed her a pile of clothes. Not her forceweave outfit but civilian casuals: a white button-down sleeveless shirt, a pleated blue skirt that hung to her knees, and knee-high white socks. A pair of brown loafers were set on the floor just outside the bathroom. Krystal was running her Animus on the blanket and the mattress to get Yuriko’s blood out of it. 

There was a light squeezing sensation on her midsection, a bit uncomfortable but light enough that if Yuriko focused on something else she would forget it. 

“Oh,” Yuriko gasped, “What would happen with the training camp?” Her little accident happened before she could ask her brothers. She needed the recommendation letter to enter Agaza Academy, and she needed to graduate from there in order to qualify to enter the Legion. “I, uh, is the camp continuing?” 

The fact that Krystal and Mikel were here with her meant that the training camp had likely been cancelled or postponed but she had to make sure. Entering the Legion Vagaris like her Da had in his youth was her goal after all. 

“Training camp is over,” Krystal said with a grin, “and we’ll all get a recommendation letter, with our team receiving a special commendation for our part in the Wave.” 

“Oh, thank the Ancestors!” Yuriko exclaimed. She could send her application to the Academy in that case. “Oh, I have to register my Facet,” she muttered. She should have done that as soon as she inlaid her Facet but that had happened while she was in the Watchtower. She had asked Marron to do it back then but she wondered if he had actually had the time to do it.

“What is your Facet and Heritage anyway?” Krystal suddenly asked. “I know you said it wasn’t combat-oriented but, well, you were certainly a powerful combatant.”

Yuriko shrugged. “I don’t know what it's called. Whenever I activate my Facet I see visions and Animus Techniques that are different from what was taught to us.”

“You don’t know what it's called, huh?” Krystal mused. “So how will you advance to Apprentice from Novice?”

Yuriko shivered. “I’m not sure either. I want to ask Elder Ramus, actually, and register my Facet if Marron hadn’t done it yet.” 

“Well, let’s go then.” 

They found her brothers and Mikel waiting outside the room.

“Did you register my Facet?” she asked Marron, who jumped at the sound of her voice.

“Oh, Chaos, I forgot,” Marron said sheepishly. 

Yuriko rolled her eyes. “Well, I need to do it now.”

“Aren’t you going to wait for the Legion officer to debrief you?” Kato interjected.

“Oh, uhm, when would that be?”

“Who knows?” Kato shrugged. “You’re leaving your greatsword behind?”

“I could hardly cart it around indoors,” Yuriko said drily. “Fri’Avgi will be safe here.”

The two of them headed to one of the attendants’ stations. The harried-looking man sitting behind it with his head tucked into his arms was taking a power nap. Yuriko knocked politely on the desk, startling him to sudden wakefulness.

“Wha--?”

“Excuse me,” Yuriko said, “I’d like to register my Facet. Where may I see Elder Ramus?”

“It’s been weeks since the Atavism Ritual,” the man muttered sleepily. When he got a good look at Yuriko however, he jerked in his seat. “Oh, Miss Davar.”

“Good morning,” she greeted politely.

“Of course, good morning. Uh, let me see.” The attendant coughed, “I’ll inform Elder Ramus. Please head over to his office.” He started scribbling on a messenger crane and, after infusing it with his Animus, sent it off. “Oh, you can follow the crane if you don’t know the way.”

“Thank you.”

Dozens of cranes flew overhead but the one the attendant let loose hadn’t reached the correct height yet so it was easy to follow. Yuriko and Krystal hurried down the hallway, dodging attendants, militia, and civilians while they tried to keep up. Eventually, they came upon a familiar-looking door. The crane slipped into the room through the dedicated door near the ceiling. Krystal knocked and when they heard the call to enter, did so.

They waited in the reception room after informing the elder’s attendant of their errand. Several attendants came in and out of the reception room, entered the inner office, and came back out. 

“Everyone’s busy,” Yuriko said, more to have something to talk about than anything else. 

“Yes,” Krystal answered absently, “they’ve managed to clear most of the Wyldlings around the Watchtower but hundreds more are making trouble around the countryside. Trampled wheat fields and vegetable gardens. I wonder if the Harvest Festival could continue with all that’s happened.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” Yuriko asked. “There’s going to be a harvest no matter how small.”

“Huh, well, there would hardly be anything to celebrate if there’s not much of a harvest.”

“Better than nothing.”

Krystal gave her a sidelong glance. “Well, at least if there’s going to be a Harvest Festival the two of us would be allowed on the other side of the fence.”

Yuriko nodded. “Huh, you’re right. I’m sick of staying on the children’s side of the celebration. It’s always the same food and the same parade.” The two of them shared a grin. 

“Miss Davar, please enter the office,” the attendant said.

“Finally,” she muttered. 

“I’ll go back home.” Krystal stood and gave Yuriko a tight hug. “Thank the Ancestors you’ve woken up,” she whispered in Yuriko’s ear. 

“I’m glad to have woken up,” Yuriko sighed. “You wouldn’t believe the nightmares I’ve had to weather.”

Krystal gave a final wave before she left the office and Yuriko entered the inner sanctum. Elder Ramus was behind his desk going through a pile of paperwork. He glanced up at Yuriko and nodded to a seat.

“Welcome, Miss Davar. It’s good that you’ve recovered. I understand you’re here to register your Heritage?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“Very good,” Elder Ramus picked up a crystal screen and infused it with his pale yellow Animus. After a while, he looked up at her. “Let’s have it then. Tell me the name of your Ancestor from whom you received your Heritage.”

“Um, I don’t know, sir. He didn’t name himself. And I’m afraid that the Facet I inlaid is quite unusual.” 

“Oh. Then please tell me the particulars.”

“Firstly, my Facet didn’t transfer any knowledge,” Yuriko began. “When I activate it, I am drawn into a dream world where my Ancestor shows me various Animus techniques that I attempt to learn.”

“Oh,” Elder Ramus tapped on the screen. “That’s quite unlike the normal effect of a Facet. Are you sure you’ve inlaid properly?”

Yuriko hesitated. “I believe so. The pattern is self-sustaining and does not unravel.”

“Did you feel as if you had less of your Animus to use after you’ve inlaid?”

“I can’t tell, Elder,” Yuriko admitted.

“Hmmm, well, you did start out with your capacity already within the Apprentice range,” Elder Ramus mused. “It's easy enough to test. Now, what kind of techniques did your Facet reveal to you? The knowledge isn’t directly transferred to your Anima? Interesting.”

“It’s mostly different versions of the same techniques Armsmaster Byrne and Leader Yoran taught us.”

“I see.” After a while, Elder Ramus stood up and led Yuriko to a circular chamber with varied jade discs on the walls--the same testing chamber they had used after the Atavism Ritual to measure her Animus capacity.

Yuriko sat in a meditative pose in the exact centre and, when Elder Ramus gave the signal, she envisioned her Anima and activated her Facet with as little Animus as she could manipulate. She only blacked out for an instant, catching herself before she fell over. 

Dozens of jade discs lit up. Most were brightly lit but a few had only a faint light. Elder Ramus took note of all of this, watching the runescript between the discs more than the jade.

“Hmmm.” 

“Well, there’s no doubt that you’ve managed to inlay your Facet. Part of your capacity is tied up to it; ten lumens, to be exact.”

Yuriko nodded. Ten lumens was the standard for Novice level Facets. 

“But your capacity has grown to a hundred and fifteen, which is why you didn’t notice much change. Impressive.” 

“How did that happen?” Yuriko gasped. Raising the Animus cap was a difficult endeavour, needing a special potion and rituals that only the Empire had. 

“Natural increases happen,” Elder Ramus explained. “It is not common but hardly unique either. You’re a very lucky young woman to inherit this much from your parents.”

“Thank you.”

“Since you don’t know who the Heritage comes from, you may keep using your current clan name. As for your Facet, hmmm.” Elder Ramus tapped his chin. The old man had some white stubble on his jowls which hadn’t been apparent earlier. “Interesting effect. When you activated your Facet, it seemed to cause your Animus to vibrate, which eventually caused your Anima, mind, and body to vibrate in the same way. You say that you see your Ancestor and he teaches you techniques?”

“Yes, sir.” 

“I see. Well, we’ll have to give your Facet a temporary name so we can advance your records. Very well, we shall call it Anima Resonance,” Elder Ramus continued jotting down notes and muttering to himself. Yuriko barely paid attention.

When the Facet was named, she felt a tremor in her Anima. An acknowledgement that the name fit, not quite as well as she’d like, but it would do. More importantly, she caught a glimpse of what her Facet and Heritage could really do and for a moment, she thought it could do more than merely call up a silhouette, a shadow, of her Ancestor. And that frightened her more than anything else. 

-----

Deep in the Tidelands, close to the depths of the Chaos Sea, She Who Whispers into the Light waited outside the waypoint. Her plans were long laid out, the first steps taken. A pebble was small and of no real worth. But should it drop at the right place and at the right time, then it could set off a landslide strong enough to destroy anything in its way.

She dwelt in her thoughts, keeping little attention to the paths around her. Always looking at how she could further her plot and how she could break her chains. A ripple in the air broke her reverie, and she watched with no small amusement as a tongue of flame appeared in midair.

It drew on the rich, ambient Chaos in the air, swirling around the light like a vortex. She could stop it, of course, she could even devour the flame and earn for herself the power of the individual Will it contained. But no, it would only sully her own purpose.

The vortex eventually coalesced into a naked body. Dusky skin, red furious eyes, and small black horns on a slender face and a boyish body. The Seeker of Delights stretched and twisted his newly recreated body and almost immediately, he scowled at She Who Whispers into the Light.

“Is it done?” she asked. 

“Yes,” he hissed.

She Who Whispers into the Light grinned. Another part of the plan successful, and another move in the game made.

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

And that is it for "Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child" Book 1!

We're continuing to put together the entries for the books' glossary and hopefully, it will be ready over the weekend before the story progresses even further.

What's that you say? Even further? Yep. FURTHER.

See you in "Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child" Book 2 next week! Will your questions be answered? Maaaaaybe.