Tiniaka rubbed his chin as the two girls ran from his shop, unable to shake the odd feeling he had about them, he turned back to the man. “Is there a problem?”

As the human man turned his tired eyes back to Tiniaka, he could feel something… wrong. “No, just Hecatolite being… well Hecatolite.” The man said with a weary smile. But Tiniaka could feel the… uncertainty in the man's voice. The fear within him.

He shook his head, ignoring the emotions he could feel from the man. It wasn’t much to go on, but that was the real downside to soul magic in its base form, you couldn’t “hear” the thoughts of someone without a spell to dive into their mind; instead, normally, it was more of a “feeling”. he could feel through the brief exchange with this man that he did not harbor any ill intentions towards the elven people, but that was something he had to deduce from smaller things. He could feel the man's embarrassment at his fumbling with the elven language, the feeling of uncertainty when talking about his ship and the supplies he needed, and the relief that they could trade to get them. 

Though that and with the fact he couldn’t sense any hostility from the man whatsoever Tiniaka could assume this “Wolf” could be trusted to be an adequate trade partner. But the sudden change in the man’s demeanor, the feeling of tentative fear that hung in the air around him once he spoke that odd name… “I wouldn’t worry to much young man,” Tiniaka held a handout to Rilitar, “The soldiers keep the area clear of anything too dangerous. Even your friend with the sword back there should be safe in this forest…”

Wolf shook his head with a chuckle as he turned to leave. “I’m sure those two girls would be safe anywhere they go. I am sorry Mr. Tiniaka, it looks like I will have to put our business on hold for now, if that is all right?”

Tiniaka smiled and nodded, “I understand boy, go find your friends I’ll see what I can do about getting these for you.” He took the paper Wolf had with supply’s written on it and scanned it. The man nodded and ran out after the girls.

“So?” Rilitar asked as Tiniaka sank back into his chair.

“I don’t know,” Tiniaka sank into his chair, trying to find a way to answer.

He couldn’t describe the strangeness of it all, he knew he was far from the most powerful soul mage in the world but for someone to effortlessly block his magic was… unnerving. At first, he thought the young woman in armor had an item to disrupt his attempts, that would be the only way he could think of that would have blocked him so completely, but if that were the case, she would not have known he had tried. The fact that she knew he had attempted to use magic and even went as far as to call it out to him. 

Then there was the second girl. At least he could feel the one in black, the other one however was downright frightening to him. His mana washed around her as if she simply wasn’t there at all. A mindless construct… but that couldn’t be, no golem he had ever heard of could speak. 

Just what kind of humans did you bring into my shop, Rilitar? Tiniaka narrowed his eyes as he looked to the young soldier beside him. Being a retired adventure, Tiniaka had only returned to the grove in hopes to spend the rest of his days quietly running his shop, there had been the minor hiccup of where exactly to open his store; having been a low born elf who left the grove he wasn’t exactly warmly welcomed when he returned. But that was all solved when the elder offered him a position in this “fake” town, sure his only customers were the young elves manning the ships and he was expected to use his magic to “screen” anyone who comes into port, but that was all minor to him. 

He had never actually expected to meet anyone here, with the turmoil in the world he had figured it be ages until anything outside of another elf would walk through his doors, leaving him to enjoy a nice easy job with a decent stipend from the counsel to stock his shelves. But all that went out the window the moment those girls walked in. 

Tiniaka had traveled the world, to the far side of Eccrine and back to the Great forest; having stood at the top of the world tree itself, looking down at the tops of the clouds to the deepest caverns of the great dwarven lava forges. In all that time he had believed he had seen everything from the amazing to the mundane, and never before in his life had he wished that he had been right.

Rilitar shook his head as Tiniaka finished trying to explain the strangeness of the two girls. Rilitar insisted the older man must be mistaken but if Tiniaka had learned anything in his travels it was to trust his gut, “Listen boy, those girls are not what they seem. Do not underestimate them. I don’t think they are here to cause problems but,” he pulled an ornate pipe from under the counter, filling it with herbs as he spoke. “That hardly means they won’t. Your uncle will ask you what I think, so here is my report. Find their companion who wandered away, the one they called Hecatolite; then leave them alone, let them be on their way.”

“Don’t tell me the great Tiniaka got scared because he couldn’t read some human minds.”

Tiniaka scoffed as he lifted the pipe to his lips, “Hardly.” He took a deep inhale of the pungent smoke. “One doesn’t live as long as I have without being cautious. That man believed without a doubt that this Hecatolite would be safe inside the forest, so I ask you why he was afraid when they noticed they were missing?” Another deep inhale, waiting for an answer that never came. He exhaled with a sigh, the puff of smoke clouding his vision for a moment. “The most ferocious beasts can seem harmless when they are sleeping, boy.”

“Wouldn’t that suit you best, Tiniaka the dream eater?” Rilitar words cause Tiniaka to raise an eyebrow

 “I think.” He pointed his pipe towards the door, “You should go watch over them and see for yourself. Let me know if you or your uncle require my assistance in the future.” Somehow, he just knew they would be calling on him sooner rather than later. 

He closed his eyes as Rilitar left his shop, so much for a relaxing retirement. He ran his thumb over the carving on his ornate pipe as he drifted to sleep.   

“Amethyst, please calm down.” Himari pleaded with Amethyst as she all but ripped the door from one of the abandoned houses. After checking the first two they concluded that, not only was the town completely empty, Hecatolite was no longer in it.

“Calm down!” Amethyst spun on her; fist clenched. She couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but something was off. She was… she wasn’t sure what she felt. She was confident it was something she felt before, a distant memory but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The swirling torrent of emotions welling inside of her, flashing inside her mind as she stepped towards Himari. Amethyst was annoyed at Hecatolite for whatever game she was playing, at herself for losing her sister… no that didn’t seem right, was she worried about Hecatolite? That makes sense, Hecatolite is strong but she is far from invincible…. But that wasn’t it either. Anger maybe? Or sadness… What is it?

Amethyst's hands trembled a little as she heard a sound coming from behind the building. Immediately her heart began slamming in her chest as she bolted to the back, nearly jumping through the window only to stop when she saw another armor clad elven man standing in the bushes, his body shifting for a moment before fading into the trees. Then suddenly it clicked inside her mind, this feeling…

“She… she’s not here…” Himari could hear a slight quiver in Amethyst's voice as she stepped back from the window. “Where…” Amethyst's eyes went wide as she slumped down onto the wooden floor. A tingling numbness inside of her as her entire body shook. For the first time in Amethyst's entire life she felt… Alone. 

Alone across the world from her family, her friends, from everything she knew in a foreign land that she didn’t even know the language of and surrounded by people she did not know… people her sister had openly said she distrusted… 

Amethyst pulled her knees to her chest as she realized the truth of the situation. “Hecatolite…” She whispered, unable to keep her thoughts straight as she began to worry not only for her sister, but herself.

Himari took a deep breath, slowly stepping towards Amethyst as the girl sat on the floor. The whimper in her voice as she said her sister’s name caused her to shake her head. I knew this would happen. She thought, not out of any sort of malice, but as a fact; one she had wished would never have come. She is just a young girl after all. “It will be alright.” She said softly, laying a hand on Amethyst's shoulder.

It was hard for Himari to come up with the right thing to say, she felt she had a good grasp on the problem; after all, it was clear that Amethyst was somewhat, understandably, dependent on her sister. They had spent 16 years sharing a body together, even after becoming separated they were instantly shoved into a ship where they were never more than a shout away from one another. Now however, Hecatolite must have wandered pretty far away… Himari couldn’t imagine Hecatolite would ignore Amethysts yells for her.

Hecatolite lapidary is currently 1.56 miles north of your location by a small river. The voice of Babylon chimed in her mind as she tried to console Amethyst. 

I can’t exactly share that now can I Babylon? She sighed, looking down at the girl who sat looking out the open door into the forest. Even if I could… should I? Hecatolite is probably safe wherever she goes, and Amethyst needs to learn how to be on her own… She bit her own lip as she thought. Hecatolite, as insane as she was, was likely the only person she could ask about this. There's no denying she is insane, but she is intelligent. She's probably smarter than I am, especially when it comes to this. She pushed back a slight ping of guilt as she recalled her family from her past life. She had not been a bad mother, or grandmother… but she couldn't deny that maybe she had been… distant. 

She sighed, she could send a message she would need to summon a terminal, something they had decided not to do. Asking Eryl was not an option, the woman may be a genius when it came to the system, but emotions… Babylon keep an eye on Hecatolite, if she gets too far away let me know. Also make a note to ask Eryl about removing some of the limitations of not having a terminal summoned, specifically the messaging function. It really feels odd that I must summon a terminal to actually do anything with the system, but I can just pull information from it with a thought.

Noted; please do remember that the system was never intended to be utilised in this manner and only gained the functionality to be accessed via someone’s mind because of Overseer’s meddling. 

I know. She thought as she knelt next to Amethyst, the young girl seemed to be breathing heavily but Himari noted that aside from that she appeared to be fine… just the beginning i assume, it’ll only get worse the longer Hecatolite is away... I should have taken more psychology classes… What is it called monophobia?

Tibbit

Small chapter today! Only one as well, its a hectic time of the year with all the holidays and end of year stuff at work but that's all excuses! I am actually working on small tweaks in the story as we go and it has slowed down my writing considerably. It's probably no surprise that I am writing this story as a one and go kind of thing, I know the very end goal its everything in between that I'm struggling with. Conflict, suspense, resolution! Lol, but really I enjoy a very free flowing writing style where I just very literally make it up as I go (i seriously wrote this chapter and had it edited this morning!), my whole plan for this entire part of the story was essentially "Elves, problems?... Eryl?" up until last chapter I didn't know Hecatolite was going to wander into the forest, it just came about because I think that is something the character would do and the opportunity arose (which then led to "how the hell would Amethyst react to that?"). Tiniaka was going to be a old shop keeper, but in my mind if I give them a name they have to be somewhat important to the story, so now he is a retired adventure with soul magic. But spoilers ahead, kind of. A lot of people have pointed out they dislike Amethyst's current character and I am going to attempt to fix that because in truth I don't like the way she was heading either (and the perfict opertunit came up in the story to address it a little bit); a great thing about having young characters, in my mind at least, is the rate at which young people grow and change as they learn. She was suppose to be the balance to her sister, offset the crazy Hecatolite and it came off more as a leash to reign her in instead. Now I, who is not a 16 year old girl with superpowers, make no promises I will be able to achieve this but by gods I am going to try. Also I am not 100% sure the disorder i named in this chapter is the correct one I was going for, i did research it a little bit but I do apologise if it was incorrect. Essentially she has a codependency on her sister being around her, and it fits Monophobia quite well. if it turns out that is wrong please keep in mind that neither I or Himari are licensed therapists and the mental disorder falls just a bit out of her area of expertise. so all that to say, please bear with me for a bit. I may slow down in my updates in the future but i am still in fact working hard on this story! And, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for reading!