After a week and a half of traveling together, I still didn't know Small-ears’s actual name. I kind of had Aenn and Eairmana down, but the sparking silent man still hadn’t even spoken. I wasn’t sure if he had nothing to say or if there was something wrong with his voice, because even when I surprised him he barely gasped. The other two didn’t seem to care either way, perfectly fine with his silence.

  We moved through the mountains to the east, it almost felt odd to go in that direction. Kinthek had only ever gone west, and there were hardly any cities in this direction unless you could get past the mountains and to Saarabenth. Most people went to the coast to get there though, half the mountains seemed nearly impassable. We weren’t heading for Saarabenth though, apparently Filel’fanat was in those mountains.

  All I could think as we continued our trek was to curse at whoever had first decided to settle there. It was an interesting journey, but that was constantly overshadowed by all sorts of rough terrain. Even if there were thunder crystals hidden beneath the land here, it made sense that no one had settled at them.

  Eairmana’s steed—a flightless oakay bird, which was like a horse in a lot of ways but apparently really tasty—had died on the first day, having not been large enough to properly traverse the area. After that we left behind the other three oakay, since they slowed us down more than anything.

  After it became clear that we wouldn’t run into any travelers, most of the Arkorians refrained from wearing their disguises. Only Aenn kept his on religiously, as if he was worried that Connection herself would descend from the heavens and strike him down for taking a moment to relax. I found it very hard to understand that guy.

  I glanced back at Small-ears, who was watching a bird with his distinctive silence. He was thickly built, similar to Hivren in mass but with more muscle. Despite them looking like rocks, they still seemed to eat normal things and probably grew the same as regular folk did. They were just… carved of crystal. Their faces smooth and polished, their eyes sharp and reflective. And according to Eliax, they were just humans with one difference. These ones were bound to a god.

  I could get behind that. I didn’t like abstract wonders like what Eliax kept throwing at me, and I didn’t like not having a pattern to base things off. But this was a pattern. It might have taken a bit to get into my head, but now that it was there it would never leave.

  I focused back on the tent, rolling up the fabric and collecting the poles. One good thing about being around people without real buildings meant that they were experts at tent craftsmanship. They knew what materials to make it out of in order to keep out moisture and cold, they knew how to give it slits in exactly the right shape so that in the summer heat it could cool down.

  I honestly wasn’t sure how half their designs worked, but the result was wooden tent poles and sturdy fabric that could somehow be packed into a tight bundle. It was light enough to travel and it was tough enough to withstand that same wilderness.

  A wilderness that seemed bent on killing us.

  I dropped the tent back into my dimensional bag, deciding again that I would certainly be getting loads of these things for when I inevitably got to another world. Sparks, I’d have to explore Arendi before that, who knows what I might discover there!

  A slight itch in the back of my mind sat up, a reminder that while there were experiences, there were also stories that I needed to find. I loved stories, their emotions, their connections, their balance, and their isolation. I paused slightly, narrowing my eyes at my dimensional bag—even though it wasn’t even the problem—that had kind of felt like-

  “Fora!” Aenn yelled, glaring at me, “Can we get going already?”

  I jumped to attention, dismissing my thoughts and saluting for… some reason. Oh well, it was too late, besides, he might think it was funny, “Right away mister!”

  Aenn sighed.

  --

  Rounding a bend in the seemingly endless mountains and suddenly seeing space was the most shocking thing I could have imagined. We’d gotten used to cramped passages, impossible slopes, and annoying obstacles, but as we passed that last mountain we all stopped in our tracks to stare at the valley below.

  It was green.

  I hadn’t expected any part of Arithren to be green, even though this green was nothing compared to Arendi, it was possibly even as green as my homeland. Small-ears just gaped at it with me, while Aenn fell to his knees and started praising the gods.

  Eairmana, however, burst into a massive grin, looking back at the rest of us. “There’s a city! Shattered crystal and silent deceptions! There’s actually a city!!”

  I followed her finger, finally seeing the metropolis on the far end of the valley. It was bigger from what I could see than any other city I had ever been to. Bigger than the capital back home, and bigger even than Ceruleia. “How did they make such big buildings…” I muttered to myself, mystified.

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  No one else seemed to be asking that question though, the three Arkorians put their illusions smoothly back on and we began the long trek down the mountain. It was a relief to know that I would never have to do that again. To be sure, I memorized several spots for future teleportation or gates, making redundancy my shield.

  To the east, the sun was still rising past the mountains.

  When he awoke, Eliax was still staring at the crystal.

  The only real difference was her expression. The urgency was completely gone, replaced with contemplation and worry. She still wore the goggles, but they were pulled up next to her antennae. Plenty of hairs had escaped her customary braids and they gave her tired eyes a wild look.

  It was entrancing somehow.

  Kinthek sat up the rest of the way, and Eliax glanced toward him from her spot beside the crystal. “How much sleep did you get?”

  He shrugged in answer, not really sure. “I don’t remember falling asleep.”

  She nodded, looking back to the crystal. “Well, at least you can stand, that’s a good thing.”

  Kinthek stood up, walking to stand beside her. It felt odd for her to look older, even if it had only been two years. That meant she should be around fourteen now, but… she seemed older than that, he’d currently peg her at around sixteen just by looks. He swallowed, “So, did the crystal tell you anything interesting?”

  Eliax looked up at him, still so short. “Well, I confirmed that it definitely will explode if I teleport it. I’m glad Astral let me know before I did that.” She said it bitterly, dryly. “Would have been more convenient if it had been say… ten minutes earlier, but I’m glad the warning came at all.”

  Kinthek nodded, feeling his gaze move back to the crystal, remembering the last thunder crystal he’d seen all uncovered like this, remembering the satisfying snap as each piece came off one by one. He looked back at her, deciding that wasn’t as dangerous.

  Actually… no he was wrong. Kinthek felt his face heat up.

  Eliax sighed, moving back to the crystal, “I’m not sure what to do about it if I can’t put it through a full distortion. It also means I can’t put it in an expanded space.” She wrinkled her nose, “So that leaves just one option.”

  Kinthek gave her a curious look, “what option?” would it be some kind of absurdly difficult feat? Taking all her expertise and power? That would certainly be interesting to see.

  “I’ll have to talk to that Ashevian guy first. I need to try and dismantle it here. I’m sure I could dissolve the whole thing in a month or two, that one’s harder since I can’t try to shield its aura while I do that, so everyone with even a smidgen of that lifeforce ability will be able to sense it.” She hesitated, “I should be fine, even if someone comes to investigate and finds a half dissolved crystal and a stranger from another world.”

  Kinthek stiffened, meeting her worried dark eyes and holding her gaze as well as he could. “Eliax, you don’t have to do this alone, you know that, right?”

  She tilted her head, confused, “Even if I make a small army of clones, it won’t be that much faster.”

  Kinthek found himself smiling at the uniquely Eliax answer, “No, seriously. Is there somewhere else that would be safer or faster? We can ask Ashevian to take the caravan there. You can try and shield that crystal like you said, and then you won’t have to sit in the desert alone for two months.”

  She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, her eyes baffled, “You want me to let some people I barely know do something as dangerous as that, even though I said I could fix their problem?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why in the world would I do that? It doesn’t make any sense. I seriously won’t be in any danger if I just do it here. I suppose you could move it off the main area and somewhere more secluded, but…” she finally noticed his face, determined, annoyed, and hard. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “You’re not taking anything in return for this. None of them are going to let you just do a favor like that and leave you behind in the wilderness.” He glared at her, “Least of all me. We have to do something.”

  She frowned, “I already got plenty. Simply observing this crystal for a few hours was worth at least five years of time. If anything, I’m in their debt.”

  “But that’s not how it looks. It seems from the outside like you wasted your entire night trying to make it capable of teleportation. Partially they know how valuable a crystal like this is, but all they see it as is a problem by now.”

  Eliax sat back down, pulling her knees to her chest, “You’re sounding like Fora. Talking all from the heart like that. I suppose it makes sense, that most people see things that way. But I guess the fact that you have to explain it to me…” she sighed, and then her voice broke, “Why can’t I just see that? Automatically? Why don’t people make any sparking sense? Where’s the logic? Where’s the balance?! We have minds and hearts, why can’t people just… use both.”

  Kinthek felt a sudden stab of panic as she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. Frustration. This was a weakness of hers, but she already knew about it. She’d likely been trying to fix it for years, possibly decades.

  He sat down next to her, “For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone really understands what people will do.”

  Eliax grunted, but she didn’t seem convinced though. A terse, “Maybe” that was added a moment later only proved that.

  Kinthek looked at her, thinking, wondering, but his stupid thoughts couldn’t figure out what to even say. He’d been the one to bring this up, he’d been the one to make her cry in the first place. He had to do something, and he really didn’t think that awkwardly patting her back and saying she’d figure it out eventually would count.

  Somehow though, Eliax didn’t seem to see crying as nearly as much of a big deal as he did. She already seemed calmer, more in control. As if the tears themselves had built her up a level or two.

  She looked at him, apparently still expecting him to say more. But something about her bearing made him think she didn’t actually want that. And so he sighed, “We’ll… Figure it out.”

  Eliax smiled slightly, “Thanks.” She left a peck on his cheek, and then immediately teleported away.

  Kinthek stared at where she’d been, his hand going to his cheek and his face flushing. That hadn’t been a real kiss, but… what did that mean? He sat there for several minutes, his mind whirring with a speed that could rival his most enlightened moments.