Ameliah found Corrin and Clubbs aboard Temerity—the finding proving more difficult than she’d grown used to. Being without Detection was worse than being blind.

The Hydromancer-Geomancer pair had set up a table on the foredeck and were playing Ranks as they waited for her. Neither looked up at her approach, and a quick scan of the board revealed why. Things had come to a head.

Tentatively, Corrin reached and took a piece. Clubbs immediately responded, not by moving a piece but by extending a hand over the board.

“Nice try.”

“Hang on a minute, I—“

“The Mage.”

“Where? If I took...then you’d... Oh. You bastard.”

“Starting with just one was a good challenge,” Clubbs said as Corrin begrudgingly shook his hand. “I’ll start without both next time.”

“It won’t matter,” Corrin said with a sigh. He looked forlornly up at Ameliah. “He cheats, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t call it cheating,” Ameliah said, smiling. “Whatever it is he does, it’s certainly unfair.”

“People just need to consider the repercussions,” Clubbs said, getting to his feet. “In Ranks, and in life.” He nodded to Ameliah. “Welcome back. I didn’t get to say it at the party.”

“Thanks,” Ameliah said.

“Okay, what’s this mission you wanted us for?” Corrin said, getting to his feet and arching his back in a stretch. “You got a job for us?”

“Something else, first,” Ameliah said, reaching into a pocket of her Ascension coat. Neither Clubbs nor Corrin wore theirs, but they each had two brass rank pips pinned to their collars. “Here.” She opened her hand, revealing two pips, one for each of them. “I need you to take these.”

“You’re promoting us?” Corrin asked. “You can do that?”

“I’m asking you to accept promotion on Vanna’s behalf,” Ameliah said. “You could have been Entrusted from the start. I don’t know why you chose not to be, and I’m not going to ask, but I’m hoping your reasoning has changed between then and now. Ascension needs you. To be more specific, for what we’re doing today, Ascension needs to know you’re fully committed.”

“And what are we doing today?” Clubbs asked, taking one of the pips and pinning it to his collar.

Ameliah looked at Corrin. “Working on the canal.” She lifted her palm slightly. “I can’t explain more than that until you take this.”

“Fine,” Corrin said, hesitating for one moment more before taking the pip. “I’m not against it, yeah? I was just expecting there to be a ceremony. Kal was gonna ask Vanna. He, Ron, and I all wanted to put ourselves in for it together. They can get promoted too, right?”

“All they need to do is ask,” Ameliah said. “If you want a ceremony, you can ask about that too. I’m sure Vanna will accommodate. For today, I need you to uphold the responsibility you just took on. We’re doing skill training, and the skill in question could change everything. I chose you to test it because of the natural synergy between your magic. Synergy relates to what the skill does.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Corrin asked.

“You’ll see in a moment,” Ameliah said. “Ground rules first. The council has determined that the skill’s existence is to be concealed. We won’t be able to hide it forever, and people are going to have questions when they see it in action, but for the time being, you aren’t to answer any of those questions. If people ask, you say, ‘Entrusted only’. If Entrusted ask, you say, ‘It’s need-to-know’. The most important thing is that the knowledge doesn’t spread outside Ascension. That includes Bakal. Understood?”

“Understood,” Clubbs said, Corrin likewise bobbing his head.

Ameliah nodded. “Let’s head to the coast, then. I’ll explain on the way.”

From Corrin:

Earth Manipulation

Erode 10

Earthmolding 10

Rockbomb 10

Stonemolding 10

Magical Utility

Channel Mastery 10

Mana Manipulation 10

From Clubbs:

Water Manipulation

Condense 10

Hydrodirection 10

Internal Reservoir 10

Blinding Fog 10

Squid Kata 1

Magical Utility

Channel Mastery 10

Mana Manipulation 10

“How do you feel?” Ameliah asked, carefully watching the two men’s faces as she reviewed their shared skills in her mind. “Our first tests with the council caused some discomfort.”

“Fine,” Clubbs said. “Queasiness is passing.”

“More like vertigo,” Corrin said with a single shake of his head to clear it.

“Do you need a minute?”

“No, it’s fine,” Corrin said, raising a hand and pointing it at the muddy water, which rippled away from the force exerted by Hydrodirection. “Nice.”

“This applies in groups of eight?” Clubbs asked, raising an eyebrow at Ameliah. “This does change everything. And it works on unawakened?”

“With some caveats,” Ameliah said, drawing liquid from the damp earth to form a pair of watery tentacles encasing her arms. Squid Kata was a hidden skill, unlocked by Mana Manipulation, but not one she’d played with, as it wasn’t required for Aquifer. The first form guided her easily into shaping her new appendages, right down to the pods on the ends. “Atyl had a lot of trouble. The skill only gave him foundation-tier abilities. We’re still trying to find out why. Besides that, he’d also never used any skills before, so soulstrain set in quickly.”

“That’s impressive,” Clubbs said, nodding to what Ameliah was doing. She’d started whipping her new tentacles through the movements of the first form. “Progress must be maintained across sharings. Clearly, you’ve used that before.”

“Hold on a minute,” Corrin interrupted before she could tell Clubbs he was only partly correct. The Geomancer was peering at her with suspicion. “Something’s strange here. Are you holding out on us?”

“Sorry?” Ameliah asked, letting the tentacles seep back into the ground. Leveling a Kata required focus, even for her. She could play later.

Corrin pointed at what was obviously his interface. “You gave us Airwalk, which is tier two with prerequisites, but I don’t see them listed, yeah? What gives?”

“It’s because of her class,” Clubbs said. “It allows her to swap skills. She would obviously remove those of lesser benefit after they had served their purpose—in this case, unlocking a higher-tier ability. I also suspect she has some way of altering prerequisites.”

“That’s very perceptive of you,” Ameliah said, honestly a bit surprised he’d noticed. “Now that you’re Entrusted, you’re allowed to know the details of my class, but let’s stay focused. You can ask me later, and I’d like to start. Please face me and get ready to use the skills you’ve borrowed from each other.”

“I can think of other groups that would be more advantageous to use this with,” Clubbs said, doing as she’d directed. “Our crafters, for example, especially if Romer were to be included. Knowledge of runes would bolster every other discipline.”

“We’re starting slow,” Ameliah said, using Hydrodirection and Earthmolding in concert to lift a head-sized glob of mud from the bank. It really was easier with both. Trivial, even. Squid Kata was even murmuring at her, letting her know it would function just as well with mud as it would with water, but she wasn’t Rain, so she ignored the distraction. “The skill uses a resource you’re not well-equipped to replace, and we expect it to get worse the more skills are shared. You’re actually on better footing than most because of all the magical exercise you’ve been getting. More importantly, you’ve both learned the trick of rescheduling your daily summaries, which is vital if we’re to stress test this. Before the day’s over, I’d like to see each of you max the skills you’ve borrowed from the other.”

“That’s what you call starting slow?” Corrin asked.

“Yes?” Ameliah said, splitting her focus on the two skills and tearing the hovering mud ball into two—one of pure water and another of bone-dry dirt.

Corrin whistled. “I’ve never managed to make earth float unsupported. It really doesn’t like it.”

“It really doesn’t,” Ameliah agreed. “Now, I’m going to throw these. Your job is to deflect them with your borrowed skills. We’ll start working on the canal once you’ve got enough control to avoid sabotaging yourselves. If you start to feel soulstrain, even just a little, I need you to tell me. Remember, testing the limits is a good part of why we’re here. As we take breaks to refill your mana, I’ll fill you in on soul theory—another thing Entrusted are entitled to know. Are you ready?”

“A moment,” Clubbs said, looking down at the dirt. He made a beckoning motion, achieving little more than a ripple on the surface of the mud. “I’d like to get a feel for it first.”

“I’m not going to throw them hard,” Ameliah said, smiling sweetly. “Or even at you, really.”

Yet.

The skeptical looks this got her told her she hadn’t fooled anyone.

Progress Report

marker_1: just_two_weeks... [3061 First Harvest 21 12:00]

marker_2: there_and_back_again [3061 Second Harvest 08 08:00]

Span: 18.8 days

Essence

Intake Capacity: 116 MESS/s -> 3.76 GESS/s

Generation: 7.25 MESS/day -> 186 MESS/day

Upkeep: ~0 MESS/day -> ~174 MESS/day

Refinement Capacity: 16.8 MESS/s -> 1.07 GESS/s

Chaos: 1 GESS -> 1 GESS

Potential: 134 GESS -> 159 GESS

Soul: 111 GESS -> 1.39 TESS