They stare at the twisting tubes of metal that’s somehow supposed to represent the mythical figure in silent admiration. A few moments pass, and Sarrah closes her eyes and nods, then looks away.

  “Do you revere the Arbiter?” Allia asks, somewhat surprised at her deferential gesture.

  “Oh? Um… No, not really. I don’t even really think they existed. I just… revere the emotion I guess. The anguish. How the artist managed to make it seem human despite there being nothing physically human about it. Just cloud of tubes. I guess I revere that – the statue and the person who made it. Not some ephemeral figure that’s supposed to have saved humanity a thousand years ago.”

  “Yeah…No. I don’t know. I guess I value creating less than doing. Less than being.”

  “You don’t think that one can ‘be’ in their creation?” Sarrah asks.

  “…No. At least I hope not.”

  Sarrah tilts her head then smiles. “You know, you’re usually one of the most straightforward people I know… It’s probably why we’re friends. But you can be really mysterious sometimes. How you strip away sentiment so casually.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dismiss your reaction. I might not have the same reaction as you, but I liked being here to watch you have it.”

  Sarrah shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. I enjoyed your reaction too. It’s refreshing.”

  Allia smiles. “Oh… that’s good then… And I enjoy the statue too. Just not in the same way as you, I think. I wish I could though. I just can’t bring myself to.”

  “Odd way of putting that. But it’s fine. Everyone’s relationship with art is different.”

  A purple flash a dozen feet away and Emil appears. “Hey!” he waves with a smile. “I hope you weren’t waiting long. I just got your sprite.”

  Sarrah regards him suspiciously, but shakes her head. “No, we just got here. We were admiring the statue and feeling glad it’s still here.”

  “Oh, yeah, it’s nice. I mean, it doesn’t match how I think of the Arbiter, even accounting for it being an abstract representation, but I like it qua statue. It’s very um… interesting.”

  “Do you revere the Arbiter then?” Allia asks Emil.

  “Um…Yeah, I guess I do, at least the idea of them. Noble houses have a lot of rituals – liminal and seasonal – and a few reference them. I always figured that to do the rituals properly I had to contemplate the symbolic figures in them. Aspire to their greatness and all that. I guess that contemplation is as close to reverence as would be reasonable. I’m agnostic on whether they existed or not. At least as a singular person. Since we’ve lost so many records from that time. Or rather from just about every time. I often feel that history only really started with the creation of the old dreadnaughts, and everything before that is just myth.”

  Allia tilts her head. “I guess I can kinda see that. Though looking at it another way, 50 years is a pretty recent cutoff point. I mean, there are still people around from those old days.”

  “Yeah,” Sarrah joins in, “and besides, the Chthonians have longer continuous records than we do. Their last cataclysmic incursion was nearly 200 years ago.”

  He shrugs. “50 years, 200 years, whatever. The point is that until figured out how to stop krakens or what have you from eating all our libraries whole, nobody bothered with keeping exact historical records. So even the writings we do have are imprecise and inaccurate… No… wait,” he strokes his chin in contemplation, “that’s not what I’m trying to say either, though it’s true. What I’m really trying to get at is it feels like we’re at the start of something new. Doesn’t it?”

  Allia stares at him for a moment, then smiles far too broadly. “You’re right. The past doesn’t matter. Everything that happens from now on is new.”

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  Emil looks taken aback, but nods in agreement. “Not exactly what I meant, but yeah, I like that too.”

  Sarrah looks between them then interposes. “Anyways, the reason we called was to fill you in on what’s going on.”

  With this, Allia erects a sound obstructing dome around them and they inform him of their knowledge regarding the attack on the school.”

  “I see,” Emil says. “But why didn’t you want to tell me earlier?”

  Sarrah shrugs. “Well, as far as we knew we were about to get rid of the stupid thing. But since it looks like she’s keeping it after all, then no reason not to fill you in.”

  Emil raises a sceptical eyebrow, crossing his arms in mock indignation. “What you really mean is that you didn’t want to tell me until you needed my help.”

  Allia attempts to deny it, but Sarrah simply says, “Yes. So are you going to help her or what?”

  “I don’t know,” he says, moving closer with a sly smirk. “Maybe if I was helping you too…”

  Sarrah scoffs. “I don’t enjoy pretend or pretence. We both know that you’re going to help and whose sake you’ll help for. So, let’s just move on to the helping.”

  He moves closer with a plastered smile until his head gets to within a foot of hers, then whispers, “As you wish, my lady,” then takes a half step back and bows. “What wish shall I perform for you?”

  Sarrah glares at him, then looks away. “We need experts. People who can do tests on Allia.”

  He sadly shakes his head. “I’m certain that the best have already been taken by J. Unless you want to include military personnel?”

  Sarrah hesitates, then shakes her head. “No. No reason to antagonize the league.”

  “That is another problem,” Allia says. “We don’t know what researchers J has already included in the project. It’d be a bit awkward if we approach someone who thinks the orb is still in an underground vault only to have it suddenly appear from me. Especially if we approach the spy.”

  “Well, she probably only appropriated League members, or maybe MDC.” Emil points out. “So, everyone else should be safe. Especially if they’re not on the island.”

  “…Well, it’s as good of filter as any,” Allia says after a moment of consideration. “Anyways, Allex says he can provide security and a lab without breaking his oath. Sarrah’s parents can probably find some people and you can find people farther out. We should move quickly. Do you have any ideas?”

  “No, but you know J’s going to try to get you back under her thumb. She won’t take losing the orb laying down.” Emil points out.

  “What do you think she’ll do?” Allia asks.

  Emil strokes his chin then shrugs. “Probably try to kill two birds with one throw. You mentioned that the orb is in communication with other locations? She’ll probably try to convince you to go find them and bring the orb with you.”

  “Hmm.” Allia says, a raised eyebrow.

  Sarrah gives an alarmed look. “Allia. Why do you look like you’re pleased by the idea?”

  “Um… well, of course I am. Hunting down precursor artifacts? Who wouldn’t be excited?”

  Sarrah groans. “Allia, the goal is to take you away from danger, not towards it. Please promise me that you won’t say yes to that.”

  “…”

  “Allia!” Sarrah says, her hands on her hips in a stern posture.

  “Come on Sarrah! You can’t make me promise that. It’d be so much fun!”

  Sarrah sighs, palming her face. “Fine… then promise me that you won’t let yourself be completely dependent on J. If you go off into the wilderness, then you’re bringing whatever assets my parents, Allex and Emill have to offer.”

  “Well, yeah. Besides, you’ll be coming too, right?”

  Sarrah freezes at the thought, then defiantly nods. “Yeah… I guess I better. Who else will watch your back.”

  “Oh, trust me, I’m certain both Allex and myself will be very willing to watch it,” Emil says with a smooth smile.

  Sarrah glares at him then leans in to whisper to Allia, “See what I mean now?” Causing Allia to giggle.

  Emil raises a questioning eyebrow then elegantly motions them away. “Come on. Let’s go tell Allex skulking over in the café the plan, then I’ll teleport you to back to your parents.”

  “You know where I live?” Sarrah asks.

  “Um… I assumed you would tell me the address. I can go off sprite coordinates.” Emil explains.

  “Oh… interesting. Anyways, I don’t think it’s best for Allia to teleport. Who knows what the interaction with the orb might be.”

  Allia interjects. “I think it’ll be fine. I mean, I teleported with it before, didn’t I?”

  Sarrah raises an eyebrow then nods having suddenly remembered what she’s talking about. “The orb was in a different configuration then. Besides, Emil might have some hidden abstractions in his power that would react differently than the evac packs.”

  “Still, I’m certain it’ll be fine,” Allia insists, confident with no trace of doubt.

  Sarrah’s face twists in confusion. “I don’t see how you can be. We don’t know anything about it.”

  “It’s… just an intuition, okay? We all get them sometimes about our powers right? They’re usually right.”

  Sarrah breathes in and looks away. “I guess I wouldn’t know.”

  “Ah… Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s fine,” Sarrah says. “I don’t know why I got sensitive about it. Sigh… If you’re certain, then I guess pursuing an intuition might lead to a better understanding of your power. So fine, I trust you.”

  Allia smiles, falteringly, pulling her friend into a hug which happens to obscure her face.