"I worry more that I cannot determine our present height," Jade murmured quietly, seeming calmer now that Éjjel had explained the safety. Still, she remained quietly near the man, who seemed very calm.

Kinny's language lessons along the way proved an ideal distraction, and Jade paid close attention. For once, she felt she understood the culture more than Kindall did, and his obliviousness matched what was usual for her.

However, he quickly seemed to grasp the lesson, beaming as understanding dawned.

"Oh! So... Édéla was flirting?" His grin widened as his mind clicked the pieces together. It was an invitation, one well-suited for people who enjoyed playful and dramatic entrances, such as the one Édéla gave. From one playful soul to another, Kinny could appreciate the sentiment.

So, since Kinny wasn't satisifed with his own ónic vocabulary, he looked toward his aunt.

"Please translate for me, Auntie?"

She gave a weary nod.

He looked to Édéla. "Are you looking for someone to leave tongue-tied? Because you're gorgeous, I'm willing, and I'm speechless."

Jade's hand slammed into her face, and then her other hand joined it, and both slid down. "I will not translate that. I cannot say that."

"Auntiiiiie!" he pouted at her, but she didn't remove her fingers from her face.

She squinted, then huffed. "He asks if you are looking for someone you wish to leave with a knotted tongue. If so, he says he is willing, because you are beautiful enough to leave him unable to speak properly."

What lame humor her nephew had!

Jade huffed quietly. "I apologize for his attempt at being humorous in his attempts."

She wanted to tell him shame on him, shame on his family, shame on his cow, but he would be the only one to get the joke, and that was a faux pas.

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Warwick watched her, and before she even finished her motion to gain distance, he sighed and put the dagger slowly back into a pocket that looked like it would be inconvenient to access easily, as it was near the bottom of his jacket, on the inside—he had to pull his jacket up and bend over to get at it to put the dagger away.

He then dropped the coat's edge and held his hands up, showing his empty hands as he just stared quietly, then closed his eyes, trying to think.

"I had to learn your language when I arrived here. If anyone has tried checking, I use English exclamations when I am surprised." He sighed out his nose. "Aside from that, I do not know. I am not smart."

He closed his eyes and sighed again.

"Impossible things are normal where I come from. People are burned by ordinary silver that is not heated. The dead sometimes walk around and have to be re-killed. People who lose limbs regrow them in a week on their own without help. Shadows eat people who don't obey—" he cut off suddenly, and his expression lifted slightly.

"Is there anyone in this universe whose shadow is solid black? Like someone spilled black paint? Point a bright light at the shadow, and watch it. It will smoke and hiss—the shadow will." He looked like he had hope again, but after a moment, he slapped himself in the face.

"Except that probably sounds too stupid, as well," he grumbled, "Maybe I should just go back to my cell or something..."
 
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A long, awkward pause filled the craft's insides.

Then Éjjel started laughing while Aranam turned his head to the side in an effort to hide his expression. And it was not just any laughter. The tanned man just about doubled over as he held his stomach. To make matters worse, Ríváné was also trying her best not to smile, however, the target of Kinny's affections was not amused at all. Head tilted slighty to the side, two stretched out fingers of her more human hand touching her forehead with its knuckles, it was the very picture of the expression 'medium-to-high confusion' that she had showed both guests just a couple of minutes earlier. Based on her limited knowledge, not to mention Kinny's smile, she had expected a positive response.

Éjjel then said something in ónic, which no one other than the Civitatem Lucis people understood. It was a simple expression witha couple of words, yet Ríváné could no longer hide her smile as she heard it. Then she quickly browsed the dictionary for something appropriate to translate it to in English.

"Éjjel told me that you sounded like... an... internor... male intern... trying to... impress... the head scientist...ess? Female scientist. Who knows... more about the science... than he does." That was a remarkable amount of words to express such a simple concept in her opinion, but she was getting used to the strange ideas of English bit by bit. Having learned that it was not a constructed language from the data that Máté shared with her, it was far easier for her to accept its frankly weird ideas. For example, the fact that it had no words which could be used to easily describe relationships between individuals.

"I think Jade did not translate those words into what they mean," she said, switching back to simple ónic that Kinny would likely understand based on their lessons so far. "The translation that you want is..." A tense pause followed this sentence, especially from Édéla, who was sitting on the edge of her seat. She scooted a little closer to the colourful woman, hands coming in front of her body almost as if she was trying to pounce on Ríváné. In the meantime, Éjjel had stopped laughing, however, he was still very amused by the situation. The fingers drumming on his thigh were a clear indication of that.

Ríváné's translation was supplied with a difficult ónic idiom, in response to which Édéla lit up... then she paused. The lesson earlier had been effective; as eager as she was to get to know these people, she could easily be misinterpreted. Or she could easily offend. Therefore, she went for the lesser gesture of what she had wanted to express. With her metallic hand, she touched her lips as if pressing a warm, loving kiss to them, then she carefully extended her hand to caress Kinny's cheek with it. Surprisingly, the metal did not chafe or irritate, not to mention that it still held the warmth of her body.




The more Warwick had told her, the more confused Ári became. Her posture became loosened up as the knife disappeared, yet she was clearly trying to make sense of what had been said to her... and she could not. This was especially apparent when she tapped her forehead with her fingers, a sure sign of frustration. She also remained silent for an uncharacteristically long amount of time as she thought of what she had heard. Some of these things were possible with technology, yet the word 'English' made her pause. That was familiar to her. Though no one had picked up on the phrases Warwick often uttered as being English, the word stirred up hazy memories in Ári. Something about ancient humanity.

"That sounds like tédésna," she said finally as she recovered, a tone of surprise in her voice as her strange urges disappeared. "Warwick, can you please tell me more about science from your... home?" Ári was a little uncertain as she asked this, but she stepped closer to him, bridging the distance between them in a show of goodwill. She knew that the weapon was with him and yet... She could not bring herself to think of it as dangerous. Warwick was not dangerous. No matter what the documents stated, she was starting to think like that. And to make matters better, she even touched his shoulder again, her palm wrapping around the joint in a signal that expressed a desire to reconnect. To understand what he was talking about.
 
At least the other men liked his flirting, Kinny consoled himself as his expression fell slowly into a pout at Édéla's confusion.

A tragic expression took the place of his joy as he looked around, lost on what he'd done wrong. The almost-comical pouty lip and pleading eyes didn't help him any.

Ríváné's explanation meant he'd hit his intended mark for the humor aspect, but as he returned his attention to Édéla, it was still clear she was confused.

"Nephew Kindall is a rookie trying to impress a master," Jade supplied, though idioms were not her forte.

The comment about mis-translation was likely true—Jade realized she was tired, and her language skills were slipping. She wasn't even sure she'd remember the lesson that was just given to Kinny, but she still paid attention, and whispered the new translation to herself to commit it to memory.

With the new translation, though, and Édéla's brightening, Kinny also brightened, hopeful. Her pause as he watched her made him wonder, but curiosity remained high, and when she pressed her kissed fingers to his cheek and stroked it, a broad grin grew. He wanted to hug her or kiss her, or do something else celebratory. He wanted physical contact in his joy.

"Hug?" he asked as he held his arms out to her, uncertain if the timing was right, but eager all the same.

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Warwick couldn't tell if he should be hopeful or not. If he should trust that there wouldn't be more misunderstandings, or if he could even begin to explain.

His expression showed his internal battle, before he finally looked at her and sighed. "Tédésna. My home is... tédésna... I do not know how to explain."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I am a Hunter. Hunters are ruled by the Council. The Council breeds us as soldiers and sends us through... doors made of tédésna. The doors take us to other..." He cursed and tapped his forehead.

"I do not know the word. We travel through a collection of collections of collections of collections of planets."

More frustration taps and he looked helplessly to Ári, hopeful she knew the words he didn't.
 
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One moment, Kinny saw a glint in Édéla's eyes. The next, he saw only darkness and felt a pair of pleasantly soft pillows against his face. A weight on his lap accompanied this unexpected sequence of events, along with gentle hands pulling him into a perfectly natural bosom, fingers briefly tanglin-

Footsteps scrambled away, revealing a scarlet red Édéla. Her hands rested behind her back, she shut her eyes, she bowed her head and she pursed her lips so hard they turned white. With her next step, she literally sat on her palms as she withdrew into the craft's corner furthest from Kinny. Those from Civitatem Lucis gave her a sympathetic glance, with Ríváné holding her palm open in front of her collarbone so her fingers barely brushed her throat. The atmosphere became much heavier than before, as though a predator watched everyone's movements. No doubt the guests were confused, but no one would speak for a while.

"She is sorry." Aranam broke the silence, the first words he spoke in a while. He spoke stilted English so Kinny would understand, then he looked at Ríváné. Comprehension passed between the two and he continued in ónic. "She did something she should not have, but she was happy that you liked her and she acted before she could think."

"He says that the wrong emotions controlled Édéla at the wrong time," supplied Ríváné in English, her hand dropping into her lap. "She did not want to do it and she is sorry... and feeling... a lot of shame for it. Will you forgive her, Kinny?" The second mistake Édéla made in a row, she noted. Emotions between these two ran high and it seemed Édéla was all too eager to forget Kinny was from a different culture. Even in Civitatem Lucis, this would have been excessive. She had barely established mutual interest. "The... things she did," she added as an explanation, "She almost did something that... two people in love do." Goodness, English was worse than she had thought. The difficult expressions were driving her up the wall!




His home was tédésna. These words struck a chord with Ári as she watched his struggle. She realised he could not explain it in the terms of Civitatem Lucis... Or, as something started to creep on her, in the terms he knew. If he came from a primitive culture, he could not even understand Civitatem Lucis! His perspective meant everything was tédésna to him, a situation she had read about in a novel. The story demonstrated the advancements of Civitatem Lucis since its foundation through the eyes of a recently awakened colonist, born in the earliest eras of space travel.

Ári started tracing gentle patterns on his shoulders again. Her face shifted and her eyes softened as she realised his situation. "How big is the collection of planets? Is it thousands, millions, billions, trillions or more?" Inch by inch, an uneasy feeling wrapped its greased fingers around her as she contemplated the situation. She needed some scientists and thinkers here, preferably people who would not scare Warwick... An idea she quickly discarded as horrible. She had integrated recorders for a reason.
 
Kinny blushed and closed his eyes, ready to wrap his arms around Édéla, but then she propelled herself away and sat on her hands. The heavy atmosphere choked, and he stared at her, then looked helplessly at Aranam and then Ríváné in turn.

Jade tilted her head, and at Ríváné's explanation, nodded quietly, then closed her tired eyes, already exhausted from the emotionally-driven members of their coterie.

The explanation left Kinny blinking, until he began to understand. "Oh."

A few blinks, and then he grinned. "It's ok. Everyone gets excited sometimes. I'm not upset. I know how to say stop, if I'm not happy."

Jade knew why. From a young age, he was... 'cougar bait'. She leaned back in her chair and tried not to smirk at memories of her nephew's amusing youth.

"Was it a kiss or sex or something else?" she finally asked, her voice quiet. "Where we are from, there are many things that are described as what two people in love do, and attitudes about those many things are varied from person to person."

Jade opened her eyes.

"It would be important to learn this boundary."

⋯﴾﴿⋯

"Planets... I..." He frowned. "I could see around six of them in the night sky, but I don't know their names. I only know they're not stars because they move differently than the stars."

He sighed, and his shoulders sagged. "I... wish I knew how to explain."
 
Ríváné translated Kinny's forgiveness, but Édéla remained in place. Every ounce of cheer left her body. She refused to move, fixing her gaze to the floor as though it could alleviate her mistakes. She had transformed from a bundle of energy to a skeletal wreck of shame. Flames of despair licked her extremities, embracing her, crushing her, burning her at the stake of her emotions. For a split second, she seemed irresponsive, but it was an aeon to the passengers before she finally opened her lips.

"I... be... good. Need time," she whined in broken English.

"Though I can not be one hundred percent certain of your intentions, he has forgiven you," spoke Éjjel in ónic, taking the reins from Ríváné. The songweaver looked like she got stuck between a rock and a hard place; she had her left hand braced against her left temple, signalling she was in deep thought. "You are wasting time, Édéla. Our guests are waiting for you and while I can not presume their emotions, they seem to have been upset by your behaviour. Please try to return to your original persona as soon as you are able." Though his words seemed cruel, Éjjel spoke calmly, not to mention Édéla nodded in return. She refused to move, however. It seemed they were down a man for the time being.

"Like he spoke," recovered Ríváné. "I can not know what she wanted to do. But if I wanted to guess..." she glanced at Aranam. The massive man considered for a moment, then he nodded. "She wanted something like this. Please think that I am touching Aranam." A touch of scarlet entered the songweaver's cheeks as she moved to her subordinate, then she made a motion as though she wanted to cup his crotch. She traced her left hand along the line of his abdomen, her right going to his hair. She placed a mock kiss a few centimetres away from the man's collarbone. Her hands descended and ascended to his torso, fingers stiff, but trying to imitate a sensual touch.

Suddenly, she made a motion as if she wanted to seize Aranam's torso. "And she wanted to kiss his upper body until... she.. no longer felt her emotions," commented Ríváné, retreating with a clear blush on her face. Her steps stuttered while she moved and when she sat down, she moved her hands behind her back. A deep, resonant sigh burst from her lips as she ended her torment, closing her eyes to restore her inner peace.




"A solar system," summarised Ári, her face pale. "You... travel from solar system to solar system with tédésna doors?" Exactly like the rahn'fehr, a dark part of her suggested. Was this...? No. No... No! "You... please... fraction of light speed?" she asked, her voice quiet. She shook as she spoke. A shiver tried to shred her body as she looked up at Warwick with wide eyes. The woman, so confident before, seemed completely lost. Her gaze asked him for help as she warred with her thoughts, but- "Or... or maybe you just do not understand it and call it tédésna?" A glimmer of hope entered her voice as she finally found solid ground under her feet.
 
Jade and Kindall both stared at the display, and after a moment, Kinny grinned. "Ooh. Making out!" His eyes shone with interest as the large man nodded. "I would have liked that!"

"I would not have appreciated watching it, Nephew Kindall. Contain yourself."

The young man pouted, but shrugged and looked at Édéla, his smile warm. "Would you like to hold hands? It's fun as well." To his mind, it seemed like a good middle ground, one that would hopefully help to put Édéla at ease, and keep within boundaries. He offered his hand with a confident smile, making sure not to shove it too close to her—he didn't want to force it, after all. He wanted to help her to feel better, and his face showed only sincerity.

Jade, assuming that things might be different, glanced toward Ríváné and spoke in ónic. "Holding hands is a display of comfort and mutual possession and affection. It is also a useful way to avoid becoming lost in crowds. I do not know if Civitatem Lucis shares the practice, but it is a socially acceptable display of affection back home."

⋯﴾﴿⋯

"Not between solar systems. Between... universes." In that, he remained firm.

Ári's heavy scent of fear, so sudden, stopped him and all of his thoughts suddenly, and he stared back at her, confused and worried.

Most scared people didn't want to be touched, in his experience. Since he didn't often scare people in this place, he had little to draw on, so drew on previous, instead, and kept his hands to himself.

Her final question brought more confusion.

"I thought tédésna meant something you could not understand... Is it something scary?"
 
Édéla looked away.

Éjjel made a brief glance at her before his gaze returned to Ríváné. Some sort of understanding seemed to pass between them, because the woman's shoulders lowered. She closed her eyes, her hands foldeded towards her palms, not quite forming a fist as she prepared herself for something. Eyes closed as she formed a barely audible throat, its sound right at the edge of human perception. For beings with better senses, it appeared as a beautiful flower of sound as its harmonic sine waves radiated from her vocal chords.

"Please forgive me. This will be unpleasant," said Ríváné in English, then took a deep breath. "ÉDÉLA."

Unpleasant could not even start to describe it. It was a pointed weapon of destruction. A tool forged for the sole purpose of grabbing attention. It felt as though the colourful woman had shouted at the top of her lungs, screaming until her vocal chords exploded from the stress, yet she remained breathtakingly quiet. The sheer dissonance boggled the mind; fortunately, a resonant hum followed it, as though Ríváné wanted to soften the impact. It still hit Édéla like a hammer as she almost jumped out of her seat.

"He forgave your mistake," continued Ríváné in ónic. "I know you do not follow 'Song', but if you continue to let your emotions to get the better of you, I will remove you from the mission. The flirting is within boundaries. Jarasiv's orders encouraged relationships between our guests and us." Though Édéla did not seem like she took the words to heart, she nevertheless reached out to Ríváné's shoulder. Machined fingers brushed against human flesh, but instead of shrinking away, the songweaver tapped Édéla's wrist. In turn, Édéla retreated again.

"She better future," commented Aranam in awkward English. "Acquires... space?"

Ríváné flashed a strained smile as she felt her plans crumble under orbital bombardment.




"Between universes." Ári had to sit down. She could not remain standing anymore, so she brushed her hand by the wall. A chair folded out in response and she almost fell into its waiting arms. "Between universes..." the repetition failed to make it better. First, tédésna which could be connected to rahn'fehr and now travel between universes? She knew of World's hypotheses about the multi-verse, so the concept seemed familiar, but... Travel between universes?

Yet Warwick told zero lies so far.

"Tédésna... tédésna is something the current state of science can not explain," started the red-haired woman as she attempted to do whatever she had meant to do. "It is usually used in connection with the rahn'fehr," she explained. She felt her brain shut down as she attempted to process the information she was given so far, but it was difficult to take in when she faces such an earnest expression. Ári's logical brain told her this man was lying out of his ass, yet her emotional brain suggested every little bit was true. So which one did she believe?
 
Jade squeaked aloud at the impact of the voice, but simply observed for a time, head tilted, before she looked to her nephew.

"Let her be for now," she ordered quietly.

Kinny pouted, but nodded, unable to keep his eyes off Édéla for several moments before he let out a heavy breath. "Man, I messed things up," he muttered.

Jade raised an eyebrow, then frowned before she realized that the young man was under the assumption that his pheromones had something to do with Édéla's behavior.

"Pheromones," she murmured, "May be part, but are likely not the whole of the cause."

⋯﴾﴿⋯

"Oh."

Warwick scratched his head as he watched her, expression helpless before her clear display of being overwhelmed.

"Ran'fayr?" He realized he butchered the name pretty quickly, then shook his head. "I think I heard mention of those back home once... They are the ones with the stuff that should not work, but does, right?"

Green eyes blinked as he watched her, lowering himself to one knee to try and avoid towering over her.

"Are you alright?"
 
The journey continued in baleful silence for a minute or so. No one seemed willing to interrupt the heavy atmosphere, every person having their own reason and seconds seemed to stretch out for eternity. However, their landing blissfully interrupted the snail-paced seconds, giving Ríváné the opportunity to open the doors for them so everyone may look at their destination.

A common sight for those in Civitatem Lucis: a tall, cylindrical building with countless, smaller cylinders attached to it. As usual, smooth curves along with artistic patterns adorned its surface as a testament to the regime's appreciation for vision. Most of it depicted abstract themes, but the colours felt bright and fresh with the occasional known motif thrown in for good measure. How the structure managed to pull the look off without looking gaudy remained anyone's guess, but it created a picture more serene than the sum of its parts. However, unlike the more utilitarian living areas, colourful lights played on its surface. 3D light projectors showed images over relatively mute backgrounds, depicting... people dancing in the air?

Before anyone could have questioned it, Ríváné pulled everyone out of their car, literally in the case of Édéla. The woman with rollerblades seemed just as dejected as before.

"I think we need to have some enjoyment," declared the songweaver in English. "It is a good way to uhh... Jade, does the English language possess a phrase for knowing each other without words?" she asked, curious if the concept existed at all. "And please tell me if you or Kinny is afraid of heights." Right. That was important. She needed to know in order to choose the proper limitations and thus, minimise injury while maximising enjoyment.




Ári started hyperventillating the moment she heard those words and a high, keening voice ripped from her throat. Warwick... Warwick... Warwick knew the Rahn'fehr! Despite her status as a bladedancer, she felt cold fingers run down her spine. Sinking into her flesh. Flaying her spine. She... she could not.

The world seemed to crash.

Break.

Frac-

ture.

Only her implants kept her conscious and it was not a pretty ride. Ári felt sure her world whirled around her at least four dozen times. The chair under her hands had bent into a mess of gruesome metal, its form no longer fit for purpose. Shrunk pupils spoke of deep-seated terror. Her skin seemed as though she died centuries ago, kept in an underground maosoleum so she may be preserved. Her voice failed her; only a hic escaped the lump in her throat. The only thing she could do was to ping the prison for a break and a replacement; she would not be able to do her job like this.
 
Both Kinny and Jade couldn't help but stare as they exited the transport. Kinny's mouth hung open, and Jade fidgeted, already large eyes wide.

A question of vocabulary pulled the two out of their trance, and Jade looked at Ríváné, then nodded. "Bonding. It will be a bonding activity."

Kinny beamed, bright as ever. "Oh man, this looks like it'll be fun!"

"As for heights," Jade added, "I have no issue, as long as I can tell how high I am, and have someone or something to hold onto if I become nervous."

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Warwick's eyes widened as the potent stink of terror came from the woman. She shut down before his eyes, and all he could do was stand there, shocked.

"I... I am not with them," he murmured uselessly, uncertain how to take back what he said, unsure how to reassure her as he stared at her.

His mind caught up, though, and he knelt in front of her.

"Ári," he said softly, "Look around. Find five things you can see," he instructed, "Four things you can touch. Three things you can hear. Two things you can smell. One thing you can taste." Between each thing, he paused to give her time to do that, trying to help ground her in reality.

He didn't like seeing her fear, if only because it meant she was unhappy, and being the first person he'd met who acted like a person, he felt he should try to help her past the fear.

He had to do something.

He had to help her, as much as he had to breathe.

"If you understand, loosen your hands," he urged, keeping his voice quiet. Releasing tensed muscles sometimes helped people to calm down. He only hoped it would work well enough that she'd come out of it. If she came out of it, she could do whatever worked best for her to calm down.

Even if he wanted to, there was no way for him to magic away her fear, and it would be insulting to her if he tried.
 
A look passed between Ríváné and Aranam. The latter tapped his fingers on his clothes, resulting in a smile from Ríváné as she acknowledged the gesture, almost as though she attempted to offset the doom and gloom radiating from Édéla. The roller-bladed woman stood at a vast distance from everyone, her hands held behind her back as though they could jump out at any unsuspecting person to entangle them in a net of affection. But at least her gaze remained on the group and it seemed as though she paid attention to words as opposed to the catatonic state earlier.

"I remain near Jade," stated Aranam in broken English. "She can hand me."

"The proper word is grab, Aranam," corrected the songweaver. Her smile failed to fade. "But let's go. Éjjel, please explain the... ummm... bonding activity in simple words. I will show them." Rules decided, the group moved at a comfortable place so they would no get lost in the crowd. As much room as the plaza around the building allowed, it felt a tad small with all the people around. The building was definitely a hub of activity: there was just enough space for the small group to make their way through. And as colour dominated the buildings, so did it dominate people. Clothes came in all shapes and sizes, some confirming to altered bodyparts or features alien to the human eye. The sheer variance of Civitatem Lucis put itself on open display and the guests got a faceful of bizarre sights.

Reptillian features here, cat-ears paired with a tail over there, a man who looked more machine than human, someone with more fur than a bear, another one possessing two sets of hands... and nobody bat a single eye. Ríváné weaved through the crowd without a single glance. The only time she stopped was when a woman almost bumped into her. Both apologised quickly before they moved on and Jade's little group found itself entering one of the smaller cylinders.

A relatively small space greeted them, shaped as a piece of a circle. Compared to the cylinder's massive size, it felt incredibly small, but before any questions could be asked, Ríváné wandered off to the side and disappered into a side room. Then, Éjjel cleared his throat to speak in ónic.

"This is a common type of fun in Civtatem Lucis." His words seemed measured and a tad tense, as if he had to overrule himself several times before he spoke. It lent a stiff air to his speech, but it did not seem to come from nerves. Rather, he seemed to be constantly looking for words. "It is simple. There is a large, tall space behind that door," he gestured towards a door on the room's curved side. "filled with... strong electromagnets placed in calculated patterns. They can lift a human and make them fly." A pause. "Do not worry, there is no danger. Ríváné will show you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ríváné returned. She had tied up her hair, donned padded, black clothes covering all of her form, wore a mask and had thick, metallic bracelets on her wrists along with her ankles. She opened the door Éjjel had gestured towards, inviting everyon inside with a smile, revealing the cylinder's interior. A vast, empty space greeted them. Silver-coloured walls lined it, with a red line separating the two rooms. When everyone gathered, she stepped over it and...

She floated.

Without any action on her part, her feet left the ground. The colourful woman ascended about forty centimetres from the floor, but her smile failed to vanish. In fact, it seemed wider for a second before she blasted off towards the cylinder's ceiling as though she were a bullet. The naked eye found it difficult to track her as she flew at a ridiculous pace, performing all sorts of stunts mid-air. An Immelmann turn, several hoops, using the metallic walls as a springboard, a barrel roll, sharp turns, stunning displays of acrobatics such as twirling around an invisible handlebar and many other spectacles sprinkled Ríváné's playful journey.

"Do not try to follow her actions. She has over two thousand hours of practice," commented Éjjel, just in time for Ríváné to reach the cylinder's top. The colourful woman took a breather there, apparantely winded by her journey. At this point, the group could barely see her; only a black dot remained in their vision as it seemed to hang from the ceiling. However, it soon dropped as though it were a hunk of metal with its support cut. Except it was much faster.

About halfway through the cylinder, a sonic boom shook its walls.

Ríváné showed no signs of slowing down.

The next second, she slammed into the ground. However, instead of ending up as a bloody smear, the floor literally swallowed her. The colourful woman disappeared from everyone's sight, slowing down as she sunk in the "metal" while loud, girlish laughter filled the chamber. Within moments, Ríváné returned to surface level, her face flush with joy as she struggled to contain her blissful laughter.




Ári failed to respond. Her world felt tiny in comparison to her realisation and she could not even listen to what Warwick had to say. She could barely cling to consciousness, never mind pay attention to what people might be saying to her and her entire body was tightened as through she were a bowstring. The man's admission about knowing the Rahn'fehr seemed to have shattered her completely. Shallow, panicked breaths signalled catatonia and just as he reached out to her-

"Step away and raise your hands. Open your palms and do not make any sudden movements, or I will be forced to fire."

The security team had arrived. Armed, not to mention armoured to the teeth, they left no room for Warwick to doubt their intentions. Especially as their weapons were trained at him.
 
"Man," Kinny breathed at the variety of people, "I love how different everyone is from each other."

Jade looked up at him, then around. She couldn't see as much, but she trusted he wasn't just saying it emptily.

Preparations began once they were in a smaller room alone, and Jade paid close attention, head tilting from one side to the other as her pupils dilated with interest.

Éjjel explained, and Jade remained near Aranam, unsure when things would begin, until she saw the suit Ríváné wore. Of course, such a thing was needed if this was powered by magnets. It made perfect sense, and she felt slight relief that it was bulky-looking—not everything in Civitatem Lucis was scientifically fantastical.

Ríváné crossed a red line, and began to float.

Jade's jaw dropped as Ríváné became a blur, and she hurried forward to better watch the spectacle, eyes wide as she tried in vain to follow her with them, mouth agape in wonder.

Ríváné became a dot on the ceiling, and Jade slowly let out her breath at last.

It took a moment, but... Wasn't she going too fast? Jade's eyes widened anew, and she started to step forward, only for Kinny's hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Jade's heart slammed in her chest, and she grew visibly pale as Ríváné plummeted. A sonic boom, and then... impact.

Jade closed her eyes, but instead of the sounds of gory horror, she heard laughter.

Slowly, one eye opened, and she saw the woman rising to the surface, joyous and laughing as though someone just tickled her breathless.

Words refused her for what felt like a long time before she managed to say anything at all, and then she gave only understatement.

"It appears safe."

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Warwick's soft and worried expression hardened at the sudden sound of someone else, and he rose and turned almost too quick to track. Shot or not, he didn't appear phased, and his movements carried him between them and Ári, and he watched them without fear for several moments.

Finally, he forced a deep inhale, and let it out as his expression eased away from aggression. He raised his hands as instructed. He kept his palms open, and he watched the security officer who'd spoken.

He eased away from Ári slowly as he began to speak.

"We were talking. I don't know why she is this scared. I mentioned that I heard of the Rahn'fehr where I came from, but I did not think that..."

He trailed off, his head turning to look at Ári before he looked at the leader of the security team.

"She is going to recover, right? Let me know, please. I am worried. I did not mean to scare her—"
 
Ríváné flushed as she stood up, her face dominated by an embarrassed smile. Her hands hid behind her waist after she regained her balance as she put a little distance between herself and her team. Obviously, she could not regain the dignity she lost, but no one seemed to mind her show or her joyous laughter as she arrived at the bottom of the structure, even if Aranam kept staring at her. Likewise, Édéla perked up upon hearing the laughter, her eyes wide. The gears inside her head turned at impercetible speeds as though decoding an enigma. For a moment, it seemed colourful Ríváné had become some sort of an outcast.

Then she clapped her hands. An echo filled the room.

"We are here to have fun," she reminded everyone in ónic, sounding confident despite the blush on her face. "Let's change clothes." Without further ado, she lead her guests into the changing room, then she indicated a door on the far side of the room. "If you do not want to see or be seen, change clothes over there. Please use beginner's gear and if you have problems, call for someone you are comfortable with." She waited a moment for Jade's decision before she started stripping. In full view of the men. Who seemed preoccupied with getting rid of their clothes as well, instead of stealing glances at her. Édéla was the only one who retreated into the room indicated by Ríváné.

Unlike the first changing room, composed only of labelled lockers and an open space with benches, this one had segregated booths, which contained private lockers. They were open; a simple pull on their doors would reveal either insides containing two pairs of bracelets, like the ones Ríváné wore previously, or a more complex space divided into three partitions: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert according to their labels. The beginner package contained only a simple, light suit with minimal padding. It did not feel heavy enough to contain metal, not to mention it was too stretchy; after a few moments of being either uncomfortably loose or tight, it would adjust to the shape of the body, padding included.

A peculiar feature of the Beginner's kit were the white lines high-lighting the wrists along with a circle above the ankles. They corresponded to the slight depression at the middle of the bracelets, also high-lighted with white. Marked as such, it would take a colossal idiot to misplace them.



Safeties toggled as soon as "Rahn'fehr" left Warwick's mouth.

This particularly distinctive click of metal, as he had learned, marked transition from inactivity to activity. Barrels hummed with lethal intent and a sense of war ignited the air.

"Step away immediately and follow my instructions." Was it his imagination, or had the security team grown colder? "Do not resist or I will use lethal force."

Wait, what?

This is the first time Warwick had ever heard something like this and the only thing Ári could do at the moment was to embrace herself. She shivered like a leaf in the wind, teeth rattling, skin pale, eyes unfocused... The very picture of a panic attack. Of course, the security team did nothing, but their tense shoulders along with the fingers on their triggers suggested they would do something if Warwick kept objecting to their interference.

"You will let an officer close the distance and make no attempt to harm them. Is that clear?"
 
Kinny rushed forward first, excited. Like Ríváné, he began stripping in full view, caring little for modesty. Unlike them, he shot glances sometimes—he was in heat, after all. He tried, though—mostly sudden movements drew his eyes, though that didn't stop the appreciation from entering his face.

Jade didn't care about nudity, either, but she paused as she stood before her locker, head tilted with curiosity. It seemed like it was a one-size-fits-all situation, but in a place where people came as varied as she'd seen... how could that work? Absently, she glanced down at her own body, unable to see her own toes past her breasts.

Maybe in this place, these one-size-fits-all garments would actually fit her. She pulled out a beginner suit and began to pull it on, finding it weirdly loose.

No, not just loose... she drowned in it. For a moment after it was on, she stared down at it in disappointment, head lowering. She turned towards Ríváné and the others, "Do the suits come in other—" she started, but by the time the third word came out, she felt movement on her skin.

The suit shifted.

Jade's face reddened as it adjusted itself, eyes wide as her face gave a very clear picture of how surprised she was at how strange it felt, especially on her bust.

"Nevermind," she murmured just a bit too quickly.

Kinny laughed, already in his suit, then started to pull his jacket on over it, not thinking that it might be considered a safety hazard. "Stretchy!" he exclaimed in English, then looked around for a mirror to see if his butt would jiggle if he slapped it.

To his great joy, it did!

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Danger.

Warwick's instincts kicked in, and his focus went to the weapons. Pupils narrowed, then widened, and he glared.

He glared first at the guns, and then at their wielders.

It seemed to him like just like that, with mention of one thing, they changed his treatment from an isolated resort guest with a therapist to a real prisoner. He should have known. He looked back at Ári, distrustful now, then grunted assent.

"Crystal clear," he said, seeming to speak more to Ári than the officer. Without another word, he began to back away, moving slowly, to give them plenty of space to work with that was away from him.

Ári, he now realized, was just a different kind of interrogator than the norm.

And now he was being pinned with... something. Something these people feared and hated. Probably an enemy faction of some sort. This response, so quick, made it all seem like a setup, like they wanted to nail him with something that wasn't indecisive like stabbing a moving corpse.

His stormy expression remained, and he stood away, then fell to sit with legs crossed as his arms remained raised, palms open, and he made it as clear as he could that he wouldn't interfere...

But he couldn't hide his emotions—fae couldn't lie.

Tears threatened through his glare, and the divide became clearer than it had ever been—him and them.

Their use of Ári only damned them more in his eyes. Who sent someone who had panic attacks in for an interrogation?

... Unless they counted on that.

He didn't notice, but a vaporous glow rose from him, faintly visible to all as he clenched his jaw until it hurt.
 
The bodies of Aranam and Ríváné looked like fine-tuned machines of perfection. While Éjjel was also a looker, he paled in comparison to these two. Of course, the former dominated everything with his rather sizeable physique. Powerful, rippling muscles bulged under the large man's clohtes, toned almost beyond mortal imagination. He must have spent decades fine-tuning his body as it did not contain a milligram of superflous flesh in either direction. He radiated elemental power, looking as though he could break a building in half. Or perhaps an entire city. Either way, Aranam handled himself with remarkable dexterity; a proof of his excellent command over his body.

Ríváné went for a slim aesthetic. Though the paddig along with her uniform hid it before, she had hips. Wide, gracefully curving, almost-perfect hips. They seemed to exist for the sole sake of making up for her well-shaped, but average breasts. However, her features made her into a sensual sculpture; her healthy musculature melded with smooth flesh to give her a graceful figure. Her motions high-lit a new way to appreciate her body whenever she moved. One could barely take their eyes off her lithe motions, giving her just as much charm as her colourful hair or eyes.

No one noticed Kinny giving glances, though. Everyone present busied themselves with their suits, as though they were the most important thing in the world, at least until Ríváné noticed the jacket.

"No... more clothes," she said in English as she brushed it with her fingers, but did not touch Kinny's body. "Please take it off. It is dangerous."

In the meantime, Édéla returned from her seclusion and joined the group. Her figure, along with its strange alterations, hid under the beginner's suit, though faint lines remained visible along with her tail. She seemed better than before and exchanged looks with Ríváné.

Ríváné caught it and the next moment, Jade found a hand brushing her shoulders to get her attention. Édéla watched her with a friendly smile, tracing the woman's upper arm.

"Ready to have fun and forgive... what I did?"




The officers did not hesitate. Their weapons were kept aimed at Warwick, disregarding both his body language and the glow which came from him. They closed the distance as a group, though one of them advanced at a faster pace than the others as their request indicated earlier. She seemed just as keen on killing him as the rest: straight arms, a steady grip on her pistol, a focused look in her misshapen eyes and not a millimetre of trembling in her movements. He remained their enemy regardless of his friendly intentions, even as a man knelt down in front of the shaking Ári... who looked upon him with pleading eyes.

"Please... please do not. He is innocent," she pleaded as she shivered. Her words came as frozen, shattered icicles forced through a steel girder. "Please do not! He is not with them! They... t-t-t-they... they never worked with humans." Her whispers gave security pause as the man in front of her looked up at the leader. In turn, the leader looked both at Warwick and Ári. His gaze communicated something imperceptible, but filled with weight.

The next second, Ári fell to the floor, unconscious.

The one after that, the female officer stepped into Warwick's personal space. The weapon in her hand thundered with the foul promise of darkness. It swung towards him at full speed.
 
Kinny blinked as she asked him to take off his jacket. It took him a few moments and several more confused blinks before his shoulders sank, and he sighed.

"I... Yeah, ok," he finally agreed, taking it back off with clear reluctance. He could understand the reasoning, but it didn't mean he had to like it. He sighed and rolled it up, biting his lip slightly in his first show of discomfort since arrival. "Nobody will take it?" he asked after a moment.

Jade looked up as she felt the touch, inwardly shrieking not to be touched, but her expression remained mostly placid aside from the leftover blushing from how strange the shifting cloth of the suit felt.

Edela wanted forgiveness?

She'd had it for some time, from both her and Kinny.

"Yes," she answered, and Kinny nodded rapidly in agreement, still holding tight to his jacket.

"Yeah!" Kinny asserted. "I already forgave you a while ago, anyway. Let's have fun together!"

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Just as he couldn't hide his feelings of anger and betrayal, neither could he hide his surprise as he heard Ári proclaim him innocent, and then heard her fall over. Surprise turned into confusion, and then pain as a powerful shock and a moderately strong punch hit him in his blind side and sent him onto his side with a grunt.

He propped himself up slowly, shaking his head as his fingertips lightly brushed where she'd hit, only to wince.

"What the fuck," he slurred in English, trying to blink his way past the after-sensation of the shock.

He turned his head to look at his hand, slowly moving it as he tried to catch up mentally after the full nerve scramble.

There was iron in that thing, whatever hit him. They were taking advantage of his 'allergy'. They were trying to kill him.

They were trying to kill him, and now he couldn't feel his own skin.

The officer could see more damage to his skin than was normal with her weapon, thanks to the steel in the alloy.
 
"The storage is marked," Ríváné replied with some difficulty as she closed her own, then demonstrated by pressing her thumb against a small plate on the locker's front plate. "Like this." And just to make sure nobody misunderstood, she pulled at the locker's handle.

It refused to budge as much as a single molecule.

"Unlock... do same action?" she half-asked, half stated the following moment, obviously having a bit of trouble with English without dictionary assistance. She figured the message would be simple enough to get. With one more glance, she made sure everyone was wearing the correct piece of hardware, addressing everyone with a nod of approval. Then she lead the way back towards the main area, stopping short of the red line and turning around so she could explain the gist of the system.

"Flying is easy," she stated as she lifted her right hand. She shook her wrist to emphasize the ring attached to it. "You fly as you move your arms and legs. If you stay still, you float. Have fun!" Why did Jade and Kinny feel like there was more to that sentence than it meets the e-

Strong hands grabbed them, hurling both into the chamber and they could clearly see Aranam's guilty smile. Not that Édéla or Éjjel had it easier; both looked quite... surprised as they floated just a couple inches above the pair. Only Ríváné had managed to escape his wrath.




The soldiers did not even pay attention to his wound. Instead, they hauled the bodies onto strong shoulders and conversation began.

Conversation, in which the words 'traitor' and 'danger to Civitatem Lucis' appeared all too frequently. Ári included.

And the soldiers gave not. A single. Fuck.

While they had been hostile moments prior, it seemed as though some sort of magic word turned them outright tribal. It did not last long as the high-security cells were nearby, but Warwick had heard was more than enough to convince him: his best interests were not kept in mind at the moment. And neither were his companion's. If this was a setup, either they were going very far to catch him or they wanted to hook Ári as well; the situation possessed such sheer... absurdity it was difficult to take seriously. Just moments before, he was enjoying a conversation with an attractive woman and for decades, Civitatem Lucis treated him with dignity. Now? All he got was a remarkably rough shove into a bed. The same as Ári a few metres away from him.

And while the beds were remarkably comfortable, the relez bars behind which they lay, were anything but.
 
Satisfied by that, Kinny resumed his usual cheer, and both paid close attention to Ríváné's description of how to play in their strange suits.

Jade squawked and, as she was thrown, began to flail her arms like a bird shoved from the nest. She even began to peep in panic, but after just a few moments, she stilled as she realized she didn't hit the ground, and instead was moving as her limbs flailed.

An experimental wave of her arm, and she went in a circle.

And her red eyes brightened as she did the same with the other.

Kinny, taking the sudden floating in stride outwardly, was internally about to cry. He hadn't felt himself floating since...

He shook his head, then shot a grin at Aranam. "Brat!" he accused playfully, then reached toward him. "Come on!"

⋯﴾﴿⋯

Warwick snarled as he was thrown onto a bed. This was their true face, he was sure. He moved closer to Ári and adopted a protective stance over her, despite how his body tried to rebel against his will.

His lungs ached as he tried to breathe, and every movement brought pain, but he kept himself in a position to protect Ári, even as he felt strange popping throughout his body and had to lean an arm on her bed.

It had been a long time since he'd last felt so weak.

Since he'd last touched iron.

His resistance was shot.

He was losing consciousness...

His mind shifted back home, where his sister was a fledgling Hunter. Where a brother was a Trainer. Where... he hoped they were doing well.
 
The challenge did not go unnoticed. Aranam's legs tensed and before Kinny knew it, the man exploded forwards, very much intending to do unspeakable things to his 'opponent'. Or perhaps just tackle him in the air to start a competition of sorts between the two of them. With how quick he moved, it was difficult to tell the truth, but the smile on Aranam's face suggested the latter. And if Ríváné's calm approach indicated anything, she did not thinkthe behaviour as worrisome.

The colourful woman started a series of simple exercises with the wristbands, writing lazy circles in the air. Édéla joined her within a moment, indicating... something with a gestures and the two women withdrew from the company, floating away at a mediocre pace. They probably had something private to discuss.

This left Jade with Éjjel, who was testing the bands to see exactly how they behaved. Despite the meticulous approach, it looked more as though he attempted to confirm what he already knew than discovering a new range of movements: he transitioned from movement to movement without pause. In fact, on a closer observation, he was repeating some of Ríváné's patterns, though if anything, he kept it at an even more basic level.




Ári was not surprised when she woke up.

She was terrified.

Thanks to her panic attack at the mention of rahn'fehr - which still sent cold shivers down her spine - she remembered the events only as a vague assembly of watercolour vignettes. Possessing little to no clarity, the only facts she could establish were that one, she was in prison and two, Warwick loomed over her in a protective position. Neither promised anything good for the near future; while she did not think Warwick really cooperated with the enemies of humanity, doubt always existed. Especially with her current surroundings.

Sharp, hiked breaths ringing in her chest and bringing in too little air, Ári shivered as she tried to regain her grip on reason... and utterly failed.