Worlds Apart

Chapter 25

F R A Y I N G

Oct. 05 2020 19:23 FGT

Jaykio Ancestral House, Kyno, Province of Forseglet

"And then they covered it with armour? Which is just—what?" Riona gestured animatedly with her spoon.

"Hold up," Naia raised her hand. "Armour?"

"Yeah, you know the thing they use—what is it called?"

"Gukros," Celnis supplied.

"Kadin fabric," Naia corrected, "you know, what normal people call it."

Celnis threw his hands in the air. "I'm sorry one of us has to learn the scientific names of everything."

"Eh," Naia raised a shoulder. "Your fault for picking medicine."

"Tell me again why you need to know gukros for that?" Riona slurped her curry clumsily. Her left 'hand' still ached when she moved it so she avoided using it. She had expected it to help and not make things worse because who knew that welding metal that sapped your magic to your skin would be draining?

Riona bit back a sigh. It was best to keep her discomfort to herself or her friends would never stop fussing over her.

"Because it has medicinal uses?" Celnis said as if it were obvious.

"Dunno how that would work but okay." Naia leaned back in her seat, lounging on the plush sofa she had dragged in from another room.

"So, Neàl made this wormhole, got that part," Celnis directed at Riona, "but then covered it up with torn-up EI armour instead of just closing it?"

Riona shrugged, then froze when her curry tipped too close to the bowl's edge. Ma would kill her if the sheets got stained. "I don't know why," she said instead. "And it must be stolen armour, right? I don't think they'd just hand out equipment to trainees like that."

"Speaking of trainees," Naia snapped her fingers, "what's up with that friend of yours? The Parri."

"Kasumi? I haven't seen her much since I came back." Riona took another sip. "She dropped by a few days ago to say hi, but I think she came to talk to Neàl."

"He got pulled out of training, right?" Celnis sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Imagine that being all the punishment you get for murdering a dozen people."

Riona hummed. "But it's good, right? Maybe they believed them. And he did fix a Gate we haven't been able to use for ages and—wait, why were you asking about Kasumi, anyway?"

"Heard she hasn't shown up for a while," Naia said absently, putting her feet up on the rounded plum footstool. "Some rumours going around that she might have deserted, but they're suppressing it. Guess it looks bad to have people defect from the most important Guardian division."

"She defected after talking to Neàl?" Celnis asked slowly, warily eyeing Riona.

"Coincidence," Riona said, with an air of finality. Celnis and Naia shared a look but didn't argue.

"The EI sure is taking a lot of hits," Naia said instead. "Read this morning that this agent who went MIA after being suspended three years ago finally got arrested the other day." She glanced at Celnis. "He was Celèsa."

Celnis scoffed, picking at the star Markings on his fingertips. "Of course."

"Why did he get arrested?" Riona asked.

"Watchdog. Got corrupted by Earth-side or something like that and nearly killed someone," she said nonchalantly. "And—get this—he was Markless."

"Huh," Riona said. "How do you even know all that?"