They'd just killed a swarm of ants and had escaped back to a chamber they'd been in before. Between Zeris's map, Caen's tyyr ink markings on the floor, and the dark blood of dead ants, it was always easy to tell.

  Caen was healing their wounds. He'd spent quite some time on his own wounds, being the most injured, though his full armor with its weak enchantments definitely helped. His reserves were just about a third of the way full, so he was prioritizing once more. He and Zeris had also taken to cleansing Guinevere's spirit as well as theirs. Zeris and Guinevere’s spirits produced far more slag than usual, as a result of all the Planar creatures they'd killed. Constantly absorbing free spirit particles without respite could be more harmful than beneficial.

  [I've seen you use Blood-healing, Dream-guarding, Spirit-healing, Body-enhancement, and Fire magic with above average competence,] Guinevere said. [How are you still an um… a Gatherer?]

  Zeris laughed. She was fiddling with Guinevere's bracer, which the other girl had very reluctantly parted with. [What's wrong with being an F-rank? I'm F-rank too.]

  [Space practician. Versed in Fire magic and Spirit-healing? That doesn't make any sense. Why?]

  [Solidarity,] she replied.

  [I was born with a magical sickness,] Caen said to Guinevere, seeing her raised eyebrow. [I only recently started getting over that. When I decided to get registered as a Valiant, Zeris did too, for moral support.]

  [Aww,] Guinevere sent. [Did you guys ever go into Planes?]

  [Sometimes,] Caen said. [We were in Redshadow very recently.]

  [Oh my god, me too!] Guinevere said. [I went in alone and had so much fun. My parents were super worried, though.]

  Caen tilted his head at that.

  [It was more terrifying than fun,] Zeris said. [We saw a seven-tails.]

  [That. Is. So awesome!] Guinevere said. [I've always wanted to meet one of those. I’ve read about how fast they are. The mental processing required for those speeds must be crazy!]

  [Tahal,] Zeris cursed. [You sound just like this one.]

  [Hold on now, I'm different,] Caen clarified, as he mended the gash on Zeris's arm, reorienting himself to keep the roots in view. [I'd like to see one, not meet one. She's clearly far more deranged than I am.]

  [Oh yeah, I've been wondering about that,] Guinevere said. [You keep swearing with: ‘Tahal’. Isn't that just the last two syllables of your surname?]

  Zeris chuckled. [And what about you, Guinevere Black? What kind of last name is that?]

  [It's a real name.]

  [Yeah, okay. Black sword and black armor.]

  Guinevere rolled her eyes. [Fine. Sounds tougher than my surname. Makes people take me more seriou—stop laughing. It's true!]

  [Tahal is the name of our ancestor, responsible for this bloodline,] Caen explained as he grazed her spirit with a spirit tendril. [She's the first Ereshta'al, and we call her Spirit Mother.]

  [Have you ever met her before?]

  Zeris snorted. [Of course not. She's probably dead. Even my great-grandparents’ great-grandparents have never met her before.]

  [I don't know about ‘dead’,] Caen said, moving over to attend to Guinevere’s injuries. This was an old argument between him and Zeris. [If she's as old as the stories say, then she's definitely very powerful. An ancient Archmage.]

  Guinevere's brow creased. [How old are we talking?]

  [She was present at the Lantian War. Or more precisely, she was already an Archmage then.] The Lantian War was the most popular and defining war in recorded history. It had taken place over four thousand years ago, and had resulted in the death of… a disturbingly large number of people.

  [Yeah… she's probably dead.]

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  [Well, who can say with these things?] He finished up with her burns and several of the many bruises his diagnostic scan had revealed. He glanced at the time construct in the corner of his vision. [I need to check in with Hshnol.]

  [Actually, maybe I could do that instead,] Guinevere sent. [It won't take me nearly as long to jump into Grat and pass on word. Because of my bloodline, that is. I want to tell my family I'm okay.]

  All this time, Caen had perhaps wrongly assumed that she didn't want to go into the Astral Realm to see her family.

  [Of course,] he sent.

  * * *

  As Caen rattled off the Grat Coordinates of someone named Hshnol, Guinevere split off a portion of her mind.

  Her mother's bloodline was two-fold. She retained a permanent telepathic link between herself and her older siblings. It would one day, in the very distant future, include all their collective descendants. But for now, it was just them three.

  The second aspect of the bloodline allowed her to form a telepathic link with a limited number of people. The range and functionality of this link were worse than the one she shared with her siblings.

  As she memorized the Grat Coordinates Caen had given her, she spoke into the link between her and her siblings.

  [Albi? Nimmy? I'm going into Grat right now. Please, meet me there.]

  [Guin-Guin, I'm at a dinner party!] Albion sent. [Can't this wait?]

  [Don't be a jerk,] Nimmy said. [We never wait when you call for a meeting. Guin-Guin, I'm already in Grat-line. I'll meet you at Albi's.]

  [Fine! Let me find somewhere to crash.]

  [Thank you,] Gwen said. She united both portions of her mind and said to Caen, [Got it. I'm going in now.]

  * * *

  Guinevere was seated at a table with her brother, Albion, and her sister, Nimue. She'd already passed along Caen's message to Hshnol after projecting her consciousness into the Deep Astral with a quick spell.

  Both her siblings had her blond hair, but Albi's eyes were brown like their dad's.

  “Are you doing alright, Guin-Guin?” Nimmy said with clear concern. She looked like a younger, less scary version of their mom. “You're not having a hard time in the Plane, are you?”

  The Astral Realm usually presented people the way they understood themselves to look at any given moment. Gwen could have made herself appear a bit better, but she was tired. Her hands trembled now, and several of the mental effects she'd piled on herself to suppress her anxiety were starting to unravel. “Guys, I'm in trouble.”

  “What's this about?” Albi looked like he'd been drawn out of a rave. His clothes were rumpled, and his hair, which he usually combed and oiled to perfection, was a mess.

  “Aww, did you go into Redshadow all by yourself again? Are Mom and Dad being melodramatic?”

  “I think Mom and Dad are offworld because I can't—I can’t reach them. I got trapped in a Plane with some people. One of them died. I-I-I gave out too many of my healing potions and don't have any left. It might have helped him. I don't know how to—” her voice broke a little. “There's a Diviner t-trying to find us, b-but the spatial anomalies in the Plane—we’re injured and I'm almost out of rations and potions. And, and and—

  They pulled her into a hug, and Gwen couldn't keep back the well of emotions. She hoped to highest heaven that her physical body wasn't crying. That would be so embarrassing. What would Caen and Zeris think of her?

  “I’ve been trying to contact Mom for hours. I know they'll probably... I'm scared they'll…” her voice broke again. The problem with having parents who were so old was that a decade of punishment for an honest mistake didn't seem like much to them. And they wouldn't hesitate to do to her what they'd done to Albi, but she was willing to take that chance now.

  “I can't reach Mom either,” Nimmy said after a moment. “She's definitely out of range.”

  “W-what do I do?” Gwen asked.

  Both of them hesitated.

  “Where are you exactly? And how bad is it?” Albi asked.

  She told them everything.

  “We’ll be there tomorrow,” Nimmy said. “We'll bring Antoine and find you in no time. Just… just hold on. We’ll find you.”

  * * *

  Caen sat with his back to Zeris, who was once more observing the root-portal in the hopes of activating it herself. She'd said she was getting closer. And somehow fiddling around with Guinevere's bracer had given her some ideas she wasn't yet ready to voice out. If they could reliably move through the root-portals without needing to agitate the tree roots each time, it would spare them a great deal of danger.

  Guinevere lay on the floor, eyes closed. She'd gone into Grat to speak with her family and relay information to Hshnol.

  Caen himself kept all three exits within his periphery. At the same time, he Mimicked the Blood-healing affinity of one of the trees, again and again, working on reducing the time it took him to imitate an affinity.

  Guinevere broke out into a very soft sob, and tears started streaming down her face. Caen glanced at her, then behind him at Zeris, who'd turned as well. They both shrugged and went back to their tasks.

  Caen had been thinking a lot about how Planar creatures used magic. They didn't seem to be casting spells, though he honestly couldn't say for sure.

  Caen had never gotten access to spells higher than the third elevation. Regeneration was a thing of stories. Years ago, he'd asked naMoon about this once, and the healer had just smiled and patted his head. The fact that these trees were doing it so easily was beyond curious.

  There might be something in a soul structure that Caen could observe to help him determine what spells, or—if no spells were involved—what abilities a person or being was using. And if he could determine them, could he maybe replicate them in himself?