Absorption—the fragment's ability to feed on matter—worked a little like its resilience. Caen could concentrate the absorption on an area of his body or spread it out thinly.

  He held a hard-shelled Parthran fruit in his hand and focused the area of absorption on his palm. Without needing to crack the shell open, he was able to break it down over the course of nearly an hour.

  The absorption process was not as flashy as he'd expected it to be. The fruit did not turn to sludge or anything more digestible. It merely faded into whatever parts of his palm were in contact with it, slowly diminishing over time till there was nothing left.

  He felt faint traces of ‘vitality’, and only because he was looking out for something. It was strange to feel the satisfaction of eating without having eaten in the conventional way. There were spells for this, though of course, he'd never experienced them before.

  Caen disconnected from his fragment so that he could cast a slew of Blood-healing diagnostic spells on himself. Not a single one collapsed. He scanned his digestive processes carefully, thinking over an idea that now occurred to him. He dismissed his spell and spent the next few hours Mimicking his fragment's absorption again.

  He ate another fruit, then activated the absorption and focused it within his digestive organs. Unintended harm to himself was not possible in Parthra, so Caen didn't have to worry about accidentally damaging his organs. He aided his digestive processes till he felt traces of ‘vitality’ again.

  He disconnected from the fragment and cast more Blood-healing spells to determine if there'd been any damage or injury: nothing was out of place. After Mimicking the fragment again, he ate another fruit and repeated the absorption process.

  Nearly seventy fruits later, Caen did not feel any more satiated than he had hours ago; he did feel very energized, though.

  He went on to test out the absorption on dead plant matter, even bark. His mind was whirling with all the ways he could use this.

  He hurried down to a grotto where many people gathered to share mixtures and liquor. An excessively eager Venefic practician gave him a small bottle of cheap alcohol for free.

  Caen returned to his perch on the branch and uncorked the bottle. The sharp tang hit his nostrils, causing him to recoil. He’d always stayed away from alcohol because of his magical abjection. Liquor was never brewed with consideration for those lacking passive augmentations, which made sense. Abjects were rare.

  He centered the absorption in his mouth and every other part of his insides that would come in contact with the alcohol. He took a very small sip that burned on the way down, but much less than it should have. Moments later, he felt a tingle of warm vitality.

  With the absorption still active, he braced himself and took a long swig from the bottle. The burning sensation was stronger this time, and he could feel a relaxing buzz in his head. Then came a slight rush of vitality, and his mind snapped to clarity again. The intoxicating effects were completely gone.

  He downed the rest of the bottle. The results were the same. Slight inebriation followed by a rush of vitality and then clarity.

  “Okay,” Caen muttered, impressed. “This could be very useful.”

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  * * *

  After some more days of testing, Caen packed his things and left to find Frerit-ya-tess. He had more questions, but he found no trace of her.

  He began making his way down the layers. He'd, of course, hidden the bioluminescence of his fragment and smoothed it over to resemble the typical kind.

  On the eleventh floor, he helped with the decorative efforts of the dryads and denizens there. Manipulating the bark of Parthra was only possible for those who had earned fragments.

  It usually required many months or years of familiarizing oneself with their fragment before a non-dryad could affect parts of Parthra directly. And even then, large numbers of them had to work together. Sometimes they aided the dryads, joining their efforts in some sort of mystic activity that the dryads took immense pleasure in mystifying all the more.

  With his own Flora affinity, Caen was unable to do anything impressive, but it brought him great satisfaction to shape portions of bioluminescent Parthran bark. It was incredibly slow work and often required him to partner with several other non-dryad fragmentals like himself.

  Of course, when he was Mimicking his fragment's spirit receptor, he could completely dim the natural lights within small alcoves or flare them dramatically. In mere seconds, he could seal or open holes in the bark, making new windows and doors.

  On the eleventh layer, Caen encountered Gam the Bard once more and sat with his gaggle of performers to make music.

  He hadn't made many friends among the denizens, but most of the ones he'd met were quite amicable. He stopped on the second layer to say hello to the dryad barkeep he'd met on his first night here.

  Then he made his way to the nook where he'd located the vine that had aided his climb. The very same vine that now hung around his shoulders. Caen took off the vine and brought it to the section of the wall where he'd peeled it from. That had been over a month ago. He hadn't needed to use the vine since he'd increased his affinity in Flora magic on the third layer, but he still held on to it out of sentiment.

  Frerit-ya-tess had explained that the symbiotic plant life here in Parthra died the instant they were taken out of the Plane. While he might have preferred to take the vine out with him as a memento, this felt more meaningful.

  Mimicking the vine one last time, he used its Flora affinity to integrate it back into place.

  “Thank you,” he said to it.

  Then he was back to the first layer. After saying goodbye to familiar faces, the dryad from that very first day wasn't too difficult to find.

  The dryad sat on a lush carpet of grass and flowers with some other denizens, plumes of colorful smoke surrounding them. He heartily congratulated Caen and produced the gear that had been taken before the climb.

  Caen descended the steps while still connected to Parthra's soul structure, and this allowed him to see that the great tree’s roots stretched beneath the ground and well past the Aperture that Caen was headed to.

  The six-hour trek back to the Planar Aperture was long and relaxing for Caen. Mimicking its spirit receptor, he freely used that Parthran language and kept shaping his fragment into different ornamental pieces. A crown, layers of interconnected rings, a glove, a hat. He worked slowly, even though he could manipulate it as fast as any dryad. Besides, the distance he had to trek afforded the time.

  Easy departure.

  Easy departure.

  Waves of this washed over Caen in that complicated language, and it felt almost as though Parthra were… teasing him. Caen expressed feelings of amusement and gratitude in return. He expressed some of that gratitude to his fragment, too.

  At the gazebo, there was a different dryad, reading a book. Caen exchanged a polite nod with them. He reached the Aperture and looked back at the Plane, feeling a rush of nostalgia.

  I'm definitely going to come back here once I can spare the time.

  The Patronage trials were near. Coming to Parthra had only been the first step in his preparations. More steps awaited him in Drenlin.

  Caen walked out of the Plane.