Randidly looked at Mareen. The papers around them fluttered lightly, a counterpoint to the stillness of the two humans in the shack. Mareen looked at Randidly and her expression remained serious. So Randidly repeated his earlier question. “Huh?”

After a split second of studying Randidly’s face, Mareen’s expression twisted into a frown. “I hadn’t realized you put so much stock in gender roles, Mr. Ghosthound. I know that it is unusual, but… honestly, if I don’t do it, I have no idea how long I will need to wait for Naffur to propose, so… And these last few weeks with him… it’s like every second I feel his eyes light me up like I’m a firecracker-”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” Randidly tapped his fingers against the paper-covered tables. It was not the questions about who should propose to who or whether these teenagers were moving too quickly that gave Randidly pause. Why me? Why would I have any right to give away Naffur’s hand in marriage, even just setting aside everything else…

Although she might not have heard Randidly’s mental question, it seemed Mareen was becoming increasingly nervous that this would end up being a no from Randidly. He could see the fear of rejection widen her eyes and cause her jaw to tremble. So she spoke more quickly, as though she could overwhelm him into agreeing with her request. “Well as you know Naffur is an orphan and isn’t close to so many people… and you were the one that recognized his talent and took him in to be the head of the Order Ducis… so in a way, aren’t you like an adopted father to him? So I just thought…”

Ah, girl… Randidly kept his expression even, but inwardly he was twisting his stomach into knots. It wasn’t even me that found Naffur; it was Neveah. But when you talk about our relationship like that… I almost feel guilty that I have essentially thrown him to the wolves after naming him head of the Order Ducis. When he asks for help, I’ll freely give it, and I have always been generous about making image training opportunities, but when it comes to a personal relationship with Naffur…

Honestly, my personal relationships in general...

“So? Please?” This time, Mareen went down on one knee, as though she needed to ask for the blessing in the same manner that she would ask Naffur to marry her. It seemed that she realized the ridiculousness of what she was doing a full second after Randidly did, looking down at her. It was somewhat reassuring to see her face slowly heat toward redness. Due to her pale skin, her flush was very visible.

Neveah must have been paying close attention to Randidly’s emotions because she quickly interjected. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Yes it’s true you could have done better, but he has grown quite well into the role of leader of the Order Ducis if I do say so myself. We were busy. There was always so much to do.

A sad smile crossed Randidly’s face as he looked down at Mareen. We can’t keep using that as an excuse forever, Neveah. And also… I’m guessing from the fact you are paying attention to me that your experiments with the Bizarre Spike haven’t been going well.

Randidly could feel Neveah’s frustrations for a brief second, then she mastered her emotions. Between the two of them, she had much more self-control than he did. Rather than answer his question, however, she focused on the previous discussion. But even if Naffur is alright, what with you being his de facto father figure, I’m worried about Mareen. They often say that a lot of your sexual issues are a direct result of poor parenting… so considering your absenteeism in Naffur’s life… ah, poor Mareen...

Randidly was torn between amusement and annoyance. And what would you know about sexual issues, Neveah?

She snorted and went to continue their mental discussion, but Randidly signaled for her to stop. Instead, he looked at the young woman in front of him, watching the struggle between the desire to stand and stubbornness to see her ploy through play across Mareen’s face.

After a bit, Randidly sighed. “...honestly Mareen, I don’t know either of you very well. Because of that...”

Mareen’s face clouded. “So then…?”

“Then let's plan a dinner. For next week.” Randidly said softly. It was strange, but the young woman in front of him just seemed so… young. They were on completely different emotional wavelengths. Plus, to compare the amount of foolishness that must have possessed her in order to make this request seem reasonable to Randidly’s feelings for Vualla… “Let me see the two of you together. If I see in him what I see in you right now… then I’ll definitely agree. For all that it’s worth.”

After receiving Randidly’s tentative acceptance, Mareen sprung to her feet and put her arms around Randidly. Her wrists seemed so thin. Her skin was cool. Then she pulled away, thanking him the entire time, and retreated from Randidly’s island.

Even a few minutes after she left, Randidly still felt strangely strained standing there. Or perhaps it was better to say that he felt lost. Because that move by Mareen highlighted all the social connections in the world that Randidly didn’t usually experience. He could look down the Path he had not taken to get here.

Then he forced his breath out and shook his head.

Besides, Mareen’s arrival had been rather surprising, but it had brought one thing to his attention: how long he had been working on his Kharon Academy idea. It was to the point that Randidly had completely forgotten to do his daily training in the morning. The experience of losing himself in the task was freeing and humbling. However, Randidly was glad that he had been shaken out of his obsessive focus.

But the fact that it had stretched on for long enough that he missed his morning training meant that quite a bit of time had passed. It had now been two days and five hours since Captain Quill had assured Randidly that even at its most glacially slow, the task of cleaning up the remnant Nether forces would only take two days. And since Captain Quill had encouraged Randidly to ask him questions, Randidly had no qualms proceeding to the front of the Captain’s tent and announcing himself.

He stood there and released a quick pulse of the Grim Chimera. That baleful determination to survive stirred the surrounding air. He raised his taloned claw and bone spear into the air. But just as quickly as he manifested his image, he released it and the pressure dissipated. This was a trick he had seen by watching some of the various members of the Smog Clan as they came to report to the captain.

In the seconds after Randidly reigned his image back in, he felt very disappointed in the approximation that he had managed. The speed with which he released and pulled back his image couldn’t compare to the members of the Xyrt Brigade. But, that was probably the value of the training. The training that even now, Vualla was being tortured by in order to grow stronger.

First thing I’m going to do once the Xyrt Brigade leaves is connect with Vualla and heal some of her mental strain- wait, damn, a Nether Ritual will draw out Kaan Swacc… and I doubt he will give me enough time to heal Vualla. So I need to deal with him first…

While Randidly was reflecting, the tent flap opened to reveal the rather stoic looking aid to Captain Quill, Wuva. He scanned Randidly critically, then spoke in a precise manner. “Your execution of your image is sloppy… but I can tell it is just from lack of practice, not because your image is weak. You are quite impressive, Randidly Ghosthound. I will make sure that fact is included in the report.”

Wondering if he had made some sort of long term mistake with this attempt, Randidly nodded slowly. “Thank you, Wuva. Is… ah, Captain Quill in? Can I talk to him?”

Wuva nodded and gestured for Randidly to follow him. But as he led Randidly into a remarkably large entrance hall, complete with a distinguished portrait of Captain Quill giving a look like his face was literally smoldering, Wuva continued to speak. “Something that might help you is to create what we think of as a template for your image. Keep a weaker, dormant version of the image around you that you just bring to life when you need it. The only downside of that being that individuals who try to manage two different images can sometimes shoot themselves in the foot for their other image, but for you…”

Wuva glanced over his shoulder at Randidly as they climbed the stairs. There was a hint of a question there and Wuva’s eyes were surprisingly sharp. Randidly smiled awkwardly and shrugged.

Chuckling to himself, Wuva continued to climb up the stairs. “Well, anyway. Stick close behind me. This can get tricky.”

Setting aside the issue of a staircase inside of a tent, Randidly was left flatfooted when they reached the top of the next landing and a hallway stretched to his left and right for about a hundred meters each way. The maroon tent took up only about a basketball court’s worth of space on Randidly’s island. This strange mansion that Randidly found himself in seemed to be large enough to fill his entire island.

Despite the clear violations of the laws of physics, Wuva confidently walked down the hall. Following him, Randidly started looking around with his senses other than his eyes and quickly had a better picture of where he was.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 207!

It’s a giant labyrinth, Randidly thought in awe as he glanced around him. Without using his eyes, Randidly could see the way that an Engraving was warping space and his preception to convince him that he was moving even when he wasn’t. And as Randidly continued to follow Wuva, he realized that the way they were proceeding through the house, walking through drawing rooms and then pulling out a book in a bookcase to reveal a secret passage, was a password to deactivate the surroundings.

It made him wonder how difficult it would be to force his way through such defenses.

So when Randidly finally stepped through a doorway and found Captain Quill puffing away at his pipe, what really happened was he finally had followed Wuva and made it through the defenses of the tent. Before addressing Captain Quill, Randidly turned and took a long look over his shoulder at the Engraving that he left behind.

Captain Quill glanced up from a few pieces of paper that he held with his smoky appendages. “Ah, Mr. Ghosthound! What a pleasure, what a pleasure. Truly, what an auspicious time for you to arrive! I was about to head to dinner. Perhaps you could join me?”

Randidly showed a small smile. “Thank you for the invitation, but no, there’s no need for me to stay for dinner; I’d like to get out of your hair as soon as possible. I just have a few questions-”

“About why I haven’t got out of your hair yet, correct?” Suddenly, the sharper version of Captain Quill was there. He released a huge orb of smoke that somehow maintained its structure as it floated forward. “Mr. Ghosthound, there are some things that are best discussed over dinner.”

“I don’t wish to waste either of our time, Captain Quill,” Randidly said slowly. Some part of him knew it would be easier just to accept the dinner invitation, but there was something about Captain Quill that reminded Randidly about some older, distant relatives from his youth. Somehow he doubted that dinner would be a ‘simple’ affair, even if he knew that Captain Quill would very likely claim it was such.

Captain Quill looked at Randidly in silence for ten seconds. Wuva stood next to Randidly the entire time with a straight spine. He was more ornament than a person. Finally, Captain Quill sighed. “Fine then, son, let’s speak about the state of Earth. I know why you are here. And I cannot deny that we have remained on your planet for longer than I anticipated. But there is a very good reason for that.

“We’ve found quite a bit of Nether on your planet, Mr. Ghosthound.” Captain Quill’s focus never left Randidly. “Some of it in some very… unusual places.”