It had only been a few days since the fight at the quarry, but Nauda still fumed every time she began soulcrafting. From one perspective, that made no sense, because Esaire didn't care about her in the slightest. Yet she had delivered a perfect hit to his arm, believing that she would slow his progress before the duel, and he had nearly shrugged it off.

Perhaps she was simply seeing the limits of Archcrafter, though there was still so much that needed to be done. In retrospect, she wished that she had built her barrier chamber in a different place so that its cantae could flow upward to reinforce another chamber. Theo's design was entirely based on such principles, and when she'd spoken to Fiyu, her blueprint had similar plans. Yet there was no time to stop and remodel, not with so many monsters above her.

Especially Tythes. She hadn't spoken to the others about it, but their previous meeting at the quarry had unnerved her. The Authority had held eye contact for a moment too long, making clear that he truly remembered her. Though it would be incredibly petty for him to hate her for standing up to him, Tythes seemed like a petty man.

Which might mean yet another Authority-tier soulcrafter potentially standing in her path. Nauda sighed and continued stacking bricks on the tower beside her main soulhome. She'd used some of her merits to purchase good sublime materials, both for stone and mortar. Being able to rely on a House's resources was certainly convenient in some ways, and if not for the threats hanging over them, she might have been happy.

There had been a time when she'd thought soulcrafting all the Archcrafter materials she'd been storing in her soul would make her impossibly strong. And they certainly had strengthened her, just not enough. She'd only been an Archcrafter for less than a year, and in the tournament she'd fought others with decades of experience, but the fact was that she had lost.

Here, that didn't matter. But in her home, losing meant death.

By the time she finished the second floor of her tower, Nauda was spiritually exhausted. She still hadn't made full use of the tower Theo had helped her create: it was suited for a single highly focused technique, but she didn't have the right sublime materials. That was always the problem.

Dragging her weary body back to her main soulhome, Nauda examined the sublime materials they'd recovered from the eryo again. If she could somehow make use of them, they'd strengthen her immensely, but the materials threatened to demolish her soulhome if she didn't keep them in safe storage. Abruptly she realized that she was falling into the same pattern, relying on future sublime materials to save her, and returned to the real world.

As always, it was disorienting to go from an exhausted spiritual form to her physical body, which brimmed with strength. Soulcrafting was deeply physical work, so her muscles there burned in the same way they did after real world training, yet those sensations vanished like spirits.

She'd almost forgotten that Theo was soulcrafting in the same courtyard, she'd been inside so long. Instead of getting his attention physically, she touched his knee and used her telescope to shift into his soulhome. Since she wasn't truly there, just an attentive presence, she didn't feel any exhaustion. Instead of the rich tactile feelings of her own soul, she floated as hazy fire, able to drift in all directions.

"Yeah?" Theo's voice echoed from within his second floor. It was solid, so she couldn't see him, but within his soul of course he knew her presence.

"Taking a break," Nauda said. She couldn't simply push into his soulhome, so she drifted up to enter via the hole in the roof.

It wasn't just a hole anymore, she realized. Theo had built a shutter-like structure that opened upward, and though it was probably just a temporary construct because it was made from local stone, it made her reconsider his soulhome. Normally cantae for techniques was released through windows or doors, but could it be released from the roof? She saw no reason why not, and now that she floated overhead, she felt as though his entire soulhome was a weapon being aimed at her.

Floating down the central shaft, Nauda found Theo working away at his tornadogem container again, sublime materials spread all around him. He worked with a furious intensity, but managed to look up at her seriously.

"Anything the matter, or just wanted to talk?"

"I feel like I have the opposite problem you do." Nauda tried to lean back against the wall, but her body merely slipped along it. "You have too much to do and not enough time. For me, I finally have most of what I want, and I feel like I'm not using my time well."

"You could always consider a remodel of your first floor, or further refine your rooms." Theo glanced up from his work, and though he might not be able to see her expression well in this form, he seemed to understand. "But that isn't what you're looking for, is it?"

"No. You're bending your entire Archcrafter floor to a single technique, and even if Fiyu is stalling, she's in an excellent position for when she ascends. I need to find something more dramatic to soulcraft, just in case things go bad."

"Well, there's always a shielding wall. Your two-sectioned soulhome should already have expanded the boundaries of your soul enough, so you could begin on that. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it."

"You're not building one."

"Because I have a duel to the death in less than three months." He hesitated slightly in his work, then shrugged. "Not technically to the death, but you know what I mean."

She did, and she thought he was thinking about the problem the right way, but that didn't mean that she agreed with his other conclusions. "I'm not sure a shielding wall is worth it. Being able to pretend I'm a first tier soulcrafter isn't worth very much, and even if I went overboard and built it two stories tall, how well could I pretend to be an ordinary person?"

"If you soulcraft the wall well enough, it's possible."

"I mean the fact that I'm carrying a powerful armament and spending all my time with soulcrafters."

That got a slight chuckle from him. "Okay, fair enough. But shielding walls can do more than just hide your strength. They can resist observation techniques, and most importantly they'll defend your soulhome from serious damage if things go wrong. With the right wall, you could drink undiluted granitebile harmlessly."

"I see your point, but I don't see how it will matter in most situations." Nauda tightened a fist, feeling the tension through her arm even in spirit form. "Maybe that would matter while fighting other Archcrafters trying to injure me, but how often will that be relevant? If a single Authority or worse decides to kill or cripple me, they'll tear straight through the shield wall."

Finally Theo looked up at her for more than a moment, seeing past the immediate soulcrafting questions to her true concerns. He didn't answer right away, which she appreciated about him - the Theo who strode forward confident in everything was different from the Theo who waited. When he started to open his mouth to answer, however, there was a disruption in the real world.

"Hey! Hey, fumpets! Stop sporping around and pay attention to Senka!"

Theo growled in irritation, so Nauda waved a hand. "I'll take care of it." A moment later, she was back in her body, watching Senka attempt to shove a flagstone into Theo's hazy body.

"Senka, where did you get that?"

"From the ground, silly gurfoop." Senka turned and tried to push the flagstone into her body instead, so Nauda took it from her, which stopped her for only a moment before she pulled more things from her filthy dress. "Senka also founded these!"

A piece of moldy bread and some Fithan Discs. Nauda sighed and took Senka by the shoulders to force her to stand still. "Senka, you need to stop stealing things. Even if you don't care that it's wrong, you're going to steal from the wrong person someday and get us all in trouble."

"Senka wouldn't steal! Senka just founded stuff!"

"You very proudly told Theo that you stole all that money before."

"Nu-uh! Stop lying like a lying liar! Senka wouldn't do that!" Her pronouncement complete, Senka wriggled out of her grip and moved into a corner to sulk.

Sighing, Nauda watched her for a while, as if that would get her any closer to answers. Theo seemed content with his explanation that she was an outsider broken by her transition, and he was probably right, but Nauda remained dissatisfied. Yes, Senka had been overall helpful to them despite her obnoxiousness. That didn't mean she liked having the question in the back of her mind.

Before Senka could finish her sulk, which never took long, the courtyard door opened again. This time it was Fiyu, and Nauda immediately smiled, but the other woman looked unusually nervous. Not upset or panicking, just anxious. Theo emerged from his soulcrafting before she started to speak.

"I have been negotiating with House Blacksilver organizers for many months." There was a bit of satisfaction in Fiyu's tone, despite her anxiousness. "I knew our best chance to use the gate to Ichil was a long assignment, but they did not want to give me one. There are other Ichili who are stronger soulcrafters, and more experienced in this region."

"But they offered?" Theo asked, and Fiyu immediately nodded.

"Yes! It is a long assignment that will allow us to travel far, deep enough for me to send a message to my relative. Though it will be dangerous, I believe that we could do it... if you are willing to join me."

"Of course we will!" Nauda surged to her feet and had to restrain herself from getting too close, but Fiyu heard her tone and beamed back at her.

"In that case, we need to leave in less than a day. They only gave me the opportunity because of an accident, so I fear they could take it away again. Let us go as soon as possible."

A day later, the three of them packed their things and departed to Ichil.