Disclaimer: this is going to be a short one, as I just got back from my trip and need to take a rest (I know how ironic it is to need a break right after a vacation, but I’m working off of a good 2 hours of sleep, so roll with it). This will be a part of the week-long time skip that will explain some of the important things the group did that would be really ham-fisted to put in the main story. Expect banter, Ether stuff, and Luna stuff, so enjoy.

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“And… there we go,” Kain said, “Are you sure this will work? I don’t know how to sense Ether from a long distance -if I try, I get the same feeling from everything- but this seems… like not enough.”

The tip of Ythane’s tail flicked and she floated over to the rock Kain was using. “It will work,” she reassured, turning her gaze to him, “but the news that you do not know how to sense Ether unless it is right on top of you is concerning. I will admit that I am still becoming used to the Ether density in this place, but we will have to fix that later.” She returned her gaze to the rock Kain was using. “Moving on, you want to know if the aura mask will work, correct?”

Kain sighed, “Unoriginal name for that,” he muttered resignedly. “Yes, I want to know if it will work. When we started reading Ether Manipulation Essentials I got the idea of doing something similar, but this seems… obvious; would people not be able to notice the very normal Ether density? Shouldn’t we be able to modify it to help our needs?” he asked.

She nodded. “That will come later. What I want to know is if the methods my people use are sufficient for the, frankly, criminally high Ether density in this place. If it is, then we can do anything from forging rings with the imbuement, stitching it into your clothes, or even carving it into your flesh. The last one was used by more… radical Duvalid. Most who desire something similar use ‘tattoos,’ where they-”

“I know what a tattoo is, Ythane. So I can either create an accessory, stitch it into my clothing, or tattoo it into my skin. Honestly, I would prefer the last one, but I do not believe we have the time right now. Anyway, let’s try this thing.”

Kain activated the imbuement in the rock and held it in his hand. Almost immediately, he felt the Ether around him close in around his body and create a barrier. The barrier spun for a moment, then seemed to disappear, but Kain still felt its effects. The flow of Ether in and out of the barrier was regulated, lowering the Ether going in and out. The end result was that Kain seemed to not be there according to his Ether aura. He switched the rock’s imbuement off and nodded. “Looks like it works. The aura… you know what, I’m renaming it. It’ll be the Ether signature. The Ether signature is entirely nullified. I am pretty sure I look like nothing according to someone using only their Ether sense.”

Ythane’s tail flicked again. “While it is fortunate that the imbuement works, you cannot simply rename the phenomenon of Ether sensing to ‘Ether signature.’ The name has a long and important cultural significance to it. It was said that both Du and Ti could sense the aura of the other before their final battle,” she explained.

Kain raised his hands slightly defensively. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t know it had such an important meaning. I am still going to call it Ether signature though; the word ‘aura’ has a lot of connotations to some, mostly in religion and martial arts, so it feels wrong to say.”

Ythane huffed, then sighed, and was about to say something when Luna, who had been on the other side of the room suddenly exclaimed. “I got it!” The other two shifted their focus to Luna, who was standing in front of a large glass pod with metal caps and the front open. Inside was the corpse of a large, human-like being. It was tall and wide, but looked like a dwarf scaled upward. Luna whirled around and looked at Kain and Ythane. “I got it! I understand how you guys are similar!” she exclaimed, “You have nearly identical species genomes with a few small differences. The only thing that really changes between you guys is the height! Actually, both of you have the same building blocks, mostly, but they have an extra one! One that I think actually causes increased size! I was looking around my old genome earlier, but that one was missing! I just wonder why that is,” she ranted, barely slowing to breathe. “Well anyway, that will be helpful if I get a bunch of time to do something unimportant. Anyway, what now?” she asked, turning to Ythane and Kain.

Ythane spoke first, “If I am honest, I think you would benefit immensely from learning imbuement casting. Not only would you be able to create a masking device for yourself, but I have a suspicion that you could unlock something very powerful in doing so.”

“Hmm… how so?” she asked.

Ythane glanced around the slightly dilapidated room, her gaze sticking to the red pillar in the far side of the room for a while, and returned her gaze to Luna “You understand how imbuements work, correct?” Luna gave a short nod, sitting on the ground and listening. “It is simply creating a system with the goal of making Ether do something you want. The materials involved can range from gold and other valuable materials to compacted dirt. The problem is that you cannot have every imbuement you may need on one device, so imbuers create multiple devices. Multiple devices that are difficult to sort through in the midst of battle. The advantage you have in this is that you can shape your body freely, which could allow you to make your body into a series of imbuements and always have the right tool for the situation at hand. It may even be possible to create imbuements on the genetic level, but that is for you to learn. Does that make sense?” she asked.

Luna thought for a moment. “Learn imbuements, make them into my bodies, go from there?”

“Yes. Simplified, but correct.”

At that moment Kain started a fire and grabbed a piece of Grunt meat, skewering it over the fire and letting it roast. “Well, that just means that you have something to focus on, Luna. Anyway, we’ve been up for a long time and I’m getting a bit tired. We’ll eat and then head off to bed,” Kain declared. Neither Luna nor Ythane had complaints, so they sat around the fire and chatted.

Luna asked for direction on imbuements, a subject that Ythane was more than happy to speak about. Once her ranting was finished, Kain and Luna ate dinner while Ythane stared at the red pillar and mumbled to herself. After a bit, the conversation started once more.

“We can go to the tower tomorrow, Ythane. We’ll take you there then. Besides, we just got out of the Nexus yesterday, so this is a good time,” Kain said, interrupting the slightly jovial atmosphere.

Ythane looked at him, nodded, and sighed. “Yes… we should do it then,” was her only reply. Eventually, they planned what they would do after Ythane explored her home. Kain would create rings with the masking imbuement in them and Luna would learn more about imbuements in general. Once they had their plans, they said good night to each other and drifted off to sleep.