With a stretch and a groan, Sechen opened her eyes from the excruciating experience of compressing her container. The ‘morning’ light spilled in through Paui’s window, and as she got to her feet, someone knocked at the door. Most likely Thana.

“It’s unlocked!” Sechen called out, flexing the fingers on her right hand. They felt almost crunchy to move, but that was to be expected after she’d clenched them for however long straight.

Thana pushed the door open, the splinters from last night still obvious on the outside, and stared blankly at Sechen. “Did you compress your container last night?”

“Mmhm.” Sechen groaned, pressing her hand into her back to try and get out a kink that had formed sometime last night. “It felt good to finally do it, even if my body’s not happy with me.”

Thana nodded. “As I expect it would. We’re about to begin the preamble for Paui’s final trial, and she wishes for the both of us to be there.” Thana’s mouth tightened into a thin line. “Even if you were not who you say you were, she still wishes for you to be there by her side. I will not deny her that.”

Naught slid against her conscious thought, whispering that Thana could be trusted. How they knew Sechen couldn’t explain, but the words brought her relief far beyond what she expected. “I have something I need to tell you, Thana. Close the door and put up your strongest barrier.”

Raising an eyebrow, Thana pulled the door shut behind her. “You need to make it quick. We have five minutes until we begin.”

“I’ll give you the short version, then.” Sechen said, crossing her arms and biting her cheek. This would be her test to see if Prisoner was the exception to being appalled by her existence. Thana’s expression remained passive as Sechen recounted her experience in the dark facility, her struggle with Ensche that led to devouring her instead, and her escape. Thana crossed her legs and leaned forward as Sechen paused, gesturing for her to continue. Sechen told her all about her meeting with Revel, how she could never get her Issi to work, and that she eventually found that what she thought was Revel’s gift had been hurting her for years. She spoke up until the point she’d met Prisoner, skipping over almost every detail, and ended with her telling Prisoner this exact same story and finally accepting what she was, trading her stunted light Issi for whatever it was she had now.

“So you are not… Naught?” Thana asked at the end, warily watching Sechen pace in a small circle. “They are something that found you through the crystallized greed Vault created, and took the place of a wisp that you used to be fulfilling on your own?”

“As far as I know.” Sechen agreed.

“You are Sechen.” Thana said with a sad smile, rising from her chair and crushing Sechen in a hug. “I am so sorry for belittling your experiences. You are Sechen, and I apologize for ever insinuating that you weren’t.”

“No problem.” Sechen mumbled, pressing her face into the crook of Thana’s neck. Tears welled up in her eyes as Thana squeezed harder, acceptance hitting her harder the second time. “I haven’t told Paui yet, so please don’t say anything about this to her.”

Thana gripped tightly one last time before releasing Sechen, the same small smile now accompanied by a thin trail of tears. “As long as you plan to tell her, I will not. But she deserves to know, Sechen.”

“I know.” Sechen muttered, grabbing her wrist in shame. “I know. I’m just terrified she’ll think I’m a monster.”

“Ensche damaged your mind far worse than you think.” Thana said, sympathetically patting Sechen’s shoulder. “Tell her once she has finalized her bond. It will mark a new beginning for the both of you.”

“I think you’re ri-” Sechen started saying, before feeling the cabin whip by her until she was standing outside. “-ght.” She finished, giving Thana a look that could curdle milk. “You could do that all this time, but you still carried me before?”

“This takes trust on both sides to work.” Thana explained. “Look at your hands. My Issi has so thoroughly saturated you that I could take you with me. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have done this. If you didn’t trust me, your body would have rejected my Issi. Know that you always have someone in the Gilded Night if you ever find yourself here again.”

“You, Vault, and Jame.” Sechen said with a smile. “If you don’t count Prisoner and them, I’ve got more friends here than anywhere else.”

“That’s sad.” Paui cut in as she jogged towards them with a smirk on her face. Her arms were covered in swirls of yellow and blue paint that had begun to crack. “So, any news about Elach? I know the Emperor held up his end of the deal, but has he been keeping Elach in the palace all this time?”

“It’s not sad. A little weird, but not said.” Sechen said defensively. “And no, Elach’s not in Hoalt’s manor. He’s somewhere in the pillar, climbing to try and catch up to us.”

“Well, he’s not doing a very good job if we haven’t heard anything from him yet. But it’s still good to know he’s alive and apparently well.” Paui shrugged, switching her attention to Thana. “This hasn’t changed since I took the trial the first time, right?”

“It has not.” Thana confirmed.

“Great. I’ll go change, and you can send Sechen to the seats. Make sure she’s safe, alright?” Paui called as she ran off towards the cabin, deftly plucking a uniform hanging from a clothesline as she passed. “And don’t give her one of the crappy seats! Make sure she can see everything!”

Sechen’s vision blurred for a half second as Thana’s Issi washed over her, then she was standing in the middle of three rows of deep chestnut coloured bleachers. “Take a seat wherever you’d like. There are no seats that do not provide an adequate view of the entire field, contrary to what Paui may have made you think. I will be in the operator’s booth for the entirety of this trial, so unfortunately you will not have anyone to talk to for the next half-dozen hours.”

“It’s gonna be lonely.” Sechen said with a smile, turning around and sitting exactly where she’d been standing. “See you when Paui earns her bond back.”

Thana’s small smile held more emotion than most people’s full-blown grins. “When she becomes a practitioner of her own volition. It’s almost a relief that Runfree isn’t here for this.”

“Why…” Sechen started, but Thana’s Issi cut her off. She chuckled and shook her head, shifting on the wooden bleacher to get the most comfortable position possible. “Nevermind, I’m not getting into family politics. Revel was more than enough for me.”

When Paui stepped into the clearing, all the paint from before had been washed clean. Sechen blinked at the Issi that clung to her arms, a sort of destructive cloud that she couldn’t think of a single use for, and waved when she caught Paui’s eye. Paui returned a wave, wincing as she raised her arm, and turned to a connected whitestone building that hadn’t been there yesterday.

“I’m ready, Thana.” She said without an ounce of doubt in her voice. “I accept the dangers of the final trial, and know the riches that come with success. I pledge my bond to Runfree, and know they will repay me in kind for every drop of sweat I shed under their name.”

“What are you calling for?” Thana’s voice spread through the clearing like a fine mist, sending a shiver down Sechen’s spine as it rolled over her. “State the prize you seek.”

“Speed and fluidity Issi.” Paui answered, and Sechen’s heart dropped. Wix’s warning of multiple Issi types echoed in her mind as her head swiveled to the whitestone control room, hoping that Thana would warn Paui against what she was trying. Hells, Sechen didn’t even know if it was possible to take in two bonds at the same time. “I invoke a dual trial, to take on twice the burden for twice the reward.”

“Say no, Thana.” Sechen muttered as only silence emanated from the control room. “You should know how your own damn Issi works.”

“... is that why you asked for the paint, Paui? I know you already know the limitations of our Issi, but I’d taken it as you hedging your bets between the two types you have the greatest affinity with. This will end in heartbreak, Paui. If not now, then years later when creating another colour will spell the end of your journey.” Thana eventually spoke, her voice razor sharp with warning.

“When that time comes, I’ll throw away one bond and keep going with just one Issi type.” Paui shot Sechen a quick look, resolve hardening on her face before she turned away. “I can’t afford to be weak. I don’t have any brutal shortcomings to fix to get powerful in a hurry, so I need to do this if I want to go with Sechen and the others.”

“No, you don’t.” Sechen said, standing and starting to walk down the bleachers. But Paui wasn’t looking, and no sound could break through the rapidly forming Issi barrier. Why was Thana humoring this? “Thana! Take down the damn barrier! Don’t let her do this to herself!”

“I don’t have a say in the matter.” Thana’s voice came from Sechen’s right, but she didn’t feel any Issi, so she didn’t turn her head. “I am only the administrator. The program is designed to emulate Runfree’s judgment so that whoever runs it cannot put their own bias on the hopefuls. It decided to put Paui through a dual Issi trial, but I wasn’t even aware that this was a possibility. She must have found something in the library while neither of us were accompanying her.”

Sechen stepped to the ground and pressed her fist to the barrier, feeling an absurd amount of Issi running through the contraption. There was absolutely no possible way she could break in to stop Paui.

“Can’t you just talk to her? Tell her that she doesn’t have to do this?” She asked, banging the bottom of her fist against the wall for emphasis. Something was already beginning to take shape in the clearing, and she didn’t know how far it could go before Paui was locked in.

“It was too late the moment she requested the dual trial.”

Issi resonated out from the whitestone as Thana’s voice left Sechen, a mass of blue and yellow streaming up into the sky with small accents of silvery green thrown in as an afterthought. The Issi spun around itself, blurring into a wheel of mixed colours that made Sechen feel a little sick if she looked at it, then shattered with a resounding crash. Issi rained down to create a translucent maze-like obstacle course, but from the way Paui’s vision focused on a point just in front of her, it seemed she couldn’t see through everything the way Sechen could.

As the Issi settled, everything further away from Paui seemed to shrink and squish into itself until she was the lone focus of the trial. Eight beacons of Issi fell into separate portions of the maze; two speed Issi, two fluidity Issi, one force Issi, and three of the mixed speed-fluidity. They spun in place with a beam of power extending to the top of the clearing, an obvious objective if Sechen had ever seen one.

“Hopeful, you have invoked the trial of fast Issi.” Runfree’s voice boomed over the clearing, followed immediately after by “Hopeful, you have invoked the trial of fluidity Issi.”. The two voices overlapped as they spoke, a half-second delay separating them to create an almost perfect echo. “The maze/course has risen, and is now populated by terrible Issi beasts that will chase/ambush you if given the chance. Defeat the beasts and collect the three tokens they drop to continue to the second leg of the trial. Defeated beasts that are not aspected to your desired Issi type will not drop a token. If an hour goes by and you have not earned a token, you will be eliminated. The trial begins in thirty seconds.”

“What happened to all the pre-trial stuff?” Paui asked aloud as borrowed Issi rained down on her, filling her with power that she didn’t seem particularly comfortable with. “I was supposed to have time to get used to this.”

“Begin.” Runfree’s voice decreed.