Kasos spent a few more minutes with Ranvir, spending most of the time examining how he felt within his own body, as well as during his exercise. He considered getting specific information from the young man, but he was clearly in no state to answer.

Retreating from the room, Kasos found Elpir and Ione waiting just down the hall.

“In here,” the orphanage director nodded towards the kitchen, judging from the smell. “I’ve gotten one of the older ones to look after the others and make sure Ninia doesn’t sneak in here.”

Kasos forced himself to examine the room as he followed behind Ione, looking over the top of the short woman’s head. Kasos had been to enough mansions, palaces, and rich merchant houses to recognize the layout of the kitchen. It likely hadn’t ever been intended to be actually used, just displayed.

The finish on the counter tops was smooth, making for excellent reflection and easy to clean, however, you couldn’t make a cutting board stick to it with glue. The oven was too big and overly done with fine flourishes on the iron, even though a few months of regular use would generate enough char to obscure the detail.

Despite that, he saw how the finish had been worn down a few places, allowing the boards to grip; the oven was deeply charred, and all the tables had marks left from pens to grooves cut with knives or forks stabbing into the wood and stone repeatedly. The oven was suddenly more appropriately sized when you have a dozen children living with you as well.

A curly head of pale blond hair bobbed about, just barely visible above the kitchen island that Elpir was pulling out a chair behind. Assuming the kid was on the way out, Kasos followed, picked another chair at the table, seating himself diagonally from Ione, just out of arm’s reach.

Ione and Elpir sat next to each other and looked towards him, impatiently waiting for his assessment. Kasos was just about to speak when a pair of small hands strained to lift a glass of water onto the island without accidentally spilling any. He heard the small grunt as it was shoved safely onto the table.

Kasos glanced at the others, but Elpir just reached over and moved the glass further inward before a little kid crawled onto another chair. He had to be around eight or nine, his hair longer than the tight curls suggested as they covered his ears and were starting to fall down onto his forehead.

There was none of the child-like vigor Kasos had seen in Amalia or her mother, when they’d been his age. He instead had the somber look of someone much older, even as he had to literally crawl onto the chair to get on it. He didn’t hesitate, there was no trying to hide or act like he didn’t belong.

“Well?” Ione asked, bringing attention back to her. The collar and hem of her dress were still slightly wet and Kasos could see drops of water suspended in strands of hair that had escaped her braid.

“Should we be having this conversation with?” Kasos nodded towards the kid.

“Vasso is just as concerned about Ranvir as the rest of us,” Elpir said, and Vasso nodded seriously, completely unaware of how his blond curls rippled back and forth with the movement.

“Very well,” Kasos muttered, clearing his throat. It wasn’t the lifelong bachelor’s job to criticize the career child caretaker. “I’ll start by saying that he’s not off to a great start, unfortunately. His spirit is…” he searched for the best way to put it, “I’ve seen corpses with spirits less torn apart than his. Ranvir is in a bad way.”

“But you can fix him, right?” Elpir asked as Vasso squeezed his glass of water with a white knuckle grip.

“Yes,” Kasos nodded, “But I can’t say it with Api’s certainty.”

Vasso looked nervously from Elpir to Kasos and the director moved around the table and held out her arms. The child dithered between seeking the comforting embrace of his guardian and sitting alone, but eventually his child-nature won out. For some reason, the sight of Vasso’s head buried in Elpir’s shoulder, his little hands clutching her shirt as hard as he could hit Kasos harder than seeing Ranvir did.

“What do you mean by that?” Ione asked, her voice forcing him to look at her, her eyes forcing him to continue.

Kasos licked his lips. “We’re dealing with the foundational parts of the spirit,” he tried to explain. “His Fundament, the link between his spirit and his physical being, has cracked and every day the breaks are widening further. Unlike purely physical injuries, it’s not enough to simply patch up what’s broken. There needs to be some motive from him. Some drive for him to continue, otherwise he’ll just break all over again.”

Ione shrugged, “That should be fine, though. Just fix him up, he’s a young man. The desire to regain his strength should let him continue.”

Kasos shook his head, “The imbalance between his physical and spiritual being is causing harm to his body. He’s not eating and even when he does it’s not a lot, right?” he looked to Elpir, who nodded as he gently rocked the now sobbing Vasso back and forth. “Even the slightest pains will be magnified by this imbalance, so he seeks any escapes he can. He works the exercise at all times of the day. When he’s not doing that, it’s likely because something else pulls him out but doesn’t make him focus on his pain. Like playing with Vasso. These things are going to impede sewing the injury together.”

Ione seemed troubled, looking down at her hands clasped together on the counter. She still wore her wedding band, clean and bright in the light of the kitchen. The only jewelry of any kind she wore on her fingers. The only ornament she’d wear since Menelaos proposed to her.

Kasos sighed and refocused, “But that does not mean all hope is lost. It’ll take effort from his side. If we can just get him to be willing to be inside his body for long enough, he’ll start to see improvements.”

“That’s good,” Elpir said, leaning back and looking Vasso in the eyes, “You hear that, Ranvir’s a strong young man, he’s soon going to be whole and fine again. Then he’ll be able to read for you all day long,” she wiped a tear from his cheek and bent to put him down. Before she could straighten screaming started in the backyard. Elpir sighed, “I’ll have to check on that.”

She offered Vasso her hand, but the boy refused. Instead, he followed in her shadow, leaving the kitchen. The last of them Kasos saw was the kid’s red and swollen eyes turning away from Elpir to look at him with fear. Not child-like hope, the youthful certainty of invulnerability, but fear and mortality.

Kasos licked his lips and realized he was actually feeling kind of thirsty himself. He looked around the kitchen searching for a cupboard that held the glasses, when he suddenly realized he was alone with Ione.

Just say it, Kasos told himself, his heart speeding up at the thought. He wet his lips once more before opening his mouth. “He has a strong Ideation,” he closed his eyes for a moment, cursing his own weakness, “At his age, you don’t get anything that strong by accident. I’m sure he will pull through if given the chance.”

Ione smiled at him, making his stomach turn and forced himself to look at the table, at his hands clasping each other relaxedly before him, “Thank you, Kasos. It’s nice to hear. Amalia should be back within a week’s time. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to hear that he’s recovering,” Kasos looked up, frowning, “If that is a regular time gap for such recovery?” she added, seeing his look.

“Oh sorry,” Kasos shook his head, “a week is enough to start seeing results in his spirit, yes, but he’s still been starving, which will take longer to recover from. His mana will take longer still,” he frowned. “It’s just… I hadn’t realized Amalia had known him for so long. I’d figured the injury was from traveling to Korfyi, I saw no sign of Amanaris on him.”

In truth, he’d gazed the Lines during his trip across the Saonsea and found the exact moment Ranvir had entered Korfyi. He even knew he’d had a child and woman with him, though he hadn’t seen sign of either of those since arriving here.

“Oh, he’d only been here a little over a week when you got the message,” Ione said. “But you should’ve seen Amalia when they first met. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.”

Kasos exhaled deliberately, “Is that so?” he sounded doubtful, even though he meant to sound highly doubtful, “That doesn’t really sound like the Amalia I know.”

“And what would she act like?” Ione asked sharply, her features growing harder, her jaw setting as a stubborn streak wider than the sea rose to the surface. “What would you know? You haven’t seen her since she was eighteen.”

Kasos ran a hand over his face, “She didn’t like men then, and I doubt that much has changed since then.”

Ione ran her tongue over her teeth, glaring at Kasos before getting up from her chair and walked out of the room.

“Ione wait,” Kasos called after her, cursing internally as he followed her. “I haven’t seen you in eleven—“ he was interrupted as she threw a bead of mana over her shoulder. The Ability sought him out, even as he tried to dodge. The moment it hit, any noise he made vanished before it even reached his ears. He could only faintly hear his own voice by what traveled through his spirit-domain.

It only took him a few moments to dismantle the Ability as it landed within his control, but it was enough for her to escape out of the building. Kasos cursed himself. He should’ve known better. She’d never responded well when forced to hear someone out.