March 2, 2019, 11:22 am. Shortly after discovering we’re locked out of the engine by good ol’ Uthica.

Considering we're not likely to find a way past Uthica's lockout, we continue inspecting the Ripple-drive but only perform a cursory check before heading outside.

As I start making the preparations to return us to Nexus point 392, I message Beth to let her know what we've found. After receiving confirmation they're going to stay at Burnesq for the night, I let her know we're headed back to Raz's for dinner. I may keep a literal ton of food in my inventory after running short with the Fallen, but fresh is fun.

Besides, now that we’ve found a mostly working ship, we deserve a proper bath.

Rose floats by on his back, his enchanted wings flapping lazily with Smoulder perched on his stomach. "Welp, that was disappointing."

"Worst part is, I can't tell anyone that Uthica was a Citizen," Rufka complains while sliding an arm over my shoulder and taking her position in the circle.

"It wouldn't mean anything to them anyway," I say, grabbing Rose's arm, guiding him to his proper place while Smoulder hops onto Rufka's arm, nuzzling against me. Rose doesn't fight me, though he does roll his eyes as I release a test pulse to ensure he's inside my aura and not testing the limits.

"Where do we go from here?" Rose asks while carefully watching my magic as it forms. He's been trying to study my teleport since we left Glimmering Sands, with zero success despite my efforts to explain it. We’re both hoping he just needs more time.

"Raz's," I answer, blowing him a raspberry as my spell whisks us away.

Even though everyone has Return unlocked, most travel is still handled by me or Genitha. Because no one wants to wait on their cooldown if they need it. Especially when we're split up.

Besides, now that I've refined the spell, it doesn't leave anyone nauseous.

Rufka spins about when we appear, as if to prove my point. Thankfully, there's no furniture to obstruct her. The tables that used to dominate Nexus point 392 are gone, removed before we even went to sailing to Atun’s. Given that we've been using it as our main link to Raz's, we've talked about cleaning up and fortifying the node. It's not System recognized, but as an interim measure, Josh and Rose have grown thick brambles throughout the area, hiding the Nexus from the outside. Then, because that's hardly enough, beneath the brambles we erected barriers of stone reinforced with steel, all of which encases the root of the enormous tree. It’s practically a bunker and it only took us an hour.

Rufka taps her foot as she waits for the door to Raz's to open. "Why did he have to move back to Velthin. Now that he's in the Nine Worlds it takes forever for the door to sync."

"You're just spoiled," I tease. "It's only half a minute. And you know most of his customers are based out of the Nine. At least it’s not completely cut off, now that he’s upgraded the connection."

A few seconds later, the door appears. Rufka starts forward but before she makes it through, the door blips out of existence with a 'pop' that makes me flinch in pain.

"Uh, what happened?" Rose asks.

No one responds. We all stare at the spot where the door was a second ago. The door's never turned off before. Not connected, sure. But never turned off while running. While I’m scanning the space where the door used to be, Rufka spins around.

"It ate my hand!" Rufka exclaims, grasping at the stump of the same arm she had over my shoulder a minute earlier.

I feel my eyebrows try to climb my forehead as I stare. It takes me another three seconds before I start moving, and by then Rose is already using one of his healing talismans, a scarf that needs to be wrapped around the wound.

"Are you okay?" I ask, finally breaking out of my shock.

"Yeah. Mostly surprised. Used to this being a safe spot. Mum warned me."

"She warned you that you might lose your hand?" Rose asks as he finishes wrapping her hand.

"What? No. She told me that this location could be compromised, so I needed to be careful."

With a gentle head bob, I try to access the System menu for the door but the option for Raz's is greyed out, a small icon next to it. The icon is the letters TP within the middle of a circle with a slash through the middle. It reminds me of a no-parking sign.

When I focus on it, I discover what's happened.

"Teleportation and Portals have been inhibited using System override VEX-332 on the authority of Agent of Menas, Trokk Elnite."

"Uh guys." I nearly start swearing. Theglia warned us there was a Creator's Agent on the way. But we weren't particularly worried because she told me we'd have almost a year before they got here. "It's the Creator's Agent. They've shut down more than Raz's. They're 'inhibiting' Teleportation and Portals."

Even as I'm speaking, I check my connections to the others. The connections are still there, but even my links to Rose and Rufka feel staticky. I send a message to Beth, letting her know what's happened but there's no response. "Can either of you reach Beth?"

"No response. Mum's not answering either."

"Same." Rose shakes his head as we fall silent.

[Alexis] "Wyonna? Are you there at least?"

[Wyonna] "Yeah. I'm here, I’m queer, and shit just got weird."

I agree, asking her what she thinks while throwing in a couple extra curse words about Creators, Citizen lockouts and even celery while I'm at it.

Celery doesn’t belong in salad, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.

[Wyonna] "I can't reach them either. In fact, I have to reconstruct the messages I'm receiving from Rose. Whatever's causing this interference, it’s pervasive."

"So, Wyonna says she has problems too," I inform them.

"Yeah, she told us." Rose paces on the far side of the tree, as far from Raz's empty door as possible.

"What do we do now?" Rufka asks, cradling her arm close as she leans against me.

"Maybe we should join the others?" I offer tentatively.

Rose stops his pacing, leaning against the wall as he slumps to the ground. "How? They're half a continent away?"

"We fly?"

Rose looks at me blankly for a couple seconds before he facepalms. "I actually forgot that was an option." Then he starts shaking, his shoulders rubbing the wall as the laughter rolls out of him.

I crack a smile, though I don't find it quite as funny. It's going to take us days to get to them. And without Raz's, the others don't have access to his wide range of equipment. At least, we're all well equipped at this point.

I will miss his food though.

Unfortunately, without teleportation, figuring out how to deal with the lockout… will…

"Damnit!"

"What?" Rufka asks as she focuses on me, Rose’s laughter diminishing in the background.

"We're not just split up. How're we going to track down everything we need to get the city-ships flying again? Theglia said we'd need half a year just to fly them to Earth."

"We'll just have to be smart. Less running around aimlessly. Maybe steal a skybarge. Or get e’Tell to help."

Rose pushes himself up, striding over to us. "She's right, we have options. But first…" He waves a hand at the south entrance, still blocked by stone.

Right. I need to do something about that. Neither Rose nor Rufka have great stone affinity, though Rose could probably blast his way through given enough time.

But why do it the hard way?

The stone ripples, responding to my thoughts as it reshapes itself into a smooth tunnel leading outside. Smoulder hops over to the entrance, posing with her large ears standing straight up as though she's about to explode into action.

Obliging her, I add a pair of statues matching her pose. This one I place near the exit.

"Is it just me, or is she like a kid posing for pictures?" Rose asks as Smoulder inspects the statue before giving it a satisfied nod.

"Definitely," I agree with a proud smile, Smoulder returning to my shoulder. Then we ascend through the leafy canopy, the toxic barbs of Rose's brambles, peeling away for him as easily as the stone did for me.

As the greenery moves from around us to below us, I focus on the link leading toward the others. It might not be perfect, but it still gives me a general direction, and the direction is south. The others follow silently, each of us keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of the Aetherium. They don't show in the lower forest but Tipan has mentioned she’s been part of patrols flying through the region before she basically abandoned the K’tharn military.

However, there's no one else in the sky. We continue for several hours before stopping for the day at a rocky outcropping near the Theslian sea, a massive body of water I’ve seen on maps but haven’t visited yet. I can't see the far side, and I know from tracking distance on my maps that it'll take us a long time to cross it.

As I create a hidden camp in the lee of the outcropping, Rose and Rufka pull out a few of the beds we just picked up for impromptu camping trips. Not having immediate access to Atun’s beds was a good reminder. While not as nice as Raz's or the System's beds, they're a lot better than anything I can make. And setting them up is good practice for Rose's Wood manipulation, or so he claims. Another new skill now that he finally chose his class. Which he won’t tell anyone the name of.

After I've completed our rather modest dwelling for the evening, a single room with an adjoined bathroom and only one Smoulder tribute, I join them where they're sitting with their legs dangling thirty metres over the waters of the Theslian Sea. As I sit between them with a 'humph,' Rufka hands me a smooth stone, hefting one of her own before chucking it as far as she can.

Accepting her challenge, I send my own stone flying. With the magnification granted by my Twilight-imbued vision, I watch as my stone soars into the distance before skipping twice. At the same time, Rufka tosses her stone, not making it as far but skipping five times, outdistancing mine.

Then another stone lands with a splash, not skipping once before sinking beneath the waves. Rose sighs as he picks another stone up. "I know we need to regroup with the others, but I feel like we're going the wrong direction."

"Oh?" I ask as I wrest another stone from Rufka's hand. I propel it with my magic, causing it to skip in circles around Rufka's next stone.

Even as Rufka elbows me hard enough I have to grab onto him for support, Rose answers my not quite a question, "It's Celthi and Qern. I can't message them tonight, like I usually do. They're going to be worried."

Rufka stops trying to shove me off as we both give Rose our attention. Then she says, "It'll be okay. I'm sure we'll find some way to send them a message. Probably not tonight though."

"I know. It just feels like I'm not there for them enough since mom disappeared. And now that we can't teleport to them…" He cuts off as Smoulder starts pushing into his side hard enough he windmills his arms to keep from falling and smacking me in the face while he’s at it.

"I didn't even think… Sorry for dragging you with us," I apologize, while extracting his hand from my hair.

"It's fine. It was my decision. I'm only going to have a few more months before you leave. And that's only if we're successful," he smiles at me, his teeth proudly displayed. But the smile doesn't reach his eyes.

"By Vaus above, you'd better miss us once we're gone," Rufka reaches around me to bop him on the shoulder.

I almost don't register Rose's, "I will," as I stare at Rufka, who meets my gaze with both her right eyebrows raised. "What?"

"You're coming with us?"

"Of course."

"But…"

"What, you're not ashamed of me are you?"

"No… it's just…"

"Just what?"

"This is your home."

Rufka's laughter has me worried until she takes my hand, bringing it to her lips. "Can't stay forever, right?"

Rose shakes his head, "If Qern and Celthi were ten years older, I'd be right there with you."

Rufka pokes him, causing Smoulder to flick a small flame at her for disturbing her resting spot. "You could always bring your family with us. Not like there's much for them here."

"If I knew what happened to mom… maybe."

I nod as I entice Smoulder into my lap with a bribe of fruit. "I'm surprised we never found a sign of her. Even the Awakened didn't know what happened to Folthka, other than Ivicka 'took her away'."

Rose shrugs as we continue talking, drifting between subjects. We occasionally talk about the interference, but we just go in circles, suggesting more and more outlandish ways to bypass it. The sun is setting and we've circled back to the topic yet again when Rose asks, "Have you tried to teleport since the inhibition came into effect? Maybe it won't affect you."

"Uhm. I'd rather not risk it," I admit, ducking my head.

"Couldn't you use your Anchor ability to test it? At short range at least?"

Right. For some reason, I didn’t even think of using Anchor to test teleport. It's the perfect tool, since I won’t keep any damage I take when using Anchor. I blame the fact I can still feel the pain.

Still, sometimes it's worth the pain.

So, I stand up, circling our little camp to the far side of the outcropping. Once I'm sure the others are out of range, I use Anchor. The second I do it feels as though the interference has dropped away. Which causes me to realize it's been pressing against me ever since Raz's door went pop. It's mild enough, I didn't notice it. The lack of interference might invalidate testing, yet I make the attempt anyway.

It's as easy as it's ever been, I emerge unscathed halfway to the edge of my anchored space. With the interference gone, I even attempt to message Beth, but there's no response. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's because of Beth not checking her messages or they're still not getting through. Ending the effect after a single loop, I feel the pressure again, like I've descended on an airplane too quickly. Gnashing my jaw, I try to get my ears to pop, just in case.

It doesn't help, nor does trying to push the static back with my aura. So I return to the others, informing them of the lack of interference within the loop.

Rose scratches his chin while passing me a bottle of something he got from Raz called Mylp. It's cheap, tastes like apple pie and leaves a warm feeling in your belly. Josh and Rose got incredibly drunk when they discovered it and now Rose keeps a stock on hand. It's a lot better than Rufka's moonshine, even if the buff is basically non-existent. Half a point to fire resistance for half an hour is barely worth noting. "Strange. Kinda sucks that it doesn't copy the interference."

"I guess. But there's got to be a way to use that, right?" I ask before taking a small sip, letting the aftertaste linger on my tongue.

"Probably," Rose mumbles, "More testing required! You going to try teleporting without using Anchor?"

I'm shaking my head before he's even finished asking. There's no way I want to teleport through the static.

"Good." Rufka pulls me in close. "Then you can keep me cozy," she slurs while resting her head on my chest.

I start running my hand through her hair when I notice Rose is staring at us with his ears drooping. "You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine," he answers before pushing himself to his feet. "I think I'm going to turn in."

"It's kind of early, isn't it?"

"I just… I'm tired. I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Okay. Goodnight," I say to his back, with Rufka rumbling out her own without lifting her head.

Rufka and I stay up for a couple more hours. Once Rose is gone, she starts asking me questions about Earth. It's a topic she hasn't shown much interest in before. Not that she's ignored it, but she's more likely to talk about magic, Astra's stride or a dozen other topics that are rooted in Akilo.

Combined with her earlier statement about coming with us, I'm feeling good about the future as we settle in for the night. Really good. Even if there is an Agent of the System nearby and I'm unable to teleport.

My thiani is coming home with me.