Yuriko got Heron a few barrels of water to cleanse the filth off his body. The black sticky mass was magnitudes more than what she expelled back then, and even compared to Gwendith’s, it was at least half again as much.

‘It’s either because he’s much bigger, or more likely, the further along he is on the Imperial Path, the more had to be cleansed.’ Yuriko frowned at the thought, and posed the question to Damien, who, thankfully, was awake.

Both are correct. Damien chuckled, but it has more to do with the amount of elixir both of them took. It’s also why your boytoy’s baptism took so long and was so dangerous. Too much foreign substance in his Anima.

‘What boytoy?’ Yuriko snorted in annoyance, though it was mild irritation at best. Damien had not stopped teasing her and she was somewhat used to it by now. ‘Taking Zoi elixirs makes Chaos Baptism more dangerous?’

That’s what I said. And the earlier the baptism is done compared to their Anima level, the easier it is to do. Ah, they must at least be in their teens. Any younger and the Anima isn’t strong enough to withstand the strain. And if you hadn’t given your aid at the last moment there, he would have corroded into a Chaos touched beast. Well done and quick thinking.

Cold sweat ran down Yuriko’s back. She’d almost acted too late.

Heron had fallen into a daze right after he murmured his victorious words. He…er, he stank. Her eyes watered at the stench and she could hear and see Gwendith gagging.

“I wasn’t this bad, was I?” Gwendith yelped.

“No, you weren’t.”

“Is it because he’s a boy?”

Yuriko blinked, then giggled. “Maybe. Probably not though.”

She pulled at the water within the barrel, though she still had trouble manipulating the liquid with her Animakinesis. She splashed a bit of it over his half naked body, and quickly realised that she’d have to bathe him. If the black gunk dried out and solidified, he’d stink for weeks afterwards.

With water, soap, and her kinesis, she scrubbed Heron’s body clean. His entire body was covered, even the parts hidden by his underwear. Still, not cleaning that area felt foolish to her so, she gingerly directed her kinesis to it while she averted her gaze. Not that it helped much, but…yeah.

It was only after she finished cleaning him up, and got him into his poncho, that she realised she could have asked any of the boys to do it instead of her. Oh well.

Heron had fallen completely asleep, so she carried him with her kinesis and placed him inside one of the wagons. When she exited, Orrin asked her what that was all about.

“Why’s he unconscious? And what’s that smell?”

Yuriko answered. “He’s been given the Chaos Baptism. He now walks the Ancient’s Way.”

“Oh.” Orrin looked thoughtful. “What’s the Ancient’s Way?”

Back in Faron’s Crossing, she had offered to help her friends walk her path, if they chose. None but Heron had accepted.

Eh? Oh! She hadn’t told Orrin and Braden about it yet. She explained it to him, including the parts where they’d have to remove their Heritages and eventually, their Facets. But in exchange, their Animas would grow stronger and would be able to extend beyond their bodies.

Orrin frowned and said, “So it’s the secret to your incredible power? You’re willing to teach it to us?”

“It’s not exactly an easy path to walk,” she answered ruefully. In the midst of her explanation, Braden had shown up and she repeated her story. She answered their questions including the fact that reaching the Knight level equivalent involved a trial in the dreamscape. Her only example had been her World Trial, but Damien said that the advancement to Actualisation could take many forms. And all of them had lethal consequences, though it wasn’t a simple pass or fail.

“Do either of you want to try it?” she asked.

“It’s not something we can decide on, immediately,” Braden admitted.

“Well, I can’t really initiate anyone at my whims either,” Yuriko admitted.

“Oh?” Braden perked up. He tapped his lips with his fingers and asked, “What does it involve?”

Yuriko grinned. “Intense physical training, to begin with.”

“Ah.”

“But we can’t start it now. We don't have the supplies to support that kind of training. But think about it, if you wish.”

They went about their morning ablutions afterwards.

Since Heron was incapacitated, and more to the point, she wasn’t sure where to go next, the caravan took their ease and rested for the day. The Talim family eyed them curiously, but they had already filled their water barrels and wanted to be on their way.

“We’re headed east, deeper into the desert. Away from the Federation and its cities,” Joslyn said. “We’ve already lost enough.”

“Would you…” Yuriko began, pausing as she became aware of her Mien pushing for it. The idea didn’t really have many downsides though, except for the matter of supply. But the Ancestors willing, they would remedy that soon. “Would you like to travel with us? We fight against the Federation. I’m from the Empire, actually,” she admitted.

“Empire…” Joslyn frowned. “Invaders.” She shook her head. For a moment, her eyes glazed as Yuriko’s Mien touched the older woman, though she was quick to rein it in. “No, I hold you no ill will, but I’d rather not put my family in more danger. Fair travels to you.”

“And to yours,” Yuriko said. She had mixed feelings, really. She didn’t know why her Mien wanted their presence. Even now she could feel a bit of sulkiness from deep within her. It wasn’t easy to ignore, but she persevered. Besides, the Talim family were not warriors. They looked competent enough to protect themselves, what with each one carrying a spear, and a knife. But they moved like hunters rather than armsmen.

Closer to noon, Heron woke up in a daze. Yuriko entered the wagon he was resting in and observed his Anima. However, no sooner had her perception aura touched his body than a blue light pushed her light away. Heron’s eyes twitched as he looked up at her. A moment later, his face turned completely red and he bit his lip.

“What’s wrong?”

“...nothing.” He whispered as he looked away. His expanded Anima retreated and allowed her to examine him. Like Gwendith, his initial reach was three inches, but already, it had grown by a quarter of an inch. Quite fast.

“I lost my second and third Facet,” Heron said abruptly. “I…”

“What were they?” Yuriko asked worriedly.

“Ally shield and multi shield,” he said faintly. He put up his index finger and a hexagonal shield roughly ten inches wide appeared in front of him. “I’ve lost most of my progress.”

“I’m sorry,” Yuriko felt tears coming out of the corner of her eyes.

“No…I asked for this,” Heron answered. “And, look!” His blue light came out again, then condensed until it was barely over his skin. “I managed to do what you do. Er, somewhat.” Then he flexed his biceps, which bulged nicely. “I haven’t lost the fruits of Body Forging either. It should only be a matter of time before I recover some part of my original strength.”

“Oh, good,” Yuriko sighed.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, then, in a nearly inaudible tone. “I’ll be able to protect…”

Yuriko reached over and patted his shoulder. She could feel the density of his condensed aura. It was nowhere near her level, of course, but she felt it was at a similar level to what she had back when she started out. Coupled with his Body Forging and he would turn out to be quite the warrior.

For some reason he only turned redder. “Hmmm?”

What do you think will happen after you gave him an eyeful? Damien teased.

‘What? When?’ But before her mentor could say anything, the memory of how his aura flared out when he completed the baptism, and how her clothes pressed against her, appeared. ‘Ah. That.’

Hmmm. Did she mind? Not really, now that she thought about it. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen his body intimately with her own perception aura…but… She still felt a bit of crimson staining her cheeks. Alright, she did mind a little bit, but it wasn’t his fault anyway.

“Rest for now. We’ll see to your capabilities and how we can train later,” she managed to say before scrambling out of the wagon. With the three of them now, and the possibility of the twins also walking the Ancient’s Way…

Perhaps they could win against the Chaos Duke…

A fanciful thought. Not by themselves, she knew. None of them were strong enough, and from how slowly her Radiant Body Refinement was progressing, it would be years before she would be ready to enter Transformation. And only if she wished to do so in the least ideal state. No, right now, their path was to enter Synkrasia, and through that portal. What they found on the other side though…

Who knew what manner of monster, or what tribulations they’d have to face to get to where Fri’Avgi wanted to go?

Her sworn armsmen probably wouldn’t be enough either. Not as they were. But foundational training wouldn’t really bridge the gap, right? Not in the short term, but if they kept at it for long enough…after all, though the Watchtower was only a hundred paces tall, its foundations were deeper and wider than what could be seen on the surface. In time, her people would be able to build something grand off the deep foundations they were setting up now.

And of course, those words and thoughts had seeped into her mind from Damien. The moment she thought about training the ex-guards and civilians, memories of effective troop training and empowerment started seeping into her mind.

‘Were you some kind of legate, or army leader?’ Yuriko asked.

‘More than that! Dame-Dame was a Champion! He fought armies to a standstill, wiped out millions of foes with a single swing of his sword! He made love to thousands and sired even more children! He is a great Progenitor!’ Fri’Avgi gushed out.

Aw, you’re making me blush. Damien said.

‘Worry not, Little Dame, you’ll match up in time! Crush millions with your power, lead great armies, and sire…er, birth lots of children, too!’

‘Not happening!’ Yuriko sent back furiously.

She stuffed both of the voices in her head as deep into her mind as possible, where their annoying chatter would be inaudible.

With her ears burning, Yuriko resumed her meditations. If nothing went wrong it would take Saki at least two weeks to reach Faron’s Crossing and return. Three or four weeks to travel and report is more likely. She had given Saki their planned route, but here she was already departing from it. She needed to leave a message to her attendant, and she carved it on the side of the pillar, near the peak. She wrote her intention to head south rather than directly east, and the plan to liberate as much Wayfarers’ Bread as she could from the Federation army.

That done, she shared her plans with her council. Dominic Hurin, being the only Adept from the guards, was part of it. Kassy, Roland, and his rescued sister, Tuska were also there, along with her entire team.

“The logistics supply routes are mostly headed towards the east and Ivala.” Hurin admitted, “The battles there are fiercer and involve more numbers. Uaran City sends most of their grain and bread to Garamus City.”

The former leader of the caravan had a simple map, mostly showing the cities and the roads. Hurin pointed at the main road between the two cities.

“Are you saying we act like common brigands?” Sheamus asked, clearly offended by the thought.

“No, I mean there are two logistics storage areas, both near the city, but not quite inside. They are well defended, however.” Hurin shrugged. “Unless you’d rather wait for their caravans and attack those, we have to hit these supply points.”

Yuriko chewed on her lower lip as she laid out her options. They had a couple of weeks supply, maybe four weeks if they rationed it. Besides, getting out of the desert meant that they could hunt for food, too. Or, they could purchase supply from the farmers. However, the Season had just turned, and Earth’s sowing had just started. People would still be living off their Season of Water supplies.

The closest logistics point was southeast, nearly twenty leagues away, through rough terrain. There was another oasis but it was more to the west, and brought them nearly five leagues farther from their target. They could go there, have the civilians and unawakened guards hunker down, then lead a raid that would take a couple of days.

They could reach the oasis in about a week. Nodding to herself, Yuriko pointed at the logistics point.

“We’ll strike here,” she said decisively, “But we’ll leave our unawakened and some others to keep them safe, here.”

There were some opinions against her plan, of course, but they only served to iron out the kinks. In a couple of weeks, they should have enough food to last them all the way to Synkrasia.