Alexis rubbed her hands together. Then rubbed her face. Then her forearms. She cleared her throat and rolled the small marble in her fingers. The katapetra she was used to were blue with minor veins of yellow. This one was nearly half and half, and white-hot to her soul-sight. Way too powerful for her to take in.

Amalia said I need to ‘chew it for him,’ whatever that means, Alexis thought, shuffling a little closer to Ranvir. For once, she was relieved that the cavern was so dark as it meant she couldn’t see his arm. Amalia had only told her to watch out for it, make sure the tourniquet was tight, and she had without touching anything else.

The cave Amalia had stuffed them in was small, way too small for the long term. Alexis had to sit slightly crouched to not bonk her head on the ceiling, and she could probably reach from wall-to-wall on the short side if she laid down.

At least it was getting warm. After Ranvir joined, the temperature had been rising steadily. She just hoped it wasn’t because he was getting a fever, which seemed likely with his gut wound.

“I know she didn’t mean literally chew it,” she mumbled, examining the katapetra. Most of the caverns Amalia had found for them had an entrance below the water. This one was more of an overgrown crevice in the middle of a platform. That meant she had a thin beam of light she could hold the orb in to examine it. It also allowed Alexis to take away enough night vision to avoid seeing Ranvir’s arm. “So she meant spiritually…”

Awkwardly placing her hand on the man’s chest, she shuddered slightly at the touch, remembering the sensation of his spirit. The agitation, anger, and power. At some points, he’d felt so volatile. She almost couldn’t bear to be in the same space as him. Despite what it meant for their survival, she was happy that he spent most of his time away or sleeping. At least, then she didn’t have to feel like she was standing under a collapsing mountain. A mountain that was also angry at her. The virulent waves of blackened anger could come off him in such thick waves, even as he acted like nothing was wrong.

Spiritually chew it, she reminded herself, sending her soul-sight towards the stone, as she left it on his chest. Tentatively, she dove in to examine him deeper. His natural defenses kept her worst intrusions at bay, but she needed some sort of entrance in order for his Amanaris to accept it, right? Or did she? She just let her Amanaris eat katapetra, like any other action using the system. Like displaying her halos for others to see.

So she needed to stimulate his katapetra eating reflex, somehow. Maybe if she just started crushing it, then he would automatically reach for it. His kind liked power, so that would be a very natural move for him.

She licked her lips and shook her head. That also risked destroying the stone. Destroying the stone and any chance of her ever returning home. If Alexis could help it, she really didn’t want to die in some fold, her father’s business partner got her into. Perhaps the family could wrangle extra rewards out of the Dawn Rose’s factories and contracts for this kind of behavior, however.

She went into her mind, trying to remember the last time she fed on katapetra. Step by step she went over the events… It… didn’t help. Perhaps she was going about this wrong. She needed to access his spirit to get to the Amanaris functions, right? So maybe she could just knock?

She did just that with her soul-sight, extending it to Ranvir. Forming a fist, she tapped it twice on his body, the sight clashing with his spiritual matter. For a moment, she waited with bated breath. Then she heard the slight scrape of something light on stone. For a moment, she thought it was footsteps on the platform outside and her heart almost blew out of her chest and galloped away.

The slightest outline of Ranvir’s creepy insects told her otherwise. It grabbed the stone and shoved it down to lie in the shallow valley between his right arm and stomach. Alexis winced and tentatively reached for it. The grasshopper hissed at her in a distinctly un-insect like way.

Letting out a tiny shriek, she pulled away as far and fast as she could get, her head knocking against the roof of the small cavern, sending a thunderous echo of pain through her skull.

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone.”

“You did good,” Ranvir let the words travel through Amanaris-space and into his arm where Loce resided. He praised the storm locust once more before returning to the other space. “Are you ready to talk?”

“Are you?” Latresekt asked. The creature paced around him, growling low in its throat. A poor attempt at scaring him. “I’m not the one who's been stonewalling our deal.”

“You’re the one demanding the deal, Latresekt,” Ranvir replied. “I just want transparency from both partners.”

Latresekt hissed at him, the sound reminiscent of unsheathing a sword. Ranvir gave him a long look. He had agreed to talk it through with Latresekt, which had allowed the creature some sort of leverage over him. It had drawn him into tether-space, instead of passing out. He might’ve preferred unconsciousness to be honest. Then he wouldn’t perceive the pain Amalia put him through. Nor would he feel himself suffocating.

Amalia knows what she’s doing, Ranvir thought. She’s going to get us out of the mess. Maybe she already had. His pain had lessened a lot over just the last fifteen minutes.

“Honesty or nothing, Latresekt.”

“You agreed to a deal.”

“And we’ve tried. You’re unwilling to cooperate, so I will call this meeting done. I’m gonna take my chances with the katapetra,” Ranvir started fading out of the space. He did so slowly, giving Latresekt time to respond. Not that he wouldn’t walk away. He thought he might’ve figured out what Latresekt wanted, regarding access to his Disciplines. The fight with the cruissor had been the inspiration he needed.

“Alright, fine,” growled Latresekt.

Ranvir stopped his discorporating, though he didn’t fully return. “What are your terms?”

“I want access to your Disciplines. In return, I’ll assist you in controlling your mana.”

“How? And Why?”

“You can grant me a portion of your spirit, which will allow me to safely interface with your mana, Amanaris or tether. As for why…” Latresekt hesitated. “I… access to your Disciplines will allow me to leave your spirit.”

Ranvir nodded. “And with a bit of my second-order spirit to begin the conversion, you could survive outside the fold, in Korfyi. Which means you’re going to leave the moment you can survive it.”

Ranvir let himself fully manifest. “I’ll bond you with a piece of my spirit. In return, you’ll help me control my mana.”

“Bah,” Latresekt snorted. “I’ll be stuck with you until you die, if not longer.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Shut it, boy. I’ll help you restore your arm, help you control your mana, and you give me a portion of your soul.”

Ranvir narrowed his gaze. He’d been avoiding thinking about his arm. To his mind, it was lost. The cruissor had torn it to the bone, and he knew of no trick to make it whole again. But was that the best he could do? The best he could get out of the spirit. It believed they were doomed. He could sense that much. It would leave the moment its obligations were gone. He needed to add incentive, something to reward it for staying with him in the long term.

“You bond with my spirit, help me restore my arm, assist me in controlling my mana. Once we escape the fold, I will then give you a portion of my spirit,” Ranvir hesitated. He didn’t know if this would work how he thought it might. “In return for a fraction of yours.”

From all he’d learned of Latresekt, suggested it was a spirit of war. Except the spirit of war was always described as a single entity, a hive mind of spirits similar to Loce.

It would seem Ranvir’s offer struck a vital point this time, as Latresekt didn’t just grumble and increase its pacing. Latresekt went completely still. Not even the breeze from Ranvir’s tether touched its fur. Slowly, the spirit of war settled back.

“If I help you survive the fold, then you will give me a piece of your spirit for free?”

“Leave at that point, make your own way past that,” Ranvir amended. “But once we are free of the fold, then yes. I will give you the portion of my spirit you bonded to and you can go wherever you so choose. So long as you leave behind a portion of yourself.”

A low rumbling sound began in the gorilla-like creature’s throat, steadily bubbling into a small laugh. “That’s… I will give you this boy. That’s more insightful than I gave you credit for. You have a deal.”

The spirit’s form blurred as it reached for Ranvir. He reached through the walls of tether-space, grabbing at the matter of his soul and formed it into a receptacle. His manifestation working as the bridge between to Latresekt, the spirit crawled through him and into the bowl.

The two existences intermingled and Latresekt let out a low purring sound, stronger than previously. Though its presence didn’t move, Ranvir felt it emerge within his emotional spectrum again, prowling through the agonized flames.

“Well, let’s get started, boy.”