Sam lay on the floor with his eyes closed as he made the tiny specks of magical energy remaining in his core gather at one point, slowly and steadily pushing that point inwards in order to make it as small as possible. He had found that this was not just a good way to pass the time while trying to initialize the muddling process, but also a good way to initiate the process—that hyper-focus on his core and energy was the perfect gateway to muddling.

  Hopefully, he’ll soon be able to start muddling without needing to pay this cost of time and magical energy, but since Maurice was going to join Sarah, Erianna, and him for lunch, this made this morning a very good opportunity for muddling. Especially since Dan decided to cut back on their daily lessons for the duration of the trimester break. Cut down meant, of course, not having a lesson on Friday. Which only meant that he had to spend two days of the week instead of the one facing the same constraints when it came to cultivating and training as most other people did.

  With a flash, his mind suddenly turned inwards and encompassed his core fully in his inner-sight. A sight that was becoming more and more familiar with each passing day, and with each new session of muddling that Sam managed to get through. Already used to the instant discomfort and headache, Sam forced his breathing to steady itself and his mind to let go of any attempts of holding the image of the core in its gaze—he found that this way he could keep the split-focus that was the prerequisite for muddling going longer. For some reason, the seemingly incoherent requirement of maintaining dual-focus while keeping a lack of focus that was the biggest stumbling block for most people when it came to muddling, didn’t bother him all that much.

  He let his thoughts glide along his mind as he worked to both keep the core visualized, but also to keep his mind active and thinking while at the same time not honing in on any of the two. This was the crux of the muddling process, and it’s what made it so difficult and hard to explain. You needed to bring two opposite mental activities together, and keep them separate enough so that they didn’t meld together and force the muddling to stop, but also not separate enough so that there was no muddling going at all. Just enough of your mental affectations to paint your core in your own color, but not too much as to overwhelm it and close the connection off.

  He couldn’t lie and say that he was enjoying muddling; nor that he was as efficient in it as he hoped he would turn out to be before he started. But he wasn’t having as hard a time with it as other people claimed they had at the start, or still did in some cases.

  When he heard the inexact description of muddling as forcing your own personality on your core, a part of him had felt that he was going to have an easy go at it. After all, wasn’t his strength of personality one of his core features, for better or worse? Weren’t his powers of self-observation and personal awareness one of the few aspects of himself that he had always been proud of? Surely bending the magical part of himself—stranger to his own thoughts—to the actual personal part of his self, would prove easy for someone such as him.

  Not especially, as it turned out. At the end of the day, muddling was still more mechanical than spiritual. And while it was a process of blurring the line between your own mental self and magical self, it wasn’t so simple as to just be a direct equivalence to shaping your core according to some undiscovered variables which were determined by your own personality. Still, muddling, more than any other aspect of magic to which he had been exposed up till now, was the most metaphysical and non-exact. It still was, in a way, the process of forcing your own personality over your core so that you’d have an easier time accessing and using it.

  Whether that meant that muddling would become easier and more efficient for Sam to use in the future, though… who could say? Considering one of the people with the greatest force of personality that Sam knew was having so much (relative) problems with her muddling. That being said, with how (relatively) easy Sam was finding muddling to be, and with his own self-delusions and beliefs about himself still going strong, Sam was hopeful that muddling would turn out to be one of his strong points. An aspect of his training in which he had the edge over most other people, which would make it easier for him to catch up to his peers in both this and other subjects.

  With a start, he was suddenly pulled out of the dual-focus state and back into the real world. He couldn’t exactly time himself, but he had the feeling that this last muddling try was among his longest lasting. He then rolled to the side and propped himself up on his elbows before getting up to drink some water before heading to the bathroom to wash his face. After drying, he looked at his phone—still twenty minutes until he had to leave. Time for more muddling, then.

  Nineteen minutes later, his timer sounded and brought him back into the real world. He massaged his temples. His headache was beginning to spread; maybe he had been pushing himself a little too much. Oh well, there was nothing to be done about it now, he decided as he fully stretched with a pleased groan. He got up and grabbed his phone and earpieces before leaving his room towards Web Communications.

  He preemptively turned on his Sight, despite the budding headache, and kept his gaze alternating left and right in order to try and find Erianna before she snuck up on him. Luck was on his side today, and he noticed a very familiar thread hidden beyond a tangle of other meaningful nonsense. Sharpening his gaze, he managed to follow the thread all the way to Erianna’s outstretched middle finger.

  “That’s a bit rude,” he said once she got close.

  “I was only doing it to help you.”

  “Surely there were other, equally helpful gestures that you could have made.”

  “Were there?” Erianna asked with a mysterious smile.

  “Yes, there were.”

  “Oh well. They wouldn’t be as funny.”

  “That’s a fair point. Shall we?” Sam beckoned her to lead the way.

  She smiled and started walking before turning to look at him with a scrutinizing gaze. “Everything alright? You look a little… frownier than usual.”

  “Just a little headache. I spent the last hour or so muddling.”

  She nodded. “Ah, that’ll do it. And how’s it going?”

  “Still mostly the same. I’m getting better with the process itself. Which is what I’m mostly focused on right now. Still too early to hope for any substantial progress towards malleable, you know?”

  “Hmph…” she grumbled. “Do I… Never mind, I’m sure you’ll have a better time with muddling that me.”

  “I’m sure I will as well.”

  “Hey!” She lightly swatted him on the shoulder. “I was trying to be encouraging.”

  “And I was just being realistic.”

  “Now I hope you’ll end up being as bad as me.”

  “Finally admitting it, huh? That’s good. First comes acceptance, next comes improvement. And maybe one day you’ll end up as good as me.”

  “Keep dreaming, Anders.” She blew a raspberry. “I’m willing to bet I’d reach ethereal before you did.”

  “No dice. You obviously will because you’ll have the crutch of high levels to carry you there. But I’m willing to bet that it would take me… let’s see, no more than a year to reach malleable after you will.”

  “Hm…” She cupped her chin in thought. “Alright, I’ll take that bet.” They shook hands. “What are we betting on?”

  “Loser has to treat the winner to a soft-drink of their choice?”

  “Wow, calm down, Sam. Let’s not get crazy.”

  “Well, do you have a better idea?”

  “Yes I do.” She nodded confidently. “Loser has to do the winner’s homework in our dwarven patterns course.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “That’s idiotic. A, the bet won’t come to fruition by then. It literally can’t, since it must be a minimum of a year from now. And b, you wouldn’t let me do your homework for you.”

  “And you would let me do yours?”

  “For a stupid course as the one you forced upon me? Sure.”

  Erianna tsked. “Alright, how about this, winner gets to call the loser by their chosen nickname for a whole week?”

  “That’s not fair. You’re banned from calling me cadet, while I’m more than free to call you princess.”

  “Oh. Are you scared? Where did all of your courage go to… Cad—”

  “Alright, you’re on, princess. I’m going to wear that word out.” He then stopped and reconsidered. “Although, we’ll actually have to postpone the stakes going into effect. Since, you know, you won’t be here next year.”

  “Hm…. Right, yeah.” Erianna nodded. “Alright, so we’ll do that, and also the loser has to send the winner twelve bucks.”

  “A whole twelve bucks?” Sam exclaimed. “How will the Sarechi treasury recover?”

  Erianna laughed. “It’ll have to manage. My honor as a princess is at stake.”

  They soon made it to the communications complex and found their way to the room assigned to them. “Farris texted me that he’s going to be late by a few minutes,” Sam said.

  “Ugh. Typical.” She then frowned. “How come he texts you but not me? He knows I’m supposed to be here!”

  Sam shrugged. “He went with the responsible adult?”

  “That would be Sarah if anyone.”

  “Well how about this? If he texted you, I wouldn’t care about it. But, you’re annoyed that he texted me. Petty utilitarianism prevails again.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Erianna said with a stretch. “Wonder what it says about me?”

  “That you’re an awful, self-possessed person?”

  “Could be, could be.” She sat down and patted the ground next to her.

  Sam joined her on the floor. “We really need to get some chairs in here. I mean, surely, if they all chose the same design, it would be fine, yeah?”

  “It would, but it’d cost a little more in energy. Most inter-Web communications rooms actually have chairs, even tables, but I guess they decided to skimp for the academy since they figured everyone here was fit enough to sit on the floor.”

  “Uh, I never knew that. You’re not lying, are you?”

  She put her hand on her heart. “Swear to it. The rooms in the palace are all… well, I wouldn’t say as ornately decorated as the rest of the palace, but definitely more ornate than most other communications rooms.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “I guess the royal family has to pay the price to maintain its reputation.”

  “Well the Sarechi public has to, you mean.”

  “What’s the difference? It’s like saying the stomach has to process food so that the brain can work.”

  Erianna smiled and wagged her finger at Sam. “I knew I had a kindred royalist spirit in you since the moment I met you.”

  The front of the room turned hazy for a split second before Farris’ image appeared, and, from what Sam could discern, not in usual haunt. Holding up his hands, he said, “I know, I know, I’m late, but I had a very good reason, so we might as well skip over the friendly ribbing, no?”

  Sam and Erianna exchanged looks. “What was the reason?” Sam asked.

  “And where the hell are you?” Erianna said.

  “I’m in one of the palace’s communication rooms,” Farris said, leaning backwards in his seat and stretching his legs forward.

  “How… convenient,” Sam said with furrowed brows.

  “Why do you need to use the communication room?” Erianna asked.

  “Tired.” Farris sighed. “Which is also the answer to Sam’s question. I’ve been running around all day, working myself to the bone, and stretching my powers to their limit. So I thought to rest a little and have my work done for me when it comes to connecting to the arrays.”

  “Surely the threadwork to connect isn’t that difficult,” Sam said.

  “It is when you’ve been awake for more than 48 hours.”

  “So why the hell have you been working so hard?” Erianna asked. “Is everything alright?”

  “Everything’s fine. It’s nothing to do with you or for you to worry about.”

  “That’s not really an answer,” Sam said.

  “Well it’s the best you’re going to get. I had a mixture of personal and official duties that I couldn’t put off and that required the full use of my abilities for a long stretch of time. That’s all I can say on the matter.”

  “That sounds rather ominous if I’m being honest.”

  “It’s fine,” Erianna told Sam. “If it’s anything really important, Mom will tell me about it.”

  “Unless it’s so important that she doesn’t know as well.”

  Farris let out an exasperated sigh. “Look, it’s nothing concerning the two of you. So just drop it, alright? You’re not the only ones in the Web with a packed schedule, you know? Some of us actually have to work hard to make a living.”

  Erianna and Sam exchanged looks. Sam shrugged. “He’s your uncle.”

  Erianna nodded and turned to Farris. “Fine, if it really doesn’t have anything to do with us, then we’ll drop it. But if you’re so tired as to avoid using threads, wouldn’t you rather just postpone this meeting till next week?”

  Farris’ face turned appalled at the mere suggestion of such a thing. “Of course not! Why, that is something that is simply not done. What, to turn derelict in my most sacred of duties just because I have had a few trying days. What sort of example would I be setting to my successors?”

  “Usually, you’re the one nagging us to take it easier…”

  “Yeah, but I don’t mean it. You both know that. I’m just playing the part so that I’ll be able to claim innocence when—if—one of you ends up snapping.”

  “Or both,” Sam said.

  “What?”

  “Both of us could snap.”

  “Oh… that’s true. Maybe it would be a dual-snap. Or maybe one would be the reason for the next; sort of a snapping cascade.”

  “No one’s snapping,” Erianna declared. “So, if you don’t want to postpone the meeting, I gather that we can finally move on to starting in?”

  Farris waved his hand dismissively. “If you must.”

  “Very well.” Erianna took out a tablet. “So if you turn to the first page of my last report—”

  Farris made a show of flipping through a binder. “Is it page one of the report, or the first page period?”

  “I’m not here to talk about the cover that the stupid format you forced me to use dictates.”

  “And you also made that joke last time,” Sam said.

  “Did I?” Farris wiped his brow. “Wow, I must be really tired.” He gave them both a smile before exhaling a breath. “Alright, in all seriousness, page one. Walk me through the main points as I didn’t have time to read this report. I’ll read it soon, don’t worry about it,” he quickly added.

  Erianna nodded. “So Sam’s progress has continued to exceed your suggested projections, such as they are, but more or less—actually just more—still according to your… secondary projections as to how much Sam will over-perform his primary ones.”

  Sam shook his head. “You guys have the stupidest system for data analysis.”

  “Don’t look at me, it’s all him.”

  “I don’t understand what’s so bad about it.” Farris’ face was all innocence. “I calculated what’s a good rate of progress that I should expect from your average talented twenty-year-old human or elf, which is the basis for what Erianna called my primary projections. Then, I extrapolated from that Sam’s rate of progress, which I assumed to be better since, let’s face it, he has me for guidance. Which created the so-called ‘secondary projections,’ and which, by definition, meeting means exceeding the former. It’s all very simple.”

  “Or,” Sam said, “you could just have the second set.”

  “Yes, but then the rate of improvement of your self-confidence would slow.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Sam scratched the back of his scalp. He turned to Erianna. “So I’m on the pace I need to be, plus?”

  Erianna nodded. “Pretty much. There are aspects in which your pace is even better than the rest, and none for where it’s behind or exactly where you’re supposed to be. So it’s all very good.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, patterns, for example.”

  Sam frowned. “Oh, I thought you were talking about threads. You’re not supposed to keep track of my progress in other subjects. And I don’t think I’m that much better at patterns than I’m supposed to be. The thing with Felix and Yvessa’s pattern is overblown.”

  “What thing?” Farris asked.

  “Be that as it may,” Erianna said, ignoring her uncle, “you do showcase a very strong understanding of the theoretical aspects of patterns, well ahead of where Dan expected you to be at this point of your studies. And as to your first point, I’m here to help you full stop. Sure, I’m focused on threads, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about your progress in other matters.

  “And furthermore, in order to provide you with the correct tutelage concerning threads, I need to be kept abreast of your current status in the rest of your studies and training. Studying threads isn’t meant to be distinct from the rest of your training; it’s all supposed to come together as one holistic unit. That way, you can be sure of being the best combatant you can possibly be at any given time.”

  Sam nodded. “Alright, so Dan thinks I’m ahead of the curve when it comes to patterns.”

  “You’re ahead of the curve in everything except, funnily enough, imprinting, where you’re pretty much where you’re supposed to be, and muddling where we can’t really judge you yet. But yes, Dan specifically pointed out patterns as a subject where you’re foraying into topics that you aren’t supposed to study for at least the next couple of months. That’s why he was so supportive of you joining me in the dwarven patterns course.”

  “Not like I had a choice,” Sam grumbled.

  Farris cleared his throat. “I assume that the bit about Sam outshining your friends in patterns was in your report…”

  “In Dan’s report, yes.” Erianna nodded.

  “And I assume that you’re avoiding giving me an answer as punishment for not having read the report.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  Farris sighed. “Well…”

  Erianna gave Sam a cheeky smile. “There’s not a lot to say, actually. Sam just helped Felix and Yvessa with their assignment to design a pattern by giving them a very good suggestion.”

  “Hm… Good for you, Sam.” Farris nodded placidly. “I’m guessing you spent some time thinking about what you ended up suggesting.”

  Sam shrugged. “Not that particular suggestion per se. But I did spend like one or two hours when I had nothing to do but let my mind wander thinking about their design concept. I didn’t really set out to try and help them, just to attempt the assignment in my own way, I suppose.”

  Farris yawned. “Be that as it may, I’m sure it further strengthens Dan’s assessment as to your progress in the study of patterns. Not exactly the kind of focus I would’ve envisioned for you, but it’s not detrimental. And who knows, maybe that dwarven patterns nonsense will end up coming useful. Extra knowledge never hurts.”

  “At least someone agrees with me that it’s nonsense.”

  Erianna rolled her eyes. “Do you really want to take Farris’ side of the argument? The only reason he can afford to treat theory so lackadaisically is that his innate talent for all the stuff that he ‘hates’ allows him to succeed in subjects where, by all accounts, he should’ve failed. He’s not a good role model. And frankly, you’re better and smarter than him to be satisfied with his style of happy-go-lucky combat training.”

  “That hurts, niece.” Farris wiped a fake tear from his eye.

  “I’m here to help Sam, not coddle your ego.”

  Farris waved her off. “I think you just enjoy being cruel to your loving uncle; nothing more, nothing less. In any case, Sam, you don’t need to follow in my or anyone else’s footsteps when it comes to the different avenues of magic that you want to pursue. You have your basics—your mandatory courses and training—any time that remains afterwards is up to you how to spend it. Go study exotic patterns. Learns some self-healing. Focus on the more tactical or strategic aspects of your role. Just follow your heart.”

  “My heart tells me that it doesn’t want to study a subject that managed to perplex even Sarah with its complexity and verbosity,” Sam said.

  Erianna crossed her hands. “And does your heart tell you whether it doesn’t want that more than it doesn’t want to disappoint me?”

  “Sheesh, I already said that I’ll go. Stop trying to guilt trip me.”

  “Stop trying to wriggle out of it.”

  Farris held up his hands. “Alright, children, take mercy on your aging mentor and keep your verbal sparring to a minimum—or at the very least, more relevant. Let’s go back to the actual focus of your stay here, Erianna. How’s Sam’s Threadsight progressing?”

  “Pretty good.” Erianna nodded. “I’d say that by now… he’s about three or four times better overall than when we started.”

  “Hm, that is pretty good. He must have a pretty good teacher.”

  “If you both start patting each other on the back, I’m leaving,” Sam said.

  Erianna waved him off. “There are aspects of the Sight that he struggles with more than others; recognition, I would say, is the primary offender. But he’s still better at it than I expected him to be at this point, so it’s not like he’s bad at it. Just not as good.”

  “Well, recognition is pretty hard at the start.” Farris nodded. “And threadcraft?”

  “Also good. We’re covering a lot of ground almost daily. And Sam can study some of the theory on his own by now. Which he does. More often than I tell him to.” She frowned at Sam, who shrugged.

  “Not my fault,” he said. “I gotta fill up my free time somehow.”

  “Anyway, I don’t think that there’s anything majorly different or important for you to know about that has changed in the last month. So feel free to take your time reading the report. I think we can just keep going at the pace we were for… I don’t know, at least the next trimester.”

  “Hm…” Farris nodded with eyes closed. When he opened them, his gaze focused on Erianna. “And after that? Pick up the pace during the third trimester until you have to leave? Remember that you need to make sure that Sam will be ready to keep going with a tutor who might not be as… attentive as you.”

  Erianna seemed to squirm under Farris’ scrutiny. “I think that Sam’s baseline by the time I have to leave will be pretty good on its own. He’ll have already gotten the most important things for his overall training from studying threads. Besides, I’m sure that whatever teacher you end up sending him will be just as good, if not better, than me.”

  “But different.” Farris seemed to ponder the topic as he cupped his chin and started upwards.

  “Look,” Sam said, “who knows what will happen by then. It’s more than half a year away. And, in all honesty, don’t you guys think that by that point, I’ll be… I don’t know, well enough to go finish my third year at the Royal Academy?”

  “Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. That’s not the point. We already agreed that you should be treated as a special case. There’s no reason for it to be taken away from you now. The only thing we need to care about is ensuring that you get the best education possible to you, whatever form it may end up taking. Right Erianna?”

  “Hm…” Erianna asked, her eyes unfocused. “Oh, yes, right, yes. The best education possible for Sam, most definitely.” She turned to Sam with a smile. “I’m sure Farris already has lots of ideas on how to make sure we’ll be able to maximally utilize the rest of your two and a half years of training.”

  “You alright?” Sam asked.

  She nodded but avoided his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking of something else.” She waved her hand. “Drifted off from the conversation; caught unaware. That’s all.”

  Sam narrowed his eyes but ended up shrugging and turning back to Farris, who pursed his lips in a small, peaceful smile. “So if I’m all up to specs and me and Erianna should just keep going as we are, is there anything else that we need to talk about today?”

  Farris sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. I still need—well, want more than need—to take some active part in your education. So I’ve prepared an itinerary of what I want us to go over for the rest of our time today. Some questions. Exercises. Erianna will be my eyes for those.”

  “You sure that’s necessary for today? Wouldn’t you rather just save it for another time?”

  “Oh no, not at all. After all, the time I have with the two of you together is limited. I have to make sure that I don’t waste it. Before you know it, I’ll be forced to split my attention between two different worlds.” He sighed with a smile. “Oh well, that’s for future Farris to worry about. Now I can rest easy knowing I can teach both of you at the same time.”