“Boo.” Sam blew a raspberry. “You ruined my joke.”

  “You ruined my life.” Erianna whipped her head to the side.

  “Hm… yeah, that tracks. So, what next?”

  “Lunch is right around the corner.”

  “What? That can’t be right. We’ve only been here…” He looked at the phone. “Huh. Time flies when you’re studying how to unravel the bare fabrics of reality.”

  “That it does.” Erianna rubbed her temple before swiftly and nimbly slithering off of the chair and onto the bed.

  “Hey!” Sam got up to nudge her. “You did that on purpose.”

  She put her hand to her forehead, raising her chin just enough to give her performance a theatrical edge. “You wound me, good sir, with your baseless accusations. I am just a poor and tired royal lady. I have slaved all morning in your service. Please, would you not allow me these few moments of respite?”

  “No. Get up, weirdo.”

  She threw her head up, almost striking his chin as she straightened up. “Now who’s no fun? Mph!” She slapped him with the back of her hand and slid down to the ground.

  Sam sat down on the bed, legs dangling beside her. “I’m guessing that we’re taking a break until it’s time to leave for lunch?”

  “Taking a break or stopping, I’m not sure yet. All jokes aside, I really am tired. I didn’t sleep all that great last night. And this has been harder than I expected.”

  “Really? How come?”

  “One, I had a lot of work to do, training to catch up on, so I went to sleep late, and it took some time falling asleep. Two… I don’t know. This is hard. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a teacher.”

  Sam nudged her shoulder with his calf. “Come on now, don’t say that. You’re a great teacher. Or at the very least, a more than passable one. Know how I know? Because if Farris could do it, so can you. And he could, since you’re here right now.”

  She raised both of her hands in a stretch. “Hm… your honeyed words might hold a kernel of truth… Alright, you’ve convinced me. We’ll keep up our little study session. Finish it all in one day.”

  “That sounds unlikely.”

  “That’s because I was lying. What I really meant is that we’ll go over everything we have to before I can assign you some self-studying and practicing time. Then I should be clear for at least a couple more days.”

  “That sounds very smart, Your Highness.”

  She swatted his hand away before it could fulfill its intended purpose—a patronizing pat of her head. “Of course it is. I’m the smartest person I know. Now, be a dear and entertain me for the next few minutes, will you? Really put on a show.”

  “You know… I was going to do that anyway, but now that you’d told me to…. Suddenly, I don’t want to do that anymore.”

  Erianna laughed. “Brought low by my own hubris. But how about a glass of water, then?”

  “Good news for you,” Sam said as he got up, “don’t want to do that at all.” He turned around to give her a stare. “I better not catch you back up there when I come back.”

  “Oh relax, you puritan.”

  She held true to her words and was sitting back in the chair as Sam handed her the cup. “Your Highness.” He got down on one knee.

  She got the last laugh because she patted him on the head before he had a chance to get up. “Thanks,” she said and finished the glass in one gulp.

  “Ugh… I just sat back down.”

  “Pipe down. I’m not going to send you all the way to the sink once more.”

  “Thank you…” Sam whispered hoarsely. They sat in silence for a few seconds as Erianna closed her eyes and rested her head back, and Sam just stared at nothing in particular.

  “Stop fidgeting,” she chided him.

  “I’m not. I’m not doing anything.” Sam hid his fingers, which up till now were busy tapping on his knee, behind his back.

  “Are you so strung up that you can’t sit down and relax for a few minutes on a Tuesday?”

  Sam put his hand to his ear. “Ladle? It’s me! I found her. I found Pot. She’s calling me!”

  “How long have you been saving that up for?”

  “Pretty long. But I have other derivatives, don’t you worry. Now, to answer your question… no, not particularly. Tuesdays are work days. Which means that I’m not really planning to just sit around and do nothing. At least not before the last hour of the day.”

  “What do you call meditating?”

  “Sitting around and trying not to do anything.”

  She smiled. “How clever.”

  “Oh, come off it, princess. You don’t get to lecture me about not taking it easy.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’m trying to take it easy right now. Close my eyes and let my thoughts drift pleasantly. Someone, however, doesn’t seem inclined to let me do that.”

  “Surely listening to the sound of my voice, and my humorous quips, is just as pleasant as drifting with the river of your own mind.”

  “Maybe your mind, as it’s such a god-awful place. But not mine.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I’m only hurting you because I want what’s best for you.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “For you to leave me alone so I wouldn’t be forced to stand up and knock you unconscious.”

  “You know that in real life, it doesn’t really work like that, right? You can’t just knock people out, at least not without doing real permanent damage.”

  She shrugged. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  Sam chuckled and joined her in closing his eyes. Mind turning to his core, then outside, he decided to practice gathering a little. Even though his core wasn’t full, it was better than nothing. And he didn’t feel like practicing his tracings right about now. With his senses stretched outwards, he grabbed hold of—

  “Don’t do that,” Erianna said.

  Opening his eyes, and dropping the energy, Sam saw hers were still closed. “Don’t do what?”

  “Don’t cultivate.”

  “I’m not. I’m just gathering. My core isn’t full.”

  “Then don’t gather. Also, don’t be a smart-ass.”

  “What’s so bad about me gathering?”

  “I told you to take it easy. You’re not taking it easy. You need to do what I tell you.”

  Sam raised an eyebrow. “Do I really need to play the ‘look who’s talking’ card again?”

  “First of all, just because I don’t do as I preach doesn’t mean my preachings are wrong. Secondly, I am taking it easy, so you have no leg to stand on. Thirdly, why can’t we both strive to improve ourselves through shared struggle and experiences?”

  “Sound boring. I’d rather wear myself thin and have a meltdown at twenty-six.”

  “Oh my, making it to twenty-six, aren’t you optimistic?”

  “What can I say? I have very high expectations of myself.”

  “Don’t we all? Alright, five more minutes and then we’re off.” She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Take that time to relax. No tracing. No gathering. Nothing. Only relaxing thoughts.”

  “Do you even know me?”

  “I’m starting to, unfortunately. Now hush. Let me rest.”

  Sam smiled but accompanied her in closing his eyes. He even managed to let his mind drift along pleasantly enough. At least, the topics that came into focus weren’t too stressful. Mostly, he thought about the last few hours, and all the ground they had made up learning about threads. More importantly, he finally had an answer to his longest standing question since coming here. An answer of sorts.

  He was still not completely sure how threads work so that they allowed people to gleam information off of them, but he was pretty sure that he understood why he couldn’t tell anyone else about Web-Web. And why it was fine that he wrote about them in the journal. He wasn’t interacting with any outside magical entity, only himself, so there was no place for the information that he had an AI in his head and the duty of saving the Web on his shoulders to latch onto an external thread. And apparently, hopefully, whichever internal thread that information was a part of, it was very complex.

  Huh. Maybe it’s a part of my thread to the Web? But then again, Web-Web said that they aren’t really the Web. Or weren’t. And what is even the thread connecting me to the Web? I think I need to hold off on any assumptions for now, at least until I actually use my Threadsight with some semblance of understanding what the fuck I’m doing. Oh… fuck. We’re going to do that next. He sighed. This is going to fucking hurt. Curse me and my thirst for knowledge.

  “Come on.” Erianna tapped him on the shoulder. “Stop looking so miserable and get up.”

  “Up.” Sam presented his hands to her. She shook her head with a smile but still grabbed hold of them, pulling him up. “Thank you, milady.”

  She flicked him on the shoulder. “None of that crap now. You can’t be asking someone to help you get up from a chair and then act all courtly.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Damn… Manners really are complex. And I thought recognizing the soup fork was hard.”

  “I’ll help you make really good acquaintance with a fork if you don’t start moving.”

  “Man, you really don’t joke around when it comes to eating.”

  She rolled her eyes as she opened the door. “All I’m doing is joking around. If I was really serious, I would start running and leave you standing here dazed.”

  Sam joined her outside, and they both headed towards the stairs. “Surely running for the mess hall is below your station? Royal princesses can’t be one of those weird kids who run everywhere.”

  “Royal princesses can be whatever they fucking want to be—”

  “Except not a princess.”

  “Not necessarily. They can be a prince.”

  “That’s a funny image. Backward and forward at the same time.”

  Erianna shrugged. “I’m glad the myriad complex layers of Sarechi society entertain you so. But it’s not like you Terrans are any different. Taking away my position in Sarechi society being inferred upon be by virtue of my birth, there isn’t much difference between you and me.”

  “Oh?”

  “I said not much. After all, whatever you do, you could never stop being a Thread-Weaver Taken, now could you? Sure, you could drop out, leave the military life and sequester yourself in a forest somewhere. But the expectations people had levied upon you would still exist. Not to mention, those self-made, which form the greatest driving power behind your actions. Of course, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.”

  Sam sighed. “No, you’re not wrong. But taking away the difference of one’s position being inferred upon her by virtue of birth, and one’s position being… Fuck. There’s no difference. It’s all brute luck. At least on some level. You’re right, we’re the same.”

  “Hold your horses there, Anders. I said we’re alike. You still have a long way to go before you’re good enough to claim similitude with me.”

  He turned his nose at her. “Humility is a virtue, princess. And just for that, you lose ten points. I’m catching up with lightning speed. In fact, do you hear that?” He cupped his hand to his ear. “That’s the sound of me becoming the go to example when people talk about the Web’s young prodigies. ‘Erianna Ninae? Psh! Who cares about her? She’s old news. She’s not as funny as Sam Anders. And that’s the least of her concerns.’”

  “You’re right. I’m not as funny as you.” She shrugged.

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “I’m funnier.”

  “Goddammit.”

  Lunch was over with in short order, by both of their standards, and they were both promptly back in Sam’s room, sitting exactly where they had an hour ago. “Oh, right,” Erianna said, after a moment’s thought, “painkillers. Do you have any?”

  Sam looked at her as though she were an idiot. “Wow, so all that ‘knowing me’ act was just that, huh? Trust me, I may not need as many pills and medicines as I did before, but that didn’t stop my slightly hypochondriac ass from stocking up every over-the-counter pill that I might need. I have two types of painkillers. One for headaches. The other for more physical pain. Sarah says that doesn’t really work like that, but I can tell the difference.”

  “Good. Take both.”

  “Eh… taking two pills at once is fine. In fact, it might be the recommended dosage. But I don’t think you’re supposed to mix two types of painkillers at the same time.”

  “You’ll survive. And you’ll thank me for it. Take the maximum single dosage of both.”

  Sam got up with a befuddled face and walked past Erianna to his dresser. Painkillers, as pills of primary importance, had the honor of being relegated to the most accessible surface in the room. He signaled Erianna with his fingers the number of pills he was swallowing and, with a gulp, sent them all them down to do what it was they did best.

  Erianna waved him off as he sat back down. “I know what I’m doing. You’ll be fine even with the ‘heavy’ dosage, and, like I said, you’ll thank me for that. Even though it’s not going to be of much help. After all, the pain you’re about to go through is as mental as allowed by whatever metaphysical view of consciousness you follow.”

  “Yeah…” Sam grit his teeth. “I remember.”

  “I bet. But, luckily for you, it’ll take you some time to fully remember and thus open your Sight. Enough time to steel yourself. Enough time to let the pills kick in. Enough time for me to get some shuteye.”

  “Stop with the lazy, happy-go-lucky vibe. No one’s buying your attempts to appear unconcerned and not serious.”

  “Screw you. So, the Sight, we first need to teach you to activate it. Then we need to teach you to deactivate it. Then a couple of times more for good measure. If I’m lucky, the rest of the day will be spent on doing just those two things. But I have a feeling that I’m not going to be lucky and you’re going to accomplish this most basic of goals before we run out of time.”

  “I’ll certainly try to. Otherwise, you won’t be able to gain any time off by leaving me to practice on my own.”

  “Don’t be so sure of that. But enough joking around. We’re starting. Close your eyes and listen closely. Opening the Sight is like a muscle. A muscle that you don’t know how to use or even that it’s there. The main trick is getting your mind to recognize its existence, then to stumble upon the instinct to open it. That’s what happens with Later Thread-Weavers; the muscle and instinct just click into existence one day.

  “Now, the ways to get your Threadsight active are numerous and subjective. One method works for this person, another for that. We’ll be trying each method at random. In fact, we’ll be mixing and matching as we go. You don’t need to care about that. Just focus on the fact that everything I’m going to say, I’m saying with a purpose, and its purpose is to help you activate the Sight. Even if it doesn’t make sense, even if you don’t know how to do what I’m telling you, or even what I’m telling you. Just focus on my words and try your best. I promise you, before too long, you’ll have your Sight open once again. And spoiler, you’ll be sorry for that. So, ready to begin?”

  Sam gulped, then slowly nodded. “One quick question, though. How long do you think this will take?”

  “Half an hour, maybe a full hour. Probably less, though, trust me.”

  Sam nodded once more. He’ll aim for half an hour. After all, that’s about what it took him the first time. If he remembered it right, at least. His last interaction with Web-Web was a hazy memory at best. Maybe half an hour was the entirety of their conversation. He mentally shook his head. It didn’t matter. He should just let Erianna guide him for a while and then start following her examples. With any luck, he won’t actually be able to activate the Sight straight from the get go.

  Luck was, of course, far from his side, as after twenty or so minutes, but probably less, Sam slapped himself into action and started following Erianna’s guidance. Less than a minute later, and he was assaulted by that familiar headache once again. And once more, even with his eyes closed, he was graced with the view of the most basic element of material magic.

  “Judging by your grimace, I assume you’ve succeeded.” Erianna said. “Good. Keep your eyes closed. No reason to make the pain worse. We’re going to train on how to close the Sight now. Same thing, I’ll guide you through the methods, you try to follow whatever it is I’m saying. Don’t focus on anything else. Ignore all the other sounds, sights, and sensations. Just focus on my voice.”

  Sam nodded and grit his teeth. This was going to be the hard part. Because he knew, he was sure that he could turn off the Sight right now. But he couldn’t do that without appearing… not normal. He’ll have to power through the pain for a while. Not like he couldn’t handle it. After all, last time, he had his eyes open for most of it, right? And maybe he was more used to the Sight by now. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard.

  He was wrong again, of course. The few minutes he forced himself to suffer through keeping the Sight open were just as agonizing as the last time. He was probably exaggerating. Hell, he knew he was exaggerating since his eyes weren’t open. But telling himself that would be like telling him that losing one leg wasn’t so bad, considering he had once lost two. Pain was still pain. And this was still painful as fuck.

  Finally, he had enough and forced the Sight to close. It went away immediately after he gave the mental command. Giving a sigh, he opened his eyes and looked tiredly at Erianna. “Not sure the painkillers helped.”

  She smiled at him. “Whether or not they did, aren’t you happier knowing that you did something that could’ve lessened that pain? Alright, we aren’t finished yet, far from it, but take a few minutes to rest, drink some water. Go to the bathroom. Put on your favorite song. Etcetera etcetera.”

  Sam leaned back, staring at the ceiling he said. “My listening to my favorite song is strictly rationed. It takes more than this to force me to bust it out.” And besides, a few minutes of rest was a few minutes more than he got last time. He was already starting to recover from the ordeal, back to taking steady breaths.

  “What’s your favorite song?” she asked him with a laugh.

  “Really? That you don’t know?” Sam scoffed at her as he bent down to grab a drink.

  “What is this, a video game? Your files don’t have every bit of personal information about you in them. It’s not like they asked you what your favorite songs were when they made you a citizen. And we both know that every answer you gave Farris to that question was a joke.”

  “Favorite song. Not songs. I don’t have favorite songs.”

  “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Of course it does. When I say ‘favorite song’ I’m thinking of the song I like the most. If we’re talking plural, then it’d be top ten, top twenty, whatever. I can’t do that. I can only pick the top spot. Anything after that is unclear as dust in the wind.”

  She stared at him. “What’s your favorite song?”

  “Here Comes the Sun.”

  “Oh, I like that one. It’s really good. I thought you’d have gone for something more… critically lauded by the Beatles, though. Or is this one of those idiocies where your favorite Beatles song is different from your favorite song, despite the fact that the latter is by the Beatles?”

  “No such thing. At the end of the day, I’m a pretty basic person. Here Comes the Sun makes me really happy. And I have developed positive memories and ingrained reactions to listening to it. So it’s my favorite song. And don’t worry, the Beatles are my favorite band too. I’m not one of those who have the two separate.”

  “Really? Because I am.” She frowned at him before breaking out in a smile. “Alright, you’re ready to go?”

  Sam sighed, but nodded. “I guess so. Same thing?”

  “Yes, just follow my lead.”

  Sam did so, this time both activating and deactivating the Sight much quicker. Not quick enough that Erianna commented on that fact, thankfully. After a few more rounds of that—eleven, to be exact—she called a halt to the practice. “Alright, I think it’s pretty obvious that you don’t need any more helping with accessing the Sight. So we can move on. But before that, we’re taking another break.”

  “Good, cause I really need to piss.” Sam got up.

  “Why, I never!” Erianna his her mouth with her hand. Sam gave her a middle finger as he rushed to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. “Better?” she asked him after he sat back down.

  “Much. You don’t need to go?”

  “Now, is that really something you should be asking a princess, Mr. Anders?” She smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m alright. After all, I haven’t been drinking anywhere as close as you have.”

  Sam nodded and looked at the bottle. It was almost empty. “Be right back,” he said. “What now?” he asked after he sat back down.

  “Now we’re still resting.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s barely been two minutes. And I’ve been working myself hoarse these last few hours.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “No, far from it. You actually made pretty good time, all things considering. Your first attempt took you a bit longer than I expected, but after that, it was smooth sailing. Probably could’ve stopped after the third. But… twelve’s what the books call for.”

  “How long did it take you?”

  “I was a child.”

  “And I want to know how long it takes a child to do what I did in ‘pretty good time.’”

  She sighed. “The most annoying thing about you is that you’re making me feel sorry for my uncle, and proving him right. Whatever, it took me about a day to finish this. I wasn’t completely focused on practicing like we are, and I took much longer breaks.”

  “And also, it didn’t really take you a day.”

  “No, but it did take me longer than an hour the first time. And we only did those twelve attempts that day. We did theory a day or two before that. And we stopped at just the twelve attempts, without the rest of the lesson I’m going to give you. Trust me, you’re ahead of the curve.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t all that worried about that. It was really just simple curiosity. How’s that for proving your uncle right?”

  “Not good enough, unfortunately. But speaking of curiosity, help me quench mine. So you don’t have a list of favorites in any form of entertainment? Only the top one?”

  Sam tsked. “Not exactly. It’s really only songs that work like that, because there’s just too many to put them into a top ten list, which is where my brain goes to when I hear ‘favorites.’ But bands, or artists rather, I do have a sort of favorites list. Except it is more like a favorite list than a top ten list. Meaning, I have the top spot for sure, but afterward it’s murky and if you put a gun to my head, the list would number more than ten. That same logic holds for most other things. I have the most favored item, then an uncertain ranking after that. Music, books, games, you name it.”

  “Really? Everything? There’s not one subject in which you just can’t make up your mind? Two movies that you equally like?”

  “Movies are actually the closest to that. As I may have a number one and a number two. But I’ll need to watch both of them again to decide. But as for others? No. I definitely have a single favorite that I like the most. Just the way my brain works. It likes to make rankings and put stuff in a linear order. As much as my sensibilities allow, at least.”

  “Alright… so favorite historical figure?”

  “Really hard to pick, but my gut says Alexander because even other GOATs like the Caesars looked up to him.”

  “Game I know because Yvessa told me, book I know because… obviously. TV show?”

  “Depends on the time of day and stage in my life. Now? Especially with my new career choices? M.A.S.H.”

  “That show where a ton of people watched the finale?”

  “That’s the only thing you know about that? What kind of Terraboo are you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not. I just like what I like. And if I don’t stumble upon something, how would I know I like it? Now that I have your glowing recommendation in the form of not telling me anything about the show. I’ll be sure to check it out.”

  “Well, whatever you do, make sure to watch the movie before you finish with the show. Because they’re not connected and the movie might make you feel differently about the characters and story. And not in a good way.”

  “So just not watch the movie, then?”

  “Yeah, I guess, if you’re a normal person and don’t have a compulsion to tick off imaginary boxes.”

  She shrugged while making an apologizing face. “I think I am that kind of person.”

  “Well…” Sam narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “Bully for you.”