Once the high of her boosted Vitality wore off Ana was reluctant to let go of Messy, but there was something she very much wanted to do. "Come on," she said. "let's get out of the camp. Step away a little. I want to try out my new Ability, and I don't want people gawking."

Messy leaned back, lacing her fingers behind Ana's neck. "All alone in the forest?" she said, pitching her voice to sound frightened and vulnerable. "That doesn't sound safe. I would need some kind of angel looking after me."

"Funny coincidence," Ana said, then gently maneuvered Messy toward the front of the tent.

"Armor," Messy reminded her, so she had Messy help her strap it on, then grabbed her arms, too — she was eager and impatient, not stupid. Attacks were rare since the nighttime disaster, and small, but they still happened. She even told Petra which direction they were going, and roughly how far. No sense in having people think she and Messy had just disappeared on them.

Ana led Messy a hundred yards or so away from the edge of the camp, far enough for the dense trees to block any sight and most sound for anyone who wasn't at Ana's Level. She found a small clearing where two young trees had fallen, one on top of the other. The ground was as uneven as anywhere in the forest, but at least she could stand in the center and have fifteen feet of room in any direction.

"Alright, what did you want to show me?" Messy asked, leaning back against a tall… beech, maybe? Ana never had been great with trees.

"Give me a second to figure it out," Ana said standing in the middle of the clearing. "I have to activate it. Though if it's like—"

Messy gasped as a pair of six-foot crystalline wings sprouted from Ana's back, growing from nothing to their full glory in an instant. Ana gave them an experimental flap, rising to her tiptoes for a moment, then turned a full, bright grin on Messy.

"I can feel them, Mess! Like they're— like they've always been a part of me! I think I can just—"

With that Ana leaped straight up, flapped once, twice, then three times and she was even with the treetops. Laughter bubbled out of her. She couldn't help it. She angled her wings a little awkwardly, and managed to take a long circuit of the clearing. With her confidence strengthened she headed out across the forest and got a fair distance before she felt something like a countdown in the back of her head warning her that she didn't have long left and she turned around. Once back above the clearing it took her complete focus to position herself so that she hung somewhat stable in the air, lurching a foot or two in a random direction with every beat of her wings, but she managed to descend and put her feet on the ground well before the wings dissolved into bright motes that cast no light. She was still laughing with the sheer joy of it when Messy tackled her.

It took a split-second, conscious effort to stop herself from simply staying on her feet. Ana could have easily caught Messy, stepped out of the way, thrown her in several different ways, or hell, probably just let her bounce off. Instead she let Messy bowl her over, knocking her on her back in the thick moss.

"That was amazing," Messy said, and a whole host of uncertain twitches of her face and amber eyes told Ana that her girl was using every Point of Willpower she possessed to hold herself back. "You keep amazing me."

"That was all the Class," Ana protested. "I just used it."

"Not that." Messy ran her thumb along the line of Ana's smile. "The whole… innocent joy! Like a little girl who just got the perfect name day present. Thank you for letting me see that."

"I'm glad you liked it." Ana craned her neck up to kiss Messy's cheek, letting Messy melt against her for a while before saying "We should get back before we do something to lose track of time."

"A bath. I remember," Messy said, making no move to get up.

"So. Nothing to say about the wings?"

"They're like you. Gorgeous. Powerful. Absolutely amazing. And I'm so happy for you. Flight is usually only for deeply invested Air-mages. But I'd already seen them, you know? In the square. But that smile, though? I don't think I'd ever seen a smile quite like that before."

Ana blushed. Actually goddamn blushed, which was rare in itself, but rarer still because this time it was entirely natural. It was hard to accept that she might be worthy of such a casual outpouring of affection.

"So, how was it?" Messy continued, not mentioning Ana's obvious embarrassment. "Other than amazing."

"Freeing," Ana replied instantly. "Incredibly freeing. It doesn't last long, and it'll take a while to recover, but being able to… I don't know, separate myself from the world, in a way? It was everything I could have hoped for."

Messy kissed her on the nose. "How long does it last?"

"It took pretty much all my focus to stay up, but best guess? I'd say that was about two and a half minutes, so ten seconds per Class Level."

"And the recovery?"

"Can't say. When I try to activate it now I just get a feeling that it's not close. No message or anything more specific."

"Okay." They lay there in comfortable silence for a while, before Messy asked, "How strong did they feel?"

Ana could hear her own pulse pick up. "Pretty strong."

After a shorter pause, Messy asked, "Do you— do you think you could lift me?"

Ana laughed happily and kissed her again.

Back in the camp Petra took one look at their disheveled appearance, raised an eyebrow, and didn't say a word. Messy blushed before going off to find Master Renvi. Ana just smiled and let the woman think whatever she wanted.

Goddess, but Ana felt good! The Vitality, the new Enhancement — and the wings! She had wings! Not permanently, but that was even better in a way. No way to stay under anyone's radar with two giant, see-through, crystal wings on her back.

She had wings! They let her fly! And Messy had loved them and was willing to try flying with her! That was much more important to Ana than she would have expected. She still would have tried it if she had to get Messy out of danger, but knowing that her girlfriend wanted to try flying just made the whole idea even more appealing.

Ana felt like the whole day was on a roll, and she was going to see if she could make it even better.

"Tellak!" The pale woman was sitting on a log and tending to her gear with a piece of armor in her lap as Ana got close, and Ana greeted her with a smile and a small wave.

"Ana," Tellak replied with a small, steady smile of her own, before going back to polishing buckles.

"How did the distribution go?" Ana said, referring to the Growth Crystals from the Delve that each Party leader had been given to pass on to certain Party members.

"Well enough. Some envy but that was to be expected, and those who had to go without were mostly understanding. We have a new Level 10 and a Level 15 in the Party now, and that benefits everyone." She stopped polishing, and looked up slyly. "Did you test your new Ability? I heard you snuck off into the forest with Mestendi."

"I did, and I did. And it's great."

"Don't suppose you want to tell me?"

Ana thought about it, then decided, Fuck it. This was Tellak. She could keep a secret for long enough that it wouldn't matter. Sitting down next to her friend, Ana leaned in and whispered, "Wings. I've got goddamn wings! I can fly!"

Tellak stopped her work entirely to turn and look at her. She searched Ana's face seriously, and then her own broke into a rare, full smile. "Congratulations, Ana!" she said, clapping her between the shoulder blades, once and hard enough for Ana to rock forward. "That's wonderful!"

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"Yeah," Ana agreed. "It really is. Though once I use it in front of everyone, there won't be a single doubt about my Class being a front."

"As though there were any now," Tellak scoffed jokingly. "There are only two blind people in the entire population of this Splinter, Ana, and even they know that you have a hidden Class. Though I suppose this will fuel the speculation about what your actual Class is to no end. Did I tell you I heard Rogan the Baker offer Mistress Drisa free, fresh bread for the rest of her life for a hint?"

"There must be a betting pool going," Ana said wryly.

"No doubt."

"Nice as it is to just talk, though, that's not why I'm here."

"I imagine not," Tellak said and gestured with the oilcloth in her hand. "We're both busy women."

"Yeah. This," Ana said, holding up her bandaged arm, "happened partially because I couldn't Shape in the Delve. I can't channel. I don't even know where to begin. Frankly, I've been neglecting my magic overall, and I'd like to change that. Do you have time, now or later?"

Tellak put away the piece of armor she'd been working on, together with the oilcloth, and turned to straddle the log so she was facing Ana properly. She couldn't have hidden how pleased she was if she'd tried. "For you, Ana, and for this? I'll make time. Hold up your hands, palms facing me."

Ana did as she'd been asked. "Eyes closed?"

"It would probably help, yes."

With her eyes closed, Ana soon felt the subtle heat of Tellak's hands close to, but not touching, her own. "Now," the other woman said, "I'm going to draw a tiny trickle of ambient, unaligned mana and pass it to you. Then I'm going to slowly channel it so that it aligns with Earth. There will be a period where it's neither unaligned or fully Earth-aligned. I want you to focus on trying to feel that transition. When it's fully aligned I will stop channeling and repeat. Since you won't be able to ground the unaligned mana the way you can with the Earth-aligned, you may start experiencing a feeling of uncomfortable fullness at some point. Let me know if that happens, and we'll switch to you pushing mana to me. Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are," Ana said, focusing on the warmth against her palms. Moments later she felt a subtle pressure, like the mana surrounding her but thicker, for lack of a better word. More concentrated? More energetic might also fit, though she couldn't put her finger on why, exactly. The dominant feeling of potential, perhaps?

Then, just as Tellak had said, the mana began to change. That feeling of potential slowly shifted into the familiar, steady comfort of Earth-mana. There was definitely a whole spectrum of in-between states, but Ana couldn't see how it happened.

After three repetitions Tellak asked softly, "Can you keep going?"

"Yes," Ana said in almost a whisper.

"Good. Since you haven't said anything, I'll assume that you felt the change. Could you feel the difference between the stages?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Like water slowly heating up, maybe?"

"That's as good an analogy as any. What I want you to do now is to remember the feeling of that first, tiniest change, when the mana was just barely beginning to align with Earth. I want you to take ambient mana, just like when you empower a circle or your weapon, and project it toward me. And while you do that, I want you to will it to match that tiny change. I'll tell you when I feel a shift. Begin whenever you're ready."

And so Ana did. She pushed mana through her palms without Shaping it, like she was trying to power a ritual except that this time it was Tellak receiving it. And then, blindly, she tried to will that mana to resemble the beginning stages of alignment.

As one half of her focus was occupied with that, the other thought that perhaps the temperature analogy wasn't quite right. A memory came unbidden to mind, of her standing on a pier in St. Tropez. She'd been annoyed with how she couldn't see her phone's screen properly through her shades, so she'd taken them off. As she held them, she'd noticed how the phone's screen got brighter and darker as she turned the glasses, and then how the sun reflecting on the waves in the background shifted in both brightness and tone.

Nic had explained it when she mentioned it to him. A manufactured chance for him to look clever in front of his friends, sure, but she'd been genuinely curious as well. It had to do with the lenses of the shades and the screen of her phone both being polarized, and apparently the water did the same thing to sunlight.

Polarization. Perhaps that was a better analogy? It was probably utterly wrong, but when she imagined herself "turning" the mana, like she had with her shades, Tellak suddenly spoke up.

"There you go," the Bulwark said. "Not quite right, but a good start. Keep trying variations of whatever you just did."

So Ana experimented. She "turned" the mana this way and that, listening carefully to Tellak's reactions and trying to feel any difference herself. It wasn't easy. The mana didn't cooperate at all, and it wasn't so much like turning her shades as a greased up gyroscope. Then she had a breakthrough. If it was like a gyroscope, why was she only turning it left and right? Why not back and forward?

"Ah! Now we're getting somewhere!" Tellak said, and Ana could hear the smile in her voice. "Increase the flow a little, and we'll see if you can't lock it in before they clear away the evening meal."

Ana almost lost her grip on the mana. "What? What time is it? We were supposed to—"

"Almost sundown. Our Parties' watches have gone fine. Don't think about it. Just continue with what you're doing. You're doing great, Ana. You're doing so well."

Almost sundown. They'd been at it all day, and she'd not even noticed time passing. What was an hour or three more? She ignored the tightness of her stomach.

She also studiously ignored how good it felt when Tellak told her that she was doing well. Not because she disliked the fact — she really needed to focus on what she was doing, and it would be far too easy to just let herself sink into that feeling.

Her therapist had once told her that she was starved for validation and positive attention. Messy had told her the same thing. And if there was one thing that Ana's weeks in the Splinter had taught her, it was just how true that claim was.

"There. There! Just like that!" Tellak said. "Hold it… now increase the flow, just a little. And… you're steady! It's weakly aligned, but it's steady. Let's stop there. Well done, Ana. Well done."

Ana stopped drawing in mana, letting everything that remained leave her through her palms. As the last bit flowed out it felt like it took all her energy with it, leaving her limp and unfocused until she took a deep, centering breath and forced herself back to reality. She needed to eat and then check on her Party, to make sure that they were alright. Then she should ideally help pack up anything that wasn't needed before they set out again in the morning.

"Thank you, Tellak," she said. "I didn't mean to take your whole day."

"You didn't take it," Tellak said. "I gave it gladly. And please, I think we're well past the point where you can call me Telly, like Petra and Jay do."

"Sure, Telly. I can do that. So what's the next step?"

"We continue exercising, and you practice on your own when you can. Even partially aligned mana will work to construct and power the Shaping you know, though with much decreased effectiveness. Work toward casting it without drawing on a natural source, and keep your arms ready to absorb whatever you don't manage to align."

"That sounds simple enough," Ana said thoughtfully. She could do that on the march.

"Simple, absolutely. But not easy. Now, let's go. If I know Petra as well as I think I do, she'll have kept something warm for us."

Ana nodded and rose, then offered her hand to Tellak, who took it. She could feel Messy and the others gathered around the tents, right where they should be, so she and Telly headed that way.

"There you are! What the hell took you?" Kaira's voice rang out as they got close, closely followed by others greeting them and encouraging them to sit.

Ana spotted Messy waving to her in the firelight and went to sit beside her. Petra intercepted her en route with a bowl of thin stew and a hunk of dense bread, and Ana took them both gratefully.

"I came by four times," Messy said with a none-too-serious pout to her voice. "Tellak refused to let me stay and watch. She said it might throw you off."

"I appreciate the support," Ana said, bumping Messy with her shoulder. "She's probably right, though. How am I supposed to focus on magic and stuff with you right there?"

"That just makes it a good exercise," Messy said. "Tell them, Kaira!"

"I'm not telling Tellak how to run her lessons," Kaira said emphatically. "She could lift me over her head and throw me ten feet into a stream without breaking stride. Couldn't you, Telly?"

Tellak scrutinized Kaira for a moment, her own bowl of stew resting in her lap. Then she said, "Fifteen feet. Twenty-five if I lowered your weight first." Then she began eating.

Messy poked Kaira in the side. "Traitor! I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"

Kaira cackled. "Only when the guild's paying me! I'm a free agent right now."

Changing the subject, Ana asked the group at large, "The watches really were fine, right?"

"They were," Petra confirmed. "There were two small attacks while you were practicing, but we weren't involved in either. Telly's Party dealt with one of them, without casualties."

"The other one tried to get at the Wayfarer's faithful as they prayed for guidance," Messy said. "But Brosden's Party — which includes Kaira, by the way…"

"I figured as much," Ana said between spoonfuls.

Kaira leveled a shark's grin at her.

"Yeah, they and Halmer's Party dealt with that one. Someone got bit through her jacket, but she's fine."

"Do we have a direction? From the prayers, I mean," Ana asked, receiving a round of nods in return.

"Damn right we do," Kaira said. "Up the road for another day and a half, then dawnward on a small track for another half day and we should be able to see the white obelisk in the distance. Best we can tell between two hundred different opinions, at least."

"Good," Ana said, and returned to her food. She ate slowly and systematically. Soon she'd be able to curl up with Messy in their tent and forget about everything for a few hours, and then they'd enter the final stage of this whole damn mess.

She was so ready for the situation with Karti and his changelings to be over. With Messy and her friends, and with all the strengths she'd picked up, Ana's future and the life she might build here looked brighter than she'd dared hope a month ago. All she asked for was an opportunity to start living it.

Two days, she thought. Three at most. Then I'll be free.

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