She found Virgil in the kitchen waiting for her. She’d caught a glimpse of Rami in his room, reading, as she made her way down to the kitchen. Virgil was sitting in the kitchen alone which meant Kato had already left the house.

“Eat first,” Virgil said.

Yuriko nodded, noting that it was past the time he usually left for the barracks. When she was done, he led her out to the backyard.

“I can see that you’ve pushed yourself, not quite to your limits, but more than you normally would.” Virgil smiled. “If we leave things as they are now, you’d be too stiff to do anything tomorrow, so I’m going to have you do something you weren’t capable of doing before the Ritual.”

Yuriko nodded, still a bit too exhausted to muster up a response. 

“You will use your Animus to repair your muscles and strengthen your body. This is a pattern commonly taught to all soldiers of the Empire. You will be taught the same technique in the training camp but I think you’d want all the advantages you can get.”

He had Yuriko sit as comfortably as she could on the lawn chair. 

“You need to visualize your Animus and coax it out of your centre. Imagine it spreading throughout your Anima specifically, on the parts corresponding to the aches in your body. Close your eyes, imagine yourself sitting in the dark. The only source of light is your Animus…”

Virgil’s voice droned on. It was a familiar sensation by now but the first time they did this, Yuriko could barely keep her focus. As before, she had to shove everything out of her mind, into a little corner where she boxed things up. Her frustrations, her aches and pains, the despair and mind-numbing exhaustion. 

She quickly found herself in her Anima, looking at the bonfire that was her Animus. When she had tried to inlay the pattern of her Facet, she only coaxed a little bit of Animus to flow up to her mind.

Her body was fatigued from her sprinting. Her shoulders, hips, hamstrings, and quadriceps ached from the stretching. Her calves were numb, too. During her run, her lungs burned like they were on fire and now they felt ravaged as though a wild fire had gone through the fields. 

“Draw out a bit of your Animus and direct it to your muscles…”

In a trance, Yuriko did as she was asked. She coaxed and tugged at the bonfire until a tongue of flame separated from the main body. The fire was bigger than she expected but this had been true since yesterday. She wasn’t quite used to the amount of Animus she now controlled. 

She directed it easily enough to her leg. She focused on her left thigh first, planning to do her right after. Splitting the flame wasn’t something she had ever done before. 

“Let your Animus seep into your body from your Anima. Focus on your intentions. You want it to soothe the muscle and aid in its recovery.”

She breathed slowly, repeating the intention. Heal, remove the pain, make it stronger, she said to herself. Her Animus seemed to pulsate and then with a bright flash, she felt like her leg was on fire.

“I said remove the pain!” she gasped. 

“You said heal first,” Virgil chuckled. 

Her thigh spasmed and jerked, pins and needles on every part of it. It was worse than muscle cramps, worse than when she had torn her muscles by running without warming up. She would have fallen off her chair if not for Virgil’s arm steadying her. 

The spasms subsided after several minutes. Yuriko drew a ragged gasp as the pain faded away, leaving just a small fraction of what she’d felt before. The Animus she used was completely gone. 

“Now, do the same thing with your other leg. The exact same thing, mind,” Virgil added. “You don’t want the recovery to be unbalanced.”

Gritting her teeth, Yuriko repeated the process, suffering the same amount of pain worsened by the anticipation and knowledge that she had to do it anyway. She tried her best to ensure the amount of Animus she drew from her core was the same but try as she might, this one was a little smaller. 

When she was done, Virgil stood up. “That took you more than an hour for each leg and I’m guessing you didn’t complete the healing either. Don’t do that again for today. Tomorrow you may take it easy in the morning.

“I’m off to the barracks now. Do what you want for the rest of the day. And avoid doing more physical training,” he reminded sternly. “You may attempt to inlay your Facet, instead.”

Yuriko waved goodbye while leaning back against the chair. Once she was alone, she focused again on her Animus and attempted to inlay. Alas, after a couple of hours work, the only thing she accomplished was to deplete the rest of her Animus.

Mindful of Virgil’s instruction, as well as the long-standing rule of never completely draining her reserve, she headed back indoors to prepare lunch for herself and Rami.

In the middle of her meditations, Rami had watered the vegetable garden a few paces away from the deck, and since it was a bit overcast anyway, he had started weeding while humming mindlessly. It was a good thing that Yuriko had trained hard to ignore such distractions, otherwise she would have thrown her shoe at him.

She rummaged through the pantry and settled on stir-frying some greens with slivers of jerky. 

“Rami! Come eat lunch!” she yelled out to her little brother.

He was now talking softly to the flowering plant in the front yard. He waved absently and continued. A purple coloured mist streamed from Rami’s lips and, when they touched the flowers, their colours seemed more vibrant. 

After lunch, and without enough Animus to make another effort at inlaying her Facet, Yuriko decided to take a walk. After the exercise Virgil had her do, her thighs felt almost normal, the pain from the morning’s exertions nearly negligible. Of course, her calves, back muscles, and core muscles told a different story. 

She threw on a pair of black tights, a white tank top, and a blue sweater. Rami had retreated to his room, and when she checked on him, she found him reading another book. 

“See you later!”

“Where’re you going?” Rami protested.

“Just around. I need to think.”

“You don’t need to walk to think, you know.”

“Shush, you. Bye!”

It was late afternoon and with the turn of the season, the days lasted longer. She had a few hours before the sun touched the mists. Picking out a direction at random, she kept her hands in her sweater pockets and enjoyed the breeze blowing through her golden hair.

*-*-*

“Captain.”

The sentry saluted to Virgil when he arrived at the command center.

Virgil returned the salute and strode inside to his office. He was so preoccupied with Yuriko’s Heritage that he almost didn’t notice Inquisitor Gorlyn sorting through the pile of reports on his desk.

“Inquisitor.”

Sarra Gorlyn was a short woman; relative to Virgil, most people were short, but Sarra was just a bit below the Imperial average. Her grey hair was held in a tight bun, her face as smooth as that of a woman in her prime. Her green eyes glared at Virgil, before softening to something just a bit warmer than ice. 

“Captain Virgil Soren Davar. It has been a long time.” Sarra’s voice was flat and unemotional. “I hope you are enjoying your...retirement.”

“Very well, thank you,” Virgil nodded. “Raising my children in the frontier is a bit more relaxing than doing so in the Capital. Now, mind telling me why you’re here?” 

Sarra tossed the papers she had been going through back on his desk. She nodded towards his seat. “Go ahead and sit.”

“So serious, Sarra?” Virgil smiled. “Are things so desperate that you can’t even share some kaf with an old friend?”

“Make it quick, then,” she sighed. 

Virgil hid a smile as he walked up to a side table. An insulated pot containing freshly-boiled water hot and ready for use, cups, spoons, powdered kaf leaves, and a jar of honey were arranged neatly in a tray on top of the table. A spoonful of kaf went to each cup then, he poured a bit of water over the powder and stirred. Virgil breathed in the soothing, woody aroma.

“Honey?” he offered.

“No.”

He set the cup of kaf down on the desk in front of the Inquisitor and the two of them sipped in silence for about five minutes. When Sarra returned the empty cup to the table, Virgil did the same and stared at the woman. 

“I’ve tallied Wyldling incursions and what I’ve seen is troubling.” 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “You think we’ll experience a Wave in the near future?”

“Perhaps, there are fewer swarmlings and more Wanderers in the past years.”

Virgil nodded. Waves, or Wyldling invasions were never a matter of coincidence. There was always a reason, and they would have to venture into the Tidelands to find out. 

“I will need your help.”

“Who else?”

“I will let you know once the team is complete. I will not take no for an answer, Virgil. Your presence in a Hunt will increase the safety of the team, and the chances of success, by a huge margin.”

Virgil scrubbed his hair with his hand. “When?”

“In a couple of weeks.” 

“Very well,” Virgil nodded. The safety of Faron’s Crossing also depended on this. If they could find out what the source is, they might be able to end it before it becomes a serious threat.

It would be dangerous. Not just because of the Wyldlings and whatever was organizing them, but also because they were to enter the Tidelands. At the very least, they were leaving in two weeks’ time; that meant they would have the Dark Moon on their side. The influence of Chaos in the Tidelands was lower during the Dark Moon and stronger during the Full Moon.

He would have to write up Yuriko’s training plan for the next month. Ancestors, but that daughter of his was too eager. He’d reminded her that the odds she would receive the Davar Heritage was low, but well, she wanted to try. He’d do anything he could for her but sometimes, things were simply out of his hands. There were many times he wished that Sadeen  hadn’t been stationed at the Capital but he would have to make do. Hopefully his letter would reach her soon.

A folded paper crane flew into the office. It landed between the two of them, its head facing Virgil. 

He touched it with his fingertip and it unfolded into a flat sheet of paper. A small pattern, glowing with Animus, was on the header. It faded away soon after, removing the creases on the sheet as it did so. 

The letter was from the Watchtower, from Marron. It detailed a string of coordinates followed by patrol numbers. The only thing that stood out in the report was that all Wyldlings eliminated were Wanderers. No swarmlings. 

“It seems we would need to move up our schedul,.” Sarra noted.

“Better to be ready than hasty,” Virgil said.

“I’ll take your advice into consideration.” Sarra stood. 

After Sarra left, Virgil fixed himself another cup of kaf. He sat quietly for a long while, thoughts bouncing between the Hunt and his family. He had a lot of things to do and preparations must be made especially if he wanted to return home in one piece.

***

Krystal was on her third parfait inside Faron’s Crossing’s Olde Sweet Shoppe when she saw Yuriko strolling on the sidewalk across the road. With the table at the al fresco area were Ishika Reyn and Millie Keryn, who had been at the Atavism Ritual with Krystal.

Her friend appeared to be deep in thought while she walked; still, she continued to move with the same, careless grace she normally had and her breathtaking features caught the eye of most of those she passed by.

As always, whenever she saw Yuriko of late, Krystal had to suppress a surge of envy. That she started developing more womanly attributes earlier than Yuriko was her only source of comfort.

Her friend wore her typical outfit of a somewhat baggy top, and tights or jeans. Admittedly, it showed off Yuriko’s legs wonderfully. The blue sweater Yuriko wore today covered her hips and thighs a third of the way down towards her knees somewhat like a dress. It was probably as close as she would ever get to wearing a skirt at least, without anyone else prodding her. Krystal and the other girls wore sensible summer dresses. 

“Yuri!” She yelled happily, standing and waving as she did.

Yuriko started a bit then, seeing Krystal, she smiled and waved. 

“Come over!”

“Oh,” Ishika looked up from her confection when Krystal stood up. “How nice.” 

Millie, on the other hand, was too busy with a spoonful of honey cake to care much. 

Krystal sat back down, grinning. In less than a minute, Yuriko was making her way towards them led by a server who, Krystal noted, couldn’t help casting furtive glances at her friend.

“Sit, sit,” Krystal gestured towards the empty chair next to her.

“Hello!” Millie said in between bites of cake.

“Nice to see you.” Ishika greeted.

Yuriko nodded her hello and sat gingerly.

“A parfait, please,” Krystal ordered for her friend.

“What, no, no. Just a, uhm, a slice of honey cake will do.”

“Nonsense. Try this, it’s new from the Capital. A parfait please.”

“...fine.”

Krystal, Yuriko, and Ishika were born in Faron’s Crossing, while Millie had moved with her family six years earlier. They all attended the Faron’s Crossing Preparatory School. The Atavism Ritual was held during their school break and classes would resume a week past the Harvest Festival on the 43rd Day of Fire.

After finishing from there, they could then attend an Imperial Academy at Rumiga City or stay for the shorter courses locally. The three of them, Krystal, Ishika, and Millie had been discussing what they wanted to do before Yuriko arrived..

“You’ve completed the inlay?” Krystal asked Yuriko. Her friend’s deep sigh was enough of a response and Krystal gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“I guess you’ll stay here in Faron’s Crossing?” Ishika asked.

Yuriko shook her head. “No, I still want to enroll at Agaza. Da’s having me do foundational training while I work on my Facet.”

“Really? Well, I guess that’s how military families are.” Millie shrugged. Her family were mostly merchants in fact, her mother ran the Sweet Shoppe while her father did trading runs around the plane. To hear her tell it, her father sometimes had off-world trading partners too. 

“So...You’ve all inlaid your Facets?”

All three of them nodded.

“Pretty much what I expected,” Ishika said.

“Same,” Millie mumbled through a mouthful of cake. 

“Don’t worry, Yuri. It shouldn’t take you long,” Krystal added.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m somewhat envious that you got something unexpected,” Millie said.

“Millie!” Ishika gasped.

Krystal saw Yuriko frown, her expression highlighting the blueness of her eyes. 

“What? It’s true.” Millie protested. “I didn’t really like my options.”

“Well...I wanted my Da’s Heritage,” Yuriko grunted.

“Instead, you get a mystery.” Millie grinned. “Look at it this way: you’re walking a new path instead of a well-worn one. It’s a chance to break the cycle.” 

Krystal interrupted, “That’s enough Millie.”

The black eyed girl looked up from her plate at Krystal, who looked at her sternly, then at Yuriko, whose face was reddening in anger. She snickered and poked Yuriko’s cheek. “That’s just me. Apologies if I offended.”

She blinked in surprise, then took a few deep breaths. Her cheeks still had a hint of red on them.