"Well, I certainly didn’t anticipate the confusion that would arise when our energies manifested," Kaura thought irritably. "At least now he knows I’m aware of it… or does he? Why didn’t he say anything—and why didn’t I? Hmph, like children… Everything about this Field and these psychoforms is so unclear. Where has Laura vanished with those articles?"

It was late, so Kaura decided not to call — instead, she sent her friend a message.

When she got home, she peeked into her sister’s room — she was asleep. Kaura ordered dinner and went to take a shower. Afterward, she ate and turned on the news.

In the disaster zone, several minor tremors had occurred. Seismologists reported that the tectonic plates had shifted by four meters — an enormous displacement — and that new shocks could soon be expected across the entire composite continent, the unified system of lithospheric plates on which Pallada’s main regions were located.

There was more alarming news: escaped convicts had organized into armed gangs. To the weapons they had seized during their prison breaks, they added more from two depots and several police stations they had raided. The gangs were already operating far beyond the disaster zones — in neighboring regions.

Tirak Jiapr was confidently broadcasting about readiness for new tremors and assuring that the gang problem would soon be resolved as well: a special security unit was being formed under his direct command.

Many info-channels released guidelines on how to act during earthquakes and advised citizens to take first-aid training courses. She felt an overwhelming fatigue — and it was already late.

She went to her creative room and gladly stretched out on the mattress. The warmth of the blanket had barely begun to dull her thoughts when she drifted off to sleep. But less than an hour later, she woke up.

Her mind kept stubbornly replaying the meeting with Auran. A pointless exercise — and yet, sleep wouldn’t come. Well then, I’ll meditate instead, she thought. Since we’ve been granted this Psychofield phenomenon and its forms, I might as well study it.

Inhaaaale — exhaaaale. The space around her. Inhaaaale — exhaaaale. The body within space.

 She focused on her breathing, letting her thoughts slip away one by one. Kaura moved along the Ring in her usual way — to “meet” its inhabitants. For a while, everything remained calm — until the path suddenly began to speed up.

Ahead appeared a familiar figure — the same one that had flickered through her previous meditation. This time she recognized him at once: it was Auran. She knew him by the colors of his energy even before his features came into focus.

 Only something was wrong with him — he was flickering. Flickering like a hologram caught in interference.

Unease gripped her. She felt that something bad was happening to him. She couldn’t tell what it was — only that she desperately wanted to help.

“Dear knowledge, please come… how can I help him?”

Recalling one of the meditation forms centered on wishing well to another, she began to think kind thoughts about Auran — picturing him happy, safe, and smiling.

Something new and strange occurred: though she remained on her own path along the Ring, the cloud of her psychoenergy detached and enveloped Auran, forming a cocoon — as if her shield had turned inside out. The cocoon was a rare modification of her form: the shield unfolded outward, becoming a temporary shell for another person.

An image came to her mind — of wrapping someone in a blanket after they’d fallen into icy water. She imagined wrapping Auran the same way. His flickering grew less frequent. As she warmed him in her thoughts, she felt warmth herself — though until that moment, there had been no sense of temperature at all. At last, the man stopped flickering. The space of the Ring grew smooth and quiet.

Kaura felt a wave of weakness… A moment later, she was literally thrown out of the meditative state. She came to on her mattress, her body trembling with a fine, cold shiver. Kaura stood and shook her arms and legs, trying to shake off the tremor. She poured herself some water from the nearby pitcher and, glass in hand, walked to the window and lifted the curtain. The city lay peacefully asleep, its lights dimmed.

A few sips of water brought a fleeting sense of presence, but then exhaustion swept over her — her legs felt like cotton. Without closing the window, she dragged herself back to the mattress and lay down, falling asleep at once.

While the city slept, the Psychofield stirred softly — as if remembering who, on this night, had managed to reach another.