Before she was even halfway done reading, she had already slipped the ring ontht index finger.

  “I will put it down as cimed, then,” Firminus said. “I ot say I do not uand. Given your apparent habit of pung up, it’s a perfect fit. , I believe this is yours.”

  He took a box from the table, opening it for her to see. Within id the burned-out shell of the prototype Bck Sun Coupler, with the Shardkey of Heshmad Abbasi id atop it.

  “Given that you are in no state to switch voidkeys, I either leave it in ste for the time being or have it sent directly to a safehouse, or perhaps a shrine, or my ic. We discuss that ter.”

  Returning the box, Firminus got up and made the table move so that he could properly sit behind it, across from Krahe. He got out an inkstone, brush, and began grinding an inkstick.

  “Now, for my favourite part: Paperwork.”

  “Spare me,” she groaned.

  “Oh, but I am serious,” he said, facetiously. “The wheels of the ecclesiarchy may not turn as swiftly as we would like, but turn they do, and we’ve had six millennia to ehe clockwork’s smooth operation! e now, it won’t take long.”

  A spark of anger fred in Krahe’s chest as her still somewhat groggy thoughts caught up to the ramifications of such paperwork.

  “Wait, I thought I was an uered apostle. No records. Did you fuck me? Are you fug me right now? Was I right all along?!” she demanded, barieeth in a manirely too much like a furious animal, veins popping on her forehead, down her neck, and even her right arm.

  “No, no, calm down. There will be no records,” Firminus assured her, clearly having anticipated this rea. “We will gh the paperwork, and then I will burn it right in front of you. The purpose is to gh the appropriate procedure, so that, if it ever bees necessary, either of us may truthfully say that we did in fact do so — that at some point, the appropriate paperwork existed, and was then summarily destroyed to protect the identity of an uered apostle. I apologize for not making myself clearer. Now, let us begin with an unabridged full at of the raid. As much as you remember. We take a break at any time.”

  And so, Krahe got to talking, and a fair bit of time passed. Firminus didn’t write a word of it down. She made no attempt to embellish anything, presenting her experience of the raid as dryly and matter-of-factly as possible. A pained grin made itself known upon the grafter’s face whe around to describing her experieh the Molting Tonic. Finally, once she was done, silence fell over the room for some time. She reached for her gss, having been refilled twice over already, and lifted up her mask so she could drain it. If nothing else, at least ekarone juice still tasted the same. Firminus, meanwhile, took one of the forms off the top of his stad began writing.

  “All things sidered, it would be an uatement to only say that you suffered injuries in the line of service to the church," he said. "Obviously, it will be seen to that you receive appropriate care as part of pensation for service — beyond the care you have already received, that is. That was all the High Grafter’s personal resources. This entire facility is hers. Any official, church-provided care will e out of your moary pensation, but it will also be signifitly cheaper than if you had goo a grafter yourself, and cheaper still fact in hazard pensation — this especially refers to the unavoidable rept of your lungs. Moreiven the circumstahere is justification for preventative care, that is to say, grafts specifically tailored to help prevent simir injuries iure.”

  “Why? I uand that I’m an uered apostle, but why the extra yers of special treatment?” Krahe questioned, already knowing the answer.

  “It’s not,” Firminus shrugged. “The degrees of special treatment afforded to you are, thus far, well within the bounds of existing pret. High Grafter Fidelia has decided that you are likely to be a valuable asset to the chur the future. I happen to agree. Therefore, all allowahat be made, will be made. I have dohe same for Aristedes, and others. You could, possibly, get all these allowances yourself, if you filed the appropriate paperwork. It would take signifitly longer, and you would likely o hire the services of an assistant clerk, but you could.”

  “Alright, I get it. You’re just greasing the wheels for me. Though... I could swear you weren’t this talkative before.”

  “It helps to distract the patient from the pain,” Firminus remarked, ftly. “There’s ahetiing into your mask, but as you tell, they don’t do much. The Molting Tonic is still in your system. Won’t be for long, Zavesh be praised.”

  With that, the grafter cheered up again, moving on: “Alright, let me give you shit for what you did with that voidkey. There’s good reason voidkeys of Fourth-order and higher are heavily restricted — a legitimate one, beyond just power trol. Your current state is that reason. Even Third-orders have some of these issues to a limited extent, but the higher you go, the harder it gets to use one safely. And this one in particur… By Zavesh, the leverage ratio and itive strain factor, not to mentioent of soul furnace modification. It’s a miracle you survived initial impntatio alohat you held up long enough to use it in a fight. To start with, the implosive ignitioes resonant waves that react with the Liminal Coil — in the bad way. We do some minor work on your Soul Furnad adjust the Coil to fix that, possibly even harhe rea to empower the Coil’s capabilities, but that’s not ygest problem. See, normally, it takes a period of specialized training to acclimate to a higher-order voidkey, whereas you just shoved it in and started bsting full send. Your Astral Body will be fine — since you’re a greater pilgrim, you’ll acclimate well before too much spiritual damage accumute. Where you ck is the physical side.”

  Akaso