It was a much quieter crowd that gathered for the evening meal back at their canteen. Whether stunned, shocked by the consequence of the aura powering their classes, or in awe of the heights that they could potentially achieve, conversations were far more subdued.

  “Oh! I remember you!” a cheery voice shouted, drawing Nar’s attention. “You’re the happy guy from this morning! Tul, was it?”

  “Tuk!” the ring tosser corrected, smiling at the pale chef.

  “Ah! That was it!” the man roared, laughing. “Sorry about that, kid.”

  “No worries!” Tuk said, sliding his tray forward as he loaded his plate with some kind of yellow, crispy looking thin strips of something, that glistened under the light with crystalline grains.

  “Oh, you’re gonna love those!” the cook said, his eyes sparkling. “But say. You’re a lot quieter than this morning. I’m guessing you guys had the whole aura vs aether talk, uh?”

  Tuk looked up in surprise and the man chuckled.

  “It’s the same thing every time we pick up a fresh batch of apprentices. Not much I can say to make you feel better but, it’s not as bad as they make it out to be,” he said, shrugging. “I have auramancer friends and they live and laugh and enjoy life as much as myself. You’ll see. There are some inconveniences, sure, but for the most part, there’s a lot of accessibility tech out there to make life easier for auramancers, you know?”

  “The master had these disks…” Kur piped in. “She used it for the screens.”

  “Ah! That’d be a good example. And with a good pair of aura dampening gloves, you’ll be all set!” the man said, grinning. “Plus, it’s not like you’ll do much mingling with aethermancers! You’ll barely notice it.”

  “Uh. How come?” Tuk asked.

  The man’s grin faltered. “Wait? She didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell us what?”

  The man scratched the back of his head. “Well. Hate to break it to you, but auramancers and aethermancers don’t really mix. You know. The skills would clash in a pretty bad way.”

  “Seriously?” Kur asked, stunned.

  “Boom!” the man said, opening his arms wide. “Never mix aura and aether. Never.”

  Nar stopped with his tongs on the way to grabbing more of the yellow strips that the man had recommended to Tuk. Around them, a bubble of silence had formed, and the man looked around the apprentices nervously.

  “I-I mean, it's not that bad!” he said, raising his hands. “Honestly! You’ll see!”

  Tuk smiled.

  “I’m sure you’re right!” Tuk said, coming to the man’s rescue. “And the master did mention that strong guy. The lightning dude!”

  “Ah! The Ol’Beast!” the man shouted, clearly happy to catch the lifeline thrown his way. “Yeah! I bet she did!”

  “Ol’Beast?” Tuk asked, as he slid forward, getting the queue moving again.

  “Old because, well, he’s old! The man’s going to be a hundred thousand in a couple of years!”

  “A hundred thousand?” Cen gasped. “That’s impossible!”

  “I reckon with the shit ton of [Constitution] he has, anything’s possible!”

  “Wait, [Constitution] makes you live longer?” Kur asked.

  The man nodded. “Among other things. No sickness. No disease… You accumulate enough of it, and you’ll be living for a long, long time. How old did you think your Master of Aura was?”

  “Uh… Thirty?” Tuk asked, frowning.

  “Fifty?” Mul ventured.

  The man on the other side of the food counter burst out laughing. Not only him, but also the lady with him roared into surprised laughter.

  “Fifty! You hear that?” the man asked the woman, in between laughing.

  “And he said thirty!” she said, holding her stomach.

  “Hey! What’s the hold up over there?” an angry voice shouted from somewhere at the back of the line.

  “Ooops! Better get moving, kids!” The man said, wiping his eyes. “And thank me later for those fries!”

  Bowing their heads, their party quickly finished getting their food and moved on to get the queue moving again. Tuk led them to the same table they had sat on for breakfast and lunch, and everyone focused on the meal before them.

  “Holy Crystal, Lord Above All!” Mul breathed, chewing loudly and staring at a half-bitten chip. “What are these things?”

  “Fries…” Tuk said, in a hush that was both dreamy and respectful. “I think I’m in love…”

  Nar bit into one of the crispy golden things, and all talk of aura and aether and gods was forgotten.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  *********

  “Alright, everyone,” Kur called for attention as they entered their room. “Remember, we got one hour before the aura class. Do whatever you want, but if you haven’t checked your gains yet, do it now!”

  “Can’t wait to see what we got!” Tuk said, rubbing his hands.

  Nar smiled at the ring tosser’s excitement, an excitement he himself mirrored but in a much more internal way.

  Tuk seemed to have quickly gotten over the whole technological pariah thing, and if he was to be honest to himself, so had Nar. After the initial shock, what meaning was there in the loss of something you had never even had in the first place?

  His impending gains discovery weighed much more heavily in Nar’s mind than mourning the loss of whatever he never even had to begin with. Whatever came of his inability to use aether, he would deal with it as it came. His main goal was still to grow strong enough to rescue his dad, and thankfully, it looked like embracing his aura had not been the end of the line as he had feared for months. If anything, it seemed like it was just the beginning of a brand-new climb… One that Nar couldn’t wait to get started on.

  “More like I can’t wait for a nap,” Mul said, his eyelids half closed. “How is a fucking day so long? And with so much talking…”

  “I found it interesting,” Gad rumbled

  Looking at her, Nar hid a smile. There was another headed for a nap. And why not? They were safe! Finally able to sleep without setting watch or having to worry about waking up with a guardian crashing down on their heads.

  The thought of his cozy bed, with its curtains drawn, and with the ship’s humming lull serenading him to sleep made a sudden yawn burst out of his mouth.

  “Guys! Gains first! Then do whatever you want,” Kur repeated. “We have that alarm thing on our clocks now, so I’ll set one up for twenty minutes before the class.”

  “I’ll do the same,” Gad said, her eyes unfocused as she set out to do it right away.

  “Why so early?” Mul asked, his brow deeply furrowed.

  “I checked the map and it takes at least fifteen minutes to get there,” Kur explained, his eyes similarly unfocused. “Do you want to be late? Here? I’m sure they’d be more than happy to start throwing around punishments on the first day to set some examples. Yes, it’s very nice here, but we're here to work! Not to relax!”

  “Bah…” Mul grumbled, disappearing into the guys’ room.

  Nar and Tuk followed after the sleepy brawler, and exchanged a smirk and a shake of heads as the lengos climbed onto his bed and closed the curtains behind him.

  “Guess we need to get into the habit of making our beds now,” Tuk said, as they both headed for their beds. “Make your bed… Such a funny expression.”

  Nar snorted.

  He hoisted himself onto his bed and a sigh of contentment escaped his lips as he dropped his head on his pillow.

  Crystal… Whatever happens, this is the best.

  He couldn’t wait to get that night shower before bed, too!

  Right. Let’s see those gains, he thought, grinning.

  However, as he opened his notifications tab, he paused.

  “Hey, Tuk?”

  The trugger paused on his way back out, or to the toilet.

  “Yeah?”

  Nar hoisted himself on one elbow to look at him.

  “Are… Are you alright?”

  The trugger stared at him. “What? Why do you ask?”

  Nar felt a flush of heat and sat up straighter, careful not to hit his head this time.

  “I mean… You know, about that stuff of aura and aether not mixing,” he explained. “That’s… That’s why you Climbed, right? For the adventure, and people and for living a great life out here?”

  Tuk crossed his arms and leaned back against their row of beds. “Is that not why you Climbed?”

  Nar shrugged. “I mean, eventually? After I get my dad out. But what I want is the power to do it.”

  “And that stuff didn’t bother you?”

  “I mean… It was a bit of a shock, I guess,” Nar said. “I always dreamed that me and my dad would get an aethership just for ourselves, you know. Sail the Endless Labyrinth and all that.”

  Tuk smiled. “Yeah, that does sound nice.”

  “But, that’s not important until I get him out. Once I do… Who knows, maybe I can have someone do the piloting for us,” Nar though, passing a hand over the smooth, metal ceiling above them.

  “Eh, bet that won’t be cheap…” Tuk said.

  For a moment, they both lapsed into silence, and Nar waited for Tuk to go on. It had been a sudden hunch that had prompted him to ask the question, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t wrong in doing so.

  “I guess… Yeah. It bothered me,” Tuk eventually spoke. “I want to try everything. Live everything. Enjoy and talk to everyone about everything! You know?”

  Nar nodded.

  “The stuff that happened back at the O-Nex…” Tuk said, shaking his head. “Man, that was shocking. It was terrifying! And for a moment I thought, damn, I made a mistake… After all that stuff we went through, this is what's outside waiting for us? But then, Tys showed up. And everyone I’ve met on this ship has been awesome! So, you know, I thought that everything was going to be great after all! And we’re aboard a massive ship, for Crystal’s sake! We’re headed into the Labyrinth! We’re going to see the dungeons and Crystal knows what else!”

  Nar chuckled. “It’s insane, isn’t it?”

  “Damn right it is!” Tuk said, but then his smile faded. “And then, they tell us how people don’t like BNs. How we’re apart, despite everything we went through to earn our forgiveness. Our freedom. And now, we can’t even use all of the amazing things that I thought were waiting for us out here… It was hard to hear, man. You know?”

  In all honesty, Nar hadn’t really cared much for all the discrimination talk. That had been his entire life, so he wasn’t entirely shocked to know it would be much of the same up on the surface. As long as he had his dad, and their little piece of something to call home, he would be happy.

  Tuk sighed and looked up with a smile at Nar.

  “Still, what's the point of worrying about that stuff, right? Here, and now, life’s good. Everything is new and there for us to discover and experience it. I wanted adventure and look around! What more could I ask for?” he said. “I… We’ll deal with whatever comes whenever it comes. And who knows, maybe the food guy is right, and it’s not that much of a big deal… But anyways, thanks for asking man! I appreciate it. And it does make me feel better! Even if I've been dying to pee this whole time!”

  Nar laughed. “Well, glad I could help. Go on then!”

  Nar turned to lay back down, and finally look at his gains.

  “Hmm, Nar?”

  “Yes?” Nar asked, pausing and looking back to find the ring tosser still in the same spot.

  “Thanks for coming back for us, back there,” Tuk said. “I know it wasn’t an easy thing to do… Crystal, if I was you, with your [Speed]... I-I would’ve been tempted, you know? To just go through that gate and not look back. We-we’re only sentients, you know?”

  “Yeah…” Nar said, looking away.

  “And, not saying you were, you know, but even if you were tempted to leave us, you didn’t,” Tuk said. “You came back for us, against all of those things… That’s what matters. And I’ll never forget that. Or everything you did for us in that Climb, you hear? Never.”

  Nar released a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding. For how long, he didn’t know. Since the affinity test? Since they had gotten out? He didn’t know. And while he didn’t feel like he was right to forgive himself, or if he ever would, he felt like a weight had left him.

  “Thanks, man,” he said. “Thanks.”

  “No worries,” Tuk said. “Now, I really need to pee!”

  “Just go!”

  “Alright, man! See you later! Hope you get great gains!”

  “You too, man!”

  Smiling, and feeling truly relaxed for the first time in perhaps a long, long time, Nar pulled the blanket up to his chin and made himself comfortable.

  Balink had told him to wash before going to bed, but surely, he couldn’t have gotten that dirty from a day of sitting around and eating and listening to people talk, right?

  Alright, he thought, his heart speeding up in anticipation. Let’s see what kind of gains we got for that damned Ceremony.