Os was offering everything that Hunter saw on the table, with more on the way. There’s no way Hunter would need all of that for himself. With his epiphany, he felt that the peak of Foundation Establishment wasn’t too far off. Neither would he need all the weapons. So why wouldn’t Os give him a line of credit for future goods, instead?

  The answer seemed obvious.

  Hunter’s jobs would be dangerous. The man had said as much. He didn’t intend for Hunter to travel alone.

  “I’ve had you watched, Hunter. Don’t look at me like that, I just wanted to know a bit about the strange young man who the Doctor had sent my way. It might shock you to know that I don’t get many recommendations, in fact I try to avoid them. I don’t like my name spreading far and wide. It’s a survival thing.”

  Hunter considered how he’d told everyone at the tent about Os. And the point Os was making was that he knew about Hunter’s friends. They all arrived with him, and he figured they were compatriots.

  “I’d rather you didn’t worry about how they fared, and having a network of your own will make your more useful to me. You’ll be in charge of anyone you bring into the fold. I’ll give you what you’ll need to supply them, but its your job to manage that supplies. Understood?”

  It sounded like a lot, but this is exactly what Hunter was looking for. But he hadn’t thought that any such deal was possible, save for angling to become a loyalist. But Hunter got the impression that such a position that Os was offering wasn’t something he could give to just anyone. He considered himself smart enough to see that Os was taking a big risk.

  Hunter swore that he’d make sure the risk worked out in Os’s favor. He’d bring the man with him when they eventually left Seedha. He’d give the man a home on Skyhold, if he had no home to return to elsewhere.

  “I understand.”

  The deal was set. He gave Hunter everything on the table, and his first job.

  Hunter returned to his tent, looked through his supplies, and started planning. Then he felt a pulse from within his storage space. He panicked for a moment, wondering if something was wrong with the ring. But then he saw the source of the pulse and felt a hint of excitement.

  It was the medallion.

  The Seedhans wanted to contact him.

  The medallion was circular, and had a series of small dots extruding from its edges. Hunter had assumed that they were merely decorative, but now he could see that a few of them emitted a green glow. As he moved the medallion, the dots would fluctuate. No matter what direction the medallion was facing, the glow would always point in the same direction.

  Almost like a compass.

  Hunter could feel a very subtle etheric charge emitting from the device which he hadn’t felt before. It must have something to do with how the medallion received the signal from the Seedhans.

  He wished he could take it apart and study how it worked, but he laughed the idea off. He took out the map that Os had provided him. It was quite large, and had the locations of all of the various work camps as well as some other points of interest peppered across the plains.

  There was a route marked along the map. The direction that the medallion was pointing him in would take him roughly in the same direction as the camp. That being said, it could very well be pointing him far beyond the camp in question. Hunter had no way of knowing. Such a small medallion wouldn’t exactly give him precise directions this far out from the signals origin.

  He wondered how the device was able to calculate his distance to the signal. Did the signal repeat, or was there some sort of etheric algorithmic process happening within the device itself?

  It was most likely the former, but the latter idea almost made him salivate.

  Before he got distracted by the idea, he double-checked that he had enough stores for the journey. He made sure that the package which Os had sent him to deliver was placed in a convenient spot away from everything else, as well as Os’s official seal.

  Before leaving, Hunter wanted to speak with Jaspen. The journey might take more than a day, and he wanted to be sure that the others were updated with everything he’d learned.

  To pass the time, Hunter cultivated.

  He found himself absorbed in the feeling he got when he contemplated the relationship between desire and intention, charting both the similarities and the difference. He began to see them as something like fuel, or soil composition. Fuel in the sense that the dynamics of desire and intention changed how etherium would express. Etherium might desire a smooth flow, but intend for an expression that is more like fire than water.

  But it would seem that you could still gain water out of the same composition of desire and intention, without reducing the efficiency of the intended output. At least, that was his hypothesis. This would essentially allow for more flexiblity in a glyph, which he suspected must be a way shape both desire and intention.

  But, he wondered, why? It was a question he’d asked since first started to work with constructs. Why these glyphs? If it was just a matter of movement, why wasn’t etherium creating a chaotic storm of effects, everywhere, all the time?

  Was it a matter of volume? Is that what an etherstorm was? Maybe something to do with a relatively empty volume of space, an abundance of etherium—which Hunter now knew would contain a hidden ecosystem of desires and intentions.

  It wasn’t much to go on.

  As he contemplated, he found his etherium cycling more intensely than ever. It was as if the closer he got to the feeling, the more excited his channels became, and the etheric flow would optimize itself.

  He decided to experiment a bit. He took out his drawstone and contemplated the effects it would have.

  The feeling he was having was suddenly amplified by at least three times what he was feeling before. He felt like he was right on the cusp of another epiphany.

  But someone entered the tent, and Hunter hid the drawstone. He opened his eyes and saw Jaspen had returned with the others.

  “Hunter, you’re awake!”

  “Done work already?”

  Apparently they’d not left for work. Everyone had been rationing their salvage for the last week, and decided they could spare a day to walk around with Jaspen, who had gotten sick of staying in the tent for the last few days. Hunter didn’t blame him. None of them were bathing. The tent stank of B.O. and worse.

  They had just been wandering the camp, and they spent a bit of time checking out the market, as Hunter had suggested.

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  There, they heard some troubling news.

  Work time was going to be restricted. Hunter furrowed his brows, asking them to explain.

  “It’s just a rumour, but we overheard a Peacekeeper patrol telling one of his loyalist buddies that the loyalists will be getting passes to hand out to their followers,” said Gera.

  “I think they’re trying to recruit,” Jaspen said. “After what we did to their fleet, they’re probably lacking manpower.”

  Hunter figured now was as good a time as any for them to talk business. He leaned stood up and leaned out the tent, checking to see how many people were nearby. It seemed quiet enough, so he closed the tent flap.

  “That’s my guess, too. I’ve got a lot to catch you up on. We might as well share what we know now, because I might be gone for a day or two.”

  “What around here could possibly take more than a day?”

  He told them about the job, and before he got too distracted, he told them about Atuza as well. They weren’t pleased by the idea that a Peacekeeper had been paying him close attention, neither were they happy about Hunter leaking news of the fleet. But they understood his reason.

  “This might be an opportunity in disguise,” Jaspen said. “Atuza seems quite mercurial, looking out for his own best interest. He has no way to verify your claim except the Peacekeepers themselves, and he might be doing his own investigations at this point. Not only that, but the timing is oddly convenient for us. He got a ‘glimpse of your soul’ during your epiphany?”

  “Those were his words, yeah.”

  “Then we can probably trust that he believes you’re telling the truth. We may not be able to count him as an ally, but perhaps, after your meeting, he is definitely not an enemy. We just need to keep him convinced that we’re not in his way.”

  Hunter nodded. That was his read on the situation as well.

  “What was your epiphany about?” Gera asked.

  “Uh, etherium. Vita. I was thinking about vital intentions and killing intent, wondering why they were both labeled as intent. If killing intent is a vital intention, then it would open a door to a whole new understanding of etherium.”

  “I’d never really thought too deeply about vital intentions,” Jaspen said, scratching his chin. “Common wisdom said that intentions aren’t something you need to worry about until we reach Initiate. Mostly because ninety-nine percent of cultivators lack sufficient awareness of Vita before then.”

  Hunter thought that was interesting. It could mean that his sensitivity to etherium was common to Elemental Initiates. Perhaps his had already deepened beyond that. Maybe it could even rival an Adepts by the time he reached Initiate, himself.

  “An epiphany that isn’t focused around a single element is also quite uncommon. Especially at the Foundation Establishment stage. I wonder what it means,” Gera said.

  Hunter shrugged. He had ideas, of course. It was one of the one things he could always rely on; plenty of ideas, even in the absence of concrete information. He chuckled to himself.

  “Let’s get back on track. I have some good news for all of you. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about having your time in the plains cut short. I’ve struck a deal with Os.”

  He told them about the supplies he’d been given, and his plan to subsidize all of their cultivation. Their reactions varied between suspicion and relief. Jaspen agreed to observe the rest of those who had come from Skyhold, and see who might be appropriate to bring on board. Hunter wondered if he should bring in everyone straight away, but between getting everyone up to late Foundation Establishment or a few of them to Peak Foundation Establishment with him, he’d choose the latter. At least for now.

  Depending on how many more resources Os could give him, maybe he could get everyone up to Peak Foundation Establishment. The stronger they were, the less he’d worry about them.

  “Did you plan on taking us with you on this trip?” Jaspen asked.

  Hunter shook his head. His dealings with the Seedhans were too sensitive to implicate them. He needed to know more about what the Seedhans needed from him before he brought them into the fold.

  And he would bring them in. Despite how risky it would be. They deserved to know. He’d have to tell the Seedhans about his plans to reveal their existence to his people, eventually. But he thought that it might be prudent to wait.

  For now, he didn’t mind keeping them a secret. Hunter figured the most opportune time to reveal them would be at a critical moment before they make their move on the Peacekeepers.

  If such a move would be made. Rather it was an open war, or a quiet, surgical insurrection. Either way, there’s no way they’d be able to do it without recruiting more people to their cause.

  Hunter was content to leave at that point. He’d told them everything he needed to. But Jaspen, Gera, and Tomas—who was the last of the tents occupants— wouldn’t let him leave without a final word.

  “Everyone’s been working hard, but you’ve been pushing as further ahead than anyone. We’ve been talking. Back home, in Sabletown, none of us are considered very talented. There are a few sects which migrated to our world with us. Among themselves, they take the few prodigies that our town produces. Most of the best resources are shared amongst them, leaving very little opportunities for the rest of us,” Jaspen said.

  “It’s not like there aren’t any opportunities for growth,” Gera said. It’s a new world, there are plenty of opportunities for scouting, exploring for resources, and training against beasts. But something tells us that Oberon is going to be expanding far faster than Sabletown will. There’s something about the way you Technic’s move— the speed at which your colony was built, the way you have mastered much of the physical world without the aid of Vita, it intrigues us.”

  “I,” Jaspen said, and then cleared his throat, “we wish to join you. We’re not turning our backs on our home. But we feel that Oberon Enterprises is going to change things in this sector. Maybe even beyond it, in ways that no one can expect. Will you have us?”

  Hunter clasped Jaspen and Tomas on their shoulders, and nodded to Tomas.

  “We’ll take you and anyone who wants to come with you. I’m sure that Trey would revel at the expertise you can bring to us,” he said. He let go of them and scratched his chin. “And something tells me June wouldn’t mind some cultural bridges being tied between our people.”

  Hunter left the tent feeling elevated. Not even the hot Seedhan sun was bothering him.

  He exited the camp without fanfare, and officially began his first job for Os. After searching his ring for his map and double-checking his route, he gave his surroundings a quick scan, and then set forth. A soft smile on his face, a far-off gaze, and seeming to be oblivious to the world around him.

  His joyful demeanour hid a sudden, sharp tension which stabbed through his cheer.

  Four men had followed him out of the camp. Their eyes were lock onto him. All of them clean shaven, clean clothed, and weapons strapped to their bodies.

  As he walked, his mind raced.

  They followed him for a few hours, keeping their distance. Eventually, Hunter lost sight of them completely.

  He wondered what he’d done recently to gain their attention. Had they seen Atuza approach him? Maybe they were with Os’s rivals. If that was true, he wondered how they might have figured out that he was working for the man so quickly. Os had said it would put a target on his back immediately, and he wondered why. He should have asked.

  After checking his map again, he decided to take a more circuitious route, loosely based off of the path that Os had marked for him, but it would give him a bit more high ground with which to see further into the plains. He wanted to be sure that he’d lost his followers before approaching the Seedhans.

  It would be best to meet with them before he got to the other camp, he thought. If someone at the camp thought he was worth bothering, then he might have to dodge some more pursuers. It was best to get the Seedhan business out of the way when he knew the coast was clear.

  Hunter encountered a few people as he journeyed. Most of them were searching for salvage. All of them watched him with suspicion. One even reached behind them as they passed, and Hunter assumed that he was reaching for a weapon on his belt. Hunter ignored him, hoping his lack of apparent interest would calm the man down.

  He adopted the same approach for anyone else he saw.

  Eventually, he found a spot that gave him a good vantage point over the path he would have followed towards the camp. He could spot a few distant figures walking along the same vector in groups.

  Hunter wondered if it would be reasonable to assume that they were working with merchants as well. Or, perahps they were merchants themselves. As a slave, he hadn’t been made aware that any such path between the camps existed, and as far as he could tell, it was an entirely arbitrary line through a relativerly empty and well-salvaged stretch of land.

  Maybe that was the answer to his question. There was nothing of value left to find along the path. Perhaps that’s why it was deemed the safest road for merchants and their people.

  He had to assume that the groups he saw were well armed and willing to protect any cargo. What cargo they carried wasn’t easy to pick out from his distance, but Hunter wasn’t planning on bothering anyone, anyways.

  Rarely would a group appear composed of less than five people. It didn’t seem like any of them were the ones who’d been pursuing him.

  He stayed up there for another hour, by his own estimation. No one bothered him, and he was glad about that. A man on the plains, spending time still in the hot sun without working, that was a man to avoid.

  Content that he had nothing to fear from loyalist watchers, he wound his way back down to the path, and then set off towards the Seedhan signal.