Aira folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

  "Somebody may think that you want to get rid of me," she said to Ainorrh. "I thought we still had much to learn from each other."

  "That's not what I meant," said Ainorrh with a smile. "I just wao offer you some distra. While keeping you focused on the goals you decred yourself. I'd be happy to give you some reendations. And after that, maybe you join me and Alliot for a meditation."

  "Sorry, Ainorrh, I overreacted," said Aira. "I didn't think that Li's abrupt departure would affect my judgment that much…"

  Ainorrh's smile softened, but there was something distant in her gaze as if recalling a memory too old to grasp fully.

  "We may not be human, but that doesn't mean we don't feel loss," she replied. "So, as I said, to shift your thoughts from these troubles a bit, why don't you tell me about this new profound e you had with Heart of the Forest?"

  "I truly didn't expect it," said Aira. "It was like the air itself reached into me, like it had been waiting for me all along. I think I was the one who was surprised the most by what happened. But Alliot robably pretty close to my level of excitement. Wasn't you, Alliot?"

  "Not my tale to tell," said Alliot. "High Shaman, I would ask you to expihing."

  "Don't worry, Alliot," said Ainorrh. "We have nothing to hide from uests, right?"

  "That's your call, High Shaman," answered Alliot solemnly.

  "I'd be happy to hear his view on what had happened," said Aira. "This experience was transformative to me. I have never felt anything like that. But now, it seems that I uand the Air element much better."

  "I probably expin what happened a bit better than Alliot," said Ainorrh. "He was, indeed, a bit fused. I should fess that it is a sequence of our education system. Our mysteries, our system of beliefs, if you would."

  "So, you guide your people with teags, traditions... but there's y watg over you," she said slowly, pieg it together. "It's not worship, but it's still a belief system, isn't it?"

  "As I told you before, I was born before the Dawn of the Enlighte," said Ainorrh. "I remember the old world. I may have lost some knowledge, like the human nguage. I have definitely lost maions. turies are long, and there were other things to care about. But he is different. He doesn't remember the old times or, really, his human life. It is an integral part of the initial education to make a newly transformed person believe that we are oop of the evolution dder in this world."

  "So, you mean indoation," said Aira. "That cept isn't o me. We had it in my world as well."

  "Indoatiion, belief system," said Ainorrh with a smile. "Call it whatever you want. But we . There are few of us. And there are still many more humans than enlightened. It's a part of what makes us stay together. Knits our unities closer."

  Ainorrh looked at Alliot.

  "I hope you will sider this information with the needed discretion," she said. "As I mentioned you in the very beginning, you are entrusted with a lot on this mission. And it will definitely affect your future."

  "Of course, High Shaman," said Alliot. "I uand."

  "I don't have any issues with being upfront with you, Aira," tinued Ainorrh. "I hoped that you'll have that e with our elemental source. And I'm not alone. I know for sure that some other shamans, from the other cities, have noticed something special when you appeared in this world. Many of my peers expect you to visit other pces besides Wentouk."

  "How so?" asked Aira. "What do you expect me to do?"

  "We hope you'll help us get closer to each other," said Ainorrh. "To find a on ground. We may seem to be one people. But in a way, our affinities separate the enlightened han we are separated from the humans."

  "It 't be," said Aira. "You all use magic. That alone makes you pletely unlike humans."

  "That's not what I meant," said Ainorrh. "The thing is, sources of fn affinities are almost useless to people ing from other pces. I uand that Alliot has already mentiohat rger enlightened settlements have attuo one of the four elemental powers: Air, like us, Earth, Fire, or Water. It defines many things for these towns and cities and for their inhabitants."

  Ainorrh traced a rough circle in the dirt with her foot, then divided it into four uneveions.

  "Each city thrives because of the others," she expined. "Here, iouk, we and the skies. We send word across vast distances and shield ourselves from uhreats. But the houses you sleep in, the tools you use—those e from the Earth affinity cities. Or from the fes of our brothers and sisters who are attuo Fire. And our water flows because of the Tidewood engineers and people like them. We aren't just separate settlements; we're threads in the same tapestry. Pull one loose, and the whole thing unravels."

  "We work together to create a work where eaode depends on others," Ainorrh tinued. "But then, if one of us travels closer to, say, Earth affinity settlement, it wouldn't help them with their powers. On the trary, it may impede or even kill that person in the worst cases."

  "That doesn't answer my question, though," said Aira. "What do you expee?"

  "Holy? We don't know," said Ainorrh. She paused, and her gaze became distant. Ainorrh stood there for a minute, smiling at some thoughts. "There is a legend, a prophecy if you want, that there will e a person who unite all elements. Some think that it is you."

  "Isn't that a bit too much to expect of a random outworlder?" asked Aira. "I just hope to get back to where I came from."

  "I don't have any answers for you," said Ainorrh. "If you'd asked me about that a few months ago, I'd say that it's a fairy tale for the young enlightened, who o have some iive to excel, to strive to do better, to develop beyond the limits."

  Ainorrh looked at Alliot.

  "Tell us, did you know of this 'prophecy'? Did it make you train a bit more intensely?" she asked him.

  "High Shaman… we are not supposed…" mumbled Alliot.

  "Ah, drop it," said Ainorrh. "I know you are not supposed to believe in these superstitions. But they are pnted for a reason. Oh, well… Don't worry, Alliot. You are off the hook."

  "So, I'm willing to help you," said Ainorrh. "And now you know my reasoning. Do you have any more questions about the elemental sources or the other cities?"

  "Now I only have more questions, not less," said Aira. "I have to learn all I before moving forward. So, you told me that each of your settlements pys its own part in the enlightened work. Do they bring different products of their specific fvor of magic to the table? Or how does that work?"

  "That's right," said Ainorrh. "We, for example, specialize in long-distanunication and aerial defenses. And, well, some other things. The treehouse you live in is a product of one of the earth-affinity cities. There are tools, artifacts, and materials provided by water and fire settlements as well, that are crucial for our day-to-day operations."

  "And how do I fit within that supply ?" asked Aira. "It's not like it's my pprove anything."

  "No, of course not," smiled Ainorrh. "But if during your travels you colborate with the other shamans ahem to learn something, that will be us all. something tells me that the effects of the other elemental sources on you would be different pared to the enlightened people who have a single affinity."

  "Is that again because of what you sensed in the very beginning?" asked Aira.

  "Yes, exactly," firmed Ainorrh. "If you'd like that, I pass a message to my colleagues so that they wele you as we did."

  "I'm still not sure how have I deserved all that generosity, hospitality, and support," said Aira. "I'm grateful for your help, but it seems like yoing to great lengths to help a stranger."

  "As I said, I have my own i in your journey," said Ainorrh. "I hope you'll learn more about merging the elemental powers and will teach us to harhat joint force. The enlightened unity was stagnating for decades. There is a bah humans and we are in no immi danger. But there is room for so much more in this world. It's time for us to leave the fines of the a cities and finally gain independence from our past."

  "You uand that as soon as I find a way to leave this world, I'm moving on?" asked Aira. "That's the main goal of my quest."

  "Of course, it's not like we hold you against your will," said Ainorrh. "I've seen your level. It would be unwise of me to do anything against you. But I hope for some reciprocity for all the help and advice we offered you."

  "I agree, that sounds fair," said Aira. "But I 't say that I want to stay here for lohan I have to. Still, I will share my findings with you."

  "Thank you, Aira," said Ainorrh. "That's already more than we could hope for."

  ***

  After that strange experie Heart of the Forest and the departure of Li, Ainorrh took much more i in Aira. She promised t other enlightened for training even before, but, with the exception of Alliot, that was never fulfilled. Until now.

  It was as if Ainorrh was waiting for Aira to pass a test. And by unig with the elemental source through the are, she had finally proved to their hosts her worth.

  Now, almost all twenty-six hours of each given day were filled with group activities. There was always at least one enlightened apanying Aira now, sharing their approaches to meditation and physical training. Iingly, they shared much more in their approach with the humans of this world but not with Aira's magical tutors of the past.

  For Aira, the main goal was to build upon these new sensations she discovered when her Rune unicated with Heart of the Forest. It wasn't a straightforrocess. More like she experie as a slow jourhrough a marsh. She had to check each step, eaext magical probe, before expl further aing closer to the intricate Air affinity magic supported by the powerful source of Wentouk.

  Sometimes, enlightened helped her take those steps and pointed her to some voluted whisps of energy she wouldn't notice otherwise.

  In some cases, it wasn't a single panion; occasionally, they came in pairs, making Aira stantly add and remove people from the party.

  That was ahing Aira spent a lot of time thinking about. She could easily upgrade her skill one more time. She could even bump it several levels up. But something prevented her from doing that. Firstly, Aira began to rely on Li's opinion quite a lot by that moment. Losirustworthy panion made her dispute many decisions that couldn't be easily reversed.

  But also, despite all Ainorrh's assurahe trust between Aira and the enlightened was only starting to build. She showed enough of her abilities and powers when she invited Ainorrh to the party.

  Aira drummed her fingers against her karing into the distance where the tree opy swayed gently in the wind. Every instinct told her to hold back—to keep her cards close. She had already revealed too much, hadn't she? Ainorrh's words were smooth as river stones, but Aira knew better than to trust a current just because it felt gentle.

  So, for now, she remai the level of two maximum invitations. Having to juggle all these enlightened who trained and studied with her.

  The world of enlightened preseself before Aira as an inplete puzzle. She saw that there was a lot of iioween the differelements and the shamans that led them. But Aira had yet to meet any enlightened person with aal affinity different from Air. That also meant that she didn't have any firmation of Ainorrh's words about the effects of the f on the people from the other cities.

  Among other enlightened, besides Ainorrh, Alliot was the person Aira spent the most time with. When she discussed Ainorrh's words with him, he cimed that was out of his primary scope. He could her firm nor deny Ainorrh's expnation. And that even fit his previous ents that he had never veoo far from Wentouk. But could this knowledge be kept only among higher-level enlightened, and Alliot wasn't qualified yet?

  Aira frowned, absentmindedly trag spirals in the dirt with her boot. It didn't add up. Magic was magic—wasn't it? If power flowed through the world, why should it care who wielded it? Ahe way Ainorrh spoke, the way the others seemed to accept it as fact, made her wonder.

  ***

  Aira stood barefoot in a small clearing, toes sinking into the cool, damp soil. The wind coiled around her like an inquisitive serpent, teasing the edges of her senses. She exhaled slowly, extending the tendrils of her magiot anding, but inviting. A faint pulse echoed through the air, like a distabeat, as if the element itself was sidering her request.

  The wind responded weakly at first, but she persisted, adjustieique.

  "e on," she muttered, feeling the strain. "Just a little more..."

  By that moment, Aira could easily trace the source of power to Heart of the Forest. She could separate different currents of the elemental power, witnessing how they fed the life in the enlightened city and around it. Each of the inhabitants was ected to this are stream, stantly charging their inner resources, transf the magical flow, creating their own signature.

  Aira remembered how humans represehrough her sehrough the abilities of her Energy Manipution skill. Li left her too soon after this experie Heart of the Forest. Aira didn't have the right tools yet to explore Li's energy signature. To check if the humans were ected to this intricate system as well. Whether they had a dependen the Nexus in the end or not.

  With all the new knowledge and uanding Aira had gotten in the past few days, she had even sidered probing through that distahat separated Aira from Li. As the days passed, she felt like she had to do that to ensure her human panion was safe.

  There were some issues with that desire, though. Firstly, Aira wasn't sure she'd be able to find Li's signature. But also, the old problem remaihe rger the distance was, the higher the energy spent on feeding the skill was. And the number of living beings that fell into the range of her probing was increasirically with each kilometer.

  Aira tried again this time. And it felt like she was able to reach a humalement on the grand river with her probe. Multiple humans appearing in her magical vision. But as soon as she reached some intangible limit, the process was just being overwhelming and impossible to sustain.

  ***

  Ainorrh's presence greeted her as soon as Aira emerged from her explorative reverie and focused on her surroundings. It wasn't hard to distinguish between different enlightened for Aira anymore. And she had learhat the enlightened reized each other using the same approach, probing the energy signatures.

  Luckily, they had a training session with Ainorrh not too long ago, and she still was one of the two people added to the party. Otherwise, Aira wasn't sure she'd be able to bear the mental strain of operating the System menu, kig out one enlightened and adding Ainorrh instead. She first o fill her resources from that powerful magical source of Wentouk.

  "How far were you able to probe today?" asked Ainorrh. "Did you reach Li?"

  "No, it wasn't much more than a half of the distahis time," said Aira. "I don't know if that's because I'm not powerful enough or because I'm not focused enough. But also, it's hard to tell the distance. I'm not even sure my skill's range would allow me to reach Li's current location."

  Ainorrh chuckled, raising a hand. A soft wind current circled her palm, barely strong enough to rustle the leaves.

  "You see?" she said, letting the breeze slip away like a sigh. "This is the best an average person could do alone. But our attuo the Heart of the Forest amplifies what little strength we have. Of course, my power is higher than that. But it's not just about raw power, Aira—it's about focus. It's about embrag the source. The right current lift a mountain if it's eled correctly."