The next morning found you much recovered, but not so much so that you were willing to jump straight back into your work. Your friends could be very persuasive, as could your daughter. But the person who sealed the matter for you, this time, was Siddhartha. Your Unison Intelligence was utterly drained by what you'd done to restore Animus, to a degree that neither of you had even imagined to be possible. And for all your seeming resilience compared to Lea, you weren't all that much better off.
All of which led to a day of talking with Vega and Mir about the protective matrix for the work you'd be doing to fix Mary's soul, whilst Iris spent almost the entire morning with her head in your lap. Your daughter's mind wasn't with you for most of that time, the majority of her conscious focus spent exploring the newly expanded capabilities of your base of operations with Animus. But she took the time to check in, and not just with you.
"My best guess?" For all the differences between them, Iris and Sidra were remarkably similar in some ways. With that in mind, asking her to check on the Unison Intelligence for you had seemed very reasonable.
"I'm not sure that Sidra had ever found the limits of their stamina until now," Iris explained. "If you've never hit that wall before, it's hard to know where it is. And when you do find it, well," she smiled wistfully.
"It has a way of knocking you on your ass," you nodded, brushing your fingers through your daughter's hair. You remembered the first, second and third times Iris had found her own limits like that. And she was right, Sidra had almost never seemed truly tired by anything the two of you had done. Even the grandest Miracles.
"We'll talk about it," you decided, "once they're back with us."
Anything else would have been irresponsible, and more than that, ignoring the needs of one of your closest companions. Given Sidra's general manner, it probably wouldn't be too difficult a conversation. Best to approach it carefully, regardless.
"I could too," your daughter offered. You felt her smile, as you looked down, a little surprised. "Sidra is important, mom. I know that. But I'm more similar to them than you. Might be a perspective there that I can help with."
"That's true." It hadn't really been a question, but the right answer took barely any consideration to reach. "You're both infomorphs, though come at the process differently." And for all your skills, that state of existence wasn't one you'd had any experience with. "That might help a lot, Iris."
You leant down and hugged her close. "Thank you."
She didn't say anything for a short while, her arms pulled tight against your waist in unconscious symmetry to the child she'd once been and the daughter she still was. She'd grown taller since then, but the warmth of her frame was exactly the same. As were the mumbled words that followed.
"Of course. You'd do the same." You treasured the moment, even as it passed by. Iris' attention slipped away again, and your own turned back to planning for the days to come.
Top of the list was what you would have been doing with this time anyway: repairing the now-revealed infrastructure surrounding Mary's soul. As things stood you could only plan, but Vega and Mir kept you in the loop. Together, you worked to optimise the framework of Practice that had been sunk into the room you'd be using for a second time. With the point, of course, to further reduce the chance of Practice escaping the area.
There'd been minor flaws in your previous work, which you'd successfully ignored in your first use of the shielded room. Mir had been able to maintain the protective field around the place, draining any rogue energy bursts into the well of his Focus. But it had taken a great deal of his focus, and Focus, to do so. For the workings ahead, you wanted your fellow Unisonbound more able to act, if necessary. And the easiest way to do that was to fix those mistakes.
Optimal Interference: 59 + 44 (Amanda+Vega+Mir Practice/2) + 20 (Multi-tool) + 15 (Calm the Void) = 138 vs DC 100. Solid Success.
Flaws in design identified and resolved. Prepared Ground modifier increased to full value.
Here, you were reminded of how the difference in age and experience was only shrinking in relative terms. You'd always have decades on Vega and Mir, and some of what you knew and could do was entirely beyond them. But some of what they could do was outside your ability, too. And time, that was relative. Twenty years was a lot taken against forty. But what about sixty? Or eighty?
The scale of difference would only continue to shrink, and in this case, you saw it very clearly. You helped, of course, but the practical work of realigning the patterns of power sunk into the very bones of the room wasn't something you could do whilst recovering. That fell to your younger fellows, and they did not disappoint. Vega's skill in realigning things to a harmonious whole, of course, made her skills well suited to the task, but Mir largely kept pace with the Harmonial.
He explained later that he'd found a way to see those imperfections as threats to maintaining the peace of the place, something that allowed him to apply his Focus to the task in much the same way as Vega. She was still more skilled, but again, relative.
All together, it meant that by the time Sidra was back on their feet the next day, along with your own soul being far more restored, everything was ready. Mary had been all but chomping at the bit to talk to Animus, and only a lifetime's experience of self-control kept her from breaking the agreed ban on the topic. She could recognise that it was too dangerous a risk for her to take, but part of her didn't want to care.
The search for answers about the Secrets, and Practice, had been part of your best friend's life for almost as long as you'd known her. For her to finally have found a source of answers, but be unable to talk to them? She was all but climbing the walls in pure frustration. Most wouldn't see any of that in how she looked that morning, walking with you to the room at the base of the Magi seed.
But you weren't most, and nor were Vega and Mir. The two had known Mary for a good portion of their adult lives, and each possessed a Focus that would make the roiling turmoil of her thoughts painfully obvious. And, equally, they'd know that she wouldn't want an apology.
It isn't anyone's fault, she'd said, that first night, as you lay together waiting for sleep to come. The pain of your soul had largely faded, but that wasn't the same as gone. Just fix it.
And so you would.
Peace: 77 + 25 (Mir Practice) + 10 (Light of Peace) = 112 vs (70-40 [Harmonised Ground] =] 30. Greater Success.
Harmonic Mending: 71 + 50 (Amanda + ½ Vega Practice) + 20 (Mender's Eye) = 141 vs (70-40 [Peaceful Ground] =] 30. Critical Success.
Miracle Check: 15 + 36 (Amanda Practice) - 20 (Harmonic Restraint) - 20 (Peaceful Ground) = 11. Nary a twitch.
"What did you do to me?" Mary whispered. She was staring at her hands with wide eyes, pupils flicking back and forth across them, focusing on something that only she could see. Around her, the three of you eased out of the calming, steady half-Trance that you'd held for the fullness of the session.
And yet, every one of you was staring at your friend in awe. Not because of something she'd deliberately done this time, but because of what she was. Subtle, subtle power flickered around the woman, barely visible even to your finely honed senses. The strength of billions, lending aid to the one who'd gathered humanity's spark to scour the depths of reality for impossible truths.
There was so much you wanted, needed, to say. But for now, it would start with a question. "Short or long?" you asked, leaning forward in your chair.
Mary considered the question, moving one hand in a slow rotation before bright green eyes. Something utterly intangible glittered in their depths, something that you'd never seen there before – and you knew those eyes better than anyone alive. Then, she spoke.
"Short," she answered, louder than a whisper, but still so quiet. "At least for now."
You nodded, proffering your hand. After a long moment, she took it. Once again you felt that nearly-invisible power flicker at the edge of your soul's perceptions, though it was closer this time. The sensation didn't fade, but you forced yourself to ignore it.
"The damage to the infrastructure around your soul was relatively easy for us to repair, given my Focus," you began. The memories were still very fresh, of watching impossible colour flow back into its proper places, scorch marks unravelling at the touch of your soul. "The problem, if describing it as such fits, arose when we tried to strengthen that structure.
"The creation around you was built by humanity; we already knew that. It's been supporting you for a long time, but something in this star system has been trying to connect to it, and to you." Information you all knew, but important now. "Something we did in preparation for this effort was to talk to Animus about what that might be. It had some ideas, but nothing that either of us were prepared to commit to."
Mary nodded, lips twitching in a delicate smile. "I imagine you're prepared to do that now."
"Yes," you said, chuckling dryly around the confirmation. "I believe we can."
"There are only so many things that could be there, trying to connect to the creation around your soul. Examination of the pattern, and how it functions, has confirmed its similarity to a Consolat Telaxion. Only enormously more powerful than the one possessed by Animus. Which leads," you trailed off as Mary nodded, words already spilling from her mouth.
"To where I am now," she said. For a moment, flickering energy danced around her hands again, scattering shades across soft, dark hair. "Yes. I think I understand."
She nodded to herself, and you felt her gathering confidence. She lowered her free hand, and looked at you, all three of you. "You reinforced the structure, so that it could maintain a steady connection, right?"
"We did," Vega confirmed. That had been where the Harmonial had taken the lead, her Focus far more suited to the task than your own. "But that isn't everything. Before strengthening your soul-structure's ability to interact with the intermittent connection, we reached back along the path it left to you. We went looking, and…"
"We think we found what Animus is looking for," you said, taking back the thread as Vega struggled with her words. The experience had affected you both a great deal, but it was worse for the Harmonial. What you'd found had been an example of her Focus, lying broken before your shared eyes. Restraining yourselves from simply diving into it had been a struggle.
"Your tone suggests that's not necessarily a good thing," Mary noted quietly. You grimaced.
"It's…complicated," you said haltingly. "The system there is enormous, but we were able to isolate the section that's been trying to connect to you. As far as we could tell, and please understand that this is Focus-perception rather than anything more reasoned, it's unlikely to be dangerous now that your…communications infrastructure, essentially, has been reinforced."
"But we also found what we think are the connections that Animus was meant to link to," Vega said, her expression tight with remembered pain. "The remains of them, at least."
For a moment, the memory flashed across your eyes. There were signs, even millions of years later, of the desperate attempt to complete the system. Parts and pieces not quite as they should be, out of alignment or missing final connections. But none of that mattered against the damage it had endured.
Jagged shards had been torn from the once beautiful structure, the touch of fire and scent of ash around them almost choking where the pieces had burnt to nothing. Cracks and fractures radiated out from those places, across the control structure that should have allowed the Secrets to be controlled and so deny every Sorrow. Yet it hadn't, and the remains were heartbreaking to see for you both. Mir's soul had wept from simple feedback, for here lay the death of Peace.
And yet… It wasn't destroyed.
"It's deeply damaged, and age has left its own scars as a result of it never being completed before the death of the Consolat somehow savaged it." You reached over to Vega, squeezing her shoulder and letting your own Focus rush out to the Harmonial's soul. You'd seen things like it before, and you'd trained since to be better able to endure the trauma of witnessing them.
Vega hadn't. Or, more correctly, the younger Potential had lacked the time to match your experience. You'd been thankful for that until now. No one should have to see something connected to their Focus so wounded.
"Will you be alright?" Mary asked. It wasn't a question for you alone, but you seemed best placed to answer.
"In time, yes," you said. There was absolute certainty in the words, founded in the strength of your Focus and the faith you held for Vega herself. "It's a terrible thing to see. But we were able to hold ourselves back from trying to fix it. At least for now."
You took a breath, letting the motion flow out to Vega as well. Your Focus swirled around the connection to your friend and comrade, sweeping deftly across the pains she'd witnessed. "After that, we returned to your soul to complete the process of strengthening it."
You shook your head. "Neither of us expected the connection to seemingly sense what we'd done and then stabilise the connection into a permanent link. But equally, it doesn't appear to be doing any damage to you, or to the construct around your soul. We believed that it would help you understand more, perhaps gain a better awareness of the nature of the connection on becoming properly aware of it."
Mary nodded. "I'd call that an apt description. Though I'm not sure I'd call it stable, at least not yet. It's as if there's…possibilities to it. Ways this link can take shape – I'm still trying to make sense of it all."
"What sort of possibilities?" you asked immediately. Mary shot you a look, but it was without any heat. You flushed. "Sorry."
"It's alright, I'd ask the same question," your friend sighed heavily. "I'm not sure that this is just the control system, Mandy. There's…you said yourself, that you didn't expect it to make this connection with me. That requires an ability to take deliberate action, though that's a lower barrier than you might think. At the same time, I don't want to try and," she grimaced, grumbling around unclear words.
"Simpler terms, maybe," she murmured to herself, thinking furiously. When she stopped, it was into a pair of sharp nods, her gaze centered. "Depth against breadth."
"Pardon?" you asked, only for her to smile at you.
"Depth against breadth," Mary repeated. "I can keep things as they are, let this connection grow organically. Or I can try to direct it. If I do the second, then I need to decide how I want to do so. Depth, to let me connect more deeply with this, maybe figure out if there's something behind it. Or breadth, to better support all of our actions here."
Both options were tempting. Both could help.
But would it be right to direct this? Or to have Mary try to do so?
Direct the flow?
[] Depth - Focus on the connection, try to follow it, to understand.
[] Breadth - Focus on the mission, to support its actions.
[] Neither - Mary is safe now. Let this grow into whatever it ought to be.
[] Away - None of you understand the full implications of this connection. Remove it.
