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Talon looked at me, eyes shifting for a few seconds before he shook his head.

“Give me your arm, girl,” he muttered as he made his way around the table.

I shot my eyes to Aether, then to Vexa, neither of them deigning a look in my direction as the man shuffled towards me, rolling up the sleeves of his robes. In an instant reaction, my body tensed, and I stood quickly, taking a few steps back.

“Fia, relax. He’s not going to hurt you,” Vexa murmured.

“And what a shamethatis.” Effie scowled down the table.

“Can someone explain what is going on here?” I seethed, lifting my arms in a warning. The man halted.

“He’s going to observe your tether—yourfocus. Whatever you want to call it.” Vexa stood, gesturing with her arms as if to calm me down. And in an instant, my body relaxed outside of my own control. I sat down in the chair, confusion rippling through me as my breathing became slow and measured, meditative almost.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Just trying to help you relax.” Rethlyn came to stand next to me. “I swear to the Esprithe themselves that no harm will come to you,” he offered, and another wave of intense relief flooded me. “If that helps.”

He gave me a short smile. “Now, give Talon your arm.”

I didn’t react when the man reached for me, but concern flickered across his features as he wrapped his hand around my wrist and took a deep breath.

“It won’t take long.” He nodded as he closed his eyes. The room stayed eerily silent, the attention of all focused directly on me, on the man’s grip.

“How strange,” he whispered, his brow creasing.

“What do you see?” Vexa asked.

He stayed silent for a few more moments, pressing his lips into a hard line before he finally released my hand. I looked around to Vexa, to Aether, confusion pulling at me.

Talon lowered himself into the chair next to me, eyes slowly crawling to Aether.

“Essence runs through her, but it’s not atether,” he finally said. “There is nothing tying her to the land. The essence within her is… self-sustaining…” He trailed off, blinking as if to force understanding.

Vexa and Effie shot their eyes in my direction as Rethlyn took a step away from me.

My heart stuttered in my chest. Self-sustaining? I'd always known my focus was different—had spent years hiding just howdifferent—but I'd assumed it was because I was broken in some way. Not because I was... what? Something else entirely?

“What does that mean?” I asked quietly.

“You seem to… generate your own essence.” The man eyed me cautiously.

The implications crashed through me like waves. Every lesson I'd ever had about essence—about how it flowed through the land, how we were merely channels for its power—had been wrong. Or at least, wrong for me. What did that make me? Not quite Aossí, not quite Kalfar. Something in between? Or something else entirely?

I thought of all the times I'd pushed my focus down, tried to make it smaller, more normal. How many times had I sensed that difference and chosen to ignore it? How many signs had I missed because I was too afraid to look closer?

“That sounds like you, Aether…” Effie’s voice quivered.

“No, I told you. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I don’t know how Aether harbors the abilities he does. I can’t read a single speck of essence—or anything else—residing inside him. Like his powers come from nothing at all.” Talon’s eyes dragged across the room.

“I’ve seen it in her too,” Aether interrupted, his voice slicing through the room.

Then all attention was on him.

"Whenever she channels, I can see it braiding around her—wisps of energy radiating through her—out of her." His eyes met mine, and for once, I couldn't look away. There was something in his gaze that made my skin crawl—not recognition, but understanding. As if he knew what it was to be different, to be something other than what everyone expected.

“Dear, have your abilities lessened since your arrival in Umbrathia?” Talon asked.

I hesitated, reaching for the web, allowing it to caress my spinein a gentle flutter. It felt normal, it felt as it had ever since I learned to control it.