Errod had asked healer Rutlen to come see me, but when he got back from that visit he warned me something was up.


    "I didn''t get the feeling it was anything bad, but... she was nervous. The whole time she was examining me something was off, and then when I said you wanted to talk to her she looked spooked. It''s probably nothing, but..."


    And now here I was talking to her, and yeah. She was being really strange. Most of her body language was nervous, but she was also making really intense eye contact.


    "Just a question," I said, "and I''d appreciate if you could keep it between us for now. Um. I was told once that people could be brought back to life, but only under some very specific circumstances. Is that right?"


    She nodded, still looking all squirrely. "Yes, but typically as soon as the body dies the spirits - mind and soul - snap together and cross over into the Necropolis. Sometimes they''ll stay as a ghost, but even then the melding is very hard to reverse. If you can''t restore the mind and soul it could still be possible to heal the body - assuming it''s largely intact - but the person would be what we call a husk. They don''t regenerate mana, and reportedly can''t use magic regardless. There are other effects, but the main issue is that without the mind and soul it''s considered to... well, it''s just not a full person anymore. On top of that, if the body was dead for any amount of time then without the mind they''re likely to have limited cognition; the brain cannot recover from being dead without the mind to rely on."


    I had a sneaking suspicion that everyone on Earth was a ''husk'', but that was something I could think about later. "Sure, sure. But if you had the ghost, it''s possible to tether it back to the body? And, I guess, split it apart into mind and soul again?"


    "Yes, it''s been done - not often, for obvious reasons."


    "And if you don''t have the body, could you create a new one? Like, let''s say the person had an identical twin, could you use them as a sort of template?"


    She looked nervous, and I wondered if this was a taboo subject. Was this unethical mad science shit? It seemed possible. "You would need at least part of the body to still be alive, though if you had... an identical twin, as you said, or something like that - then it would certainly help to fill in gaps."


    We didn''t have anything left from Connie, especially not something alive, but we were even closer than identical twins. "If they were perfectly similar, somehow... could one twin just... donate a body part to grow the body from?"


    She considered for a moment, then frowned. "This gets into something older and deeper than Imperial magic. The collective consciousness, the Common Local Understanding, whatever you call it - it would need to really think of the body part as belonging to that person. Even with a twin, that would likely not be the case. Also, for a fresh injury the connection between the part and the whole would be too strong, it would... know, for lack of a better term, that it belonged back on the body it had come from.


    "You would simultaneously need a metaphysical distance between the part and the body it came from, and a closeness to the spirits you wanted to attach to it. That could be possible, under some exotic circumstances, but... I think you can imagine why it''s never been done. The only people that have been brought back were dead for a very short time and their bodies were already largely intact."


    That didn''t sound great. If I could find Connie''s ghost I could look into it more, but I didn''t have high hopes. Rutlen seemed to notice how disappointed I looked, and put a hand on my shoulder.


    "To be clear, if anyone can do it, it would be my team. If you ever have someone in a bad situation and can get them to me quickly enough, I''ll of course do anything I can. I just wouldn''t want to promise you I can bring back someone that''s been dead for any amount of time without something... very special going on."


    I thanked her, and filed it away for later. There was no way I could realistically ask her to do anything right now, nor was I ready to try and explain that my "identical twin" had died and was possibly haunting me because we shared... not a soul, probably, but... what? Hmm. That was maybe a question worth asking. It wasn''t our mind or soul, it wasn''t our body, it wasn''t our lutore. What was the connection there? What made it so that, for example, I could remember when she went back in time?


    I got the compass sent to Talia but didn''t get a chance to speak to her in person, instead spending the day just trying to get back into knitting. It seemed to help keep my mind off of things, and keep my hands steady. I hadn''t managed to make anything too impressive, but I had a rapidly growing scarf that I was pretty proud of. When I did take a break I just got depressed - I felt like an asshole for wanting to run away, and I felt like a failure because I couldn''t even do it. Hell, there was no chance they weren''t going to move me via teleportation directly into a secure location, so I''d go from being stuck by the contract to being surrounded and already in prison.


    I couldn''t focus on research with Katrin, Errod was being a little weird still, and I certainly wasn''t going to try Hugh again. When Talia sent the compass back it was with a letter saying she was too busy working on our project to get together, which seemed like she was blowing me off - she''d made it pretty clear that it was a boring and easy job, but now it was super exciting and was going to take all of her time? Sure. Although, it was possible that she had been inspired by something and was... I don''t know, adding a smoothie maker to it.


    So I''d been walking around the university grounds and just people watching. It was nice, it reminded me a lot of our brief time in Theramas before the attack where I thought we were going to be able to just live in a cute apartment and be a very strange little family. Of course it was also similar to Theramas in the sense that there were guards always nearby and keeping a wary eye on me. I could feel myself slipping back into a funk, but thankfully I was distracted from my mood by a sudden attack. They came at me all at once - four of them, charging in and trying to tackle me by grappling my legs and waist.


    I scooped two of them under the arms, then used those two to grab a third. The last was wrapped around my left leg, but I used my right to pin them to me before collapsing backwards. "Hah! I''ve got you all now!" I yelled, drawing a few confused looks. The kids were laughing - well, not Roran but that was to be expected with his serious demeanor - and they all started talking over each other and trying to show me things. Tig made me almost weightless for a moment, and Yasna gave me a very small but beautiful crystalline flower she''d made. Lian hadn''t had the opportunity to practice her magic much, but excitedly showed me her new dress and told me about Twelve Towers. Roran was still close-lipped about what gifts he''d received but very quietly showed me a knife he''d stolen and was keeping handy "just in case" which was both tragic and... pretty relatable.


    Their keepers had caught up and were impatient, but it took a bit for everyone to be ready anyway. I had thought we would be going to the far edges of the city to triangulate the kids'' fate threads, but first they slapped some anti-divination hood over my head and took me into a building before spinning me in circles. When they removed it Moss In Bloom was there, as was the "magical" compass. I was instructed to indicate which direction Elba was in.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    We''d removed the actual needle from the compass in favor of some mystical flickering lights thanks to Talia, who had noted in the letter with it that she hoped whatever I was doing was more of a prank than a scam. When I flipped on the fate threads and lined everything up I was able to successfully point to where Elba was, and everyone seemed convinced. We just needed to get the official okay from the guards to suppress my oath, but they''d already received a preliminary approval.


    "I hope you trip and fall in moskar shit," Moss In Bloom said.


    I was going to ignore it, but I couldn''t make myself leave. That damn voice in my head, Bill''s influence on me, was picking at the back of my brain. I turned to Professor Gramod, the one in charge of the kids, and held out a hand to keep him from leaving. "Wait. You have to promise not to kill them."


    "Excuse me?"


    "You have to promise not to kill the Sargher. Once I point you to where they are, you have to swear - really swear - that they''ll be treated humanely. I know you have to keep them from cursing people, and I know they''re assholes. But they''re children. You understand?"


    He scoffed. "Well yes, technically, but -"


    Gramod stepped back and bumped into the wall, cutting himself off, and the guards tensed up. I realized too late I was leaning right into his face, but I only backed off the slightest bit. "Not technically. Actually. And I am telling you that no harm will come to them, because you''re going to try to teach them right and wrong and in the meantime they''re going to have decent food, and toys, and comfortable things that they can call their own. Or I will personally come back here and deal with you."


    He sputtered. "Are you - are you threatening me?"


    I hesitated, feeling a strange tightening in my head. "I''m magically restricted from breaking any laws in this city, so to be clear I am not currently planning on harming you and genuinely hope that there will be no reason to harm you in exactly one year when that magical contract expires. Let''s not call it a threat, let''s call it a deal. You agree to take care of them and treat them like you would treat some particularly shitty but redeemable human children, or I find some other way to get these kids home that doesn''t in any way help your research. And if you make this deal and then break it, then yeah. There might be consequences."


    Moss In Bloom was squinting at me, and then all at once her eyes went wide. Shit. Talking about making a deal with him was maybe pushing things too far. She didn''t say anything though, and Professor Gramod finally sputtered that of course he would treat them acceptably and shook my outstretched hand - it was like holding a dead fish. Harmid stepped in to say he would also keep an eye on them, and I knew my little stunt had also set his mind going. But whatever. I was leaving with Hammersmith soon anyway.


    We traveled around the city in a wagon, and stopped at three points along the city walls. Someone would set up surveying equipment, I would "calibrate" the compass which was actually just me checking all my fate lines for professor Yanipliss, and then one by one I''d check each of the kids. Between the surveying equipment and some supposedly very accurate maps, there was a good chance they would be able to triangulate everything - but some of the lines were moving a bit, and Errod''s was still all flaky, and ideally we would have measured at places way further apart so nothing was guaranteed.


    One line in particular was moving more than expected, but it was distinctive enough that I immediately realized which one it was. It was right after the second of three stops, so I was able to have a moment on the wagon to try and ping her.


    "You are getting better at this," she said as she appeared standing in the middle of the wagon next to me.


    "I''d fucking hope so, it''s basically the only thing I''ve been working on. I wanted to be training more, but I think this is going to pretty quickly plateau."


    I thought she was going to say something nasty, but she hesitated and then said, quieter than normal, "When I was learning magic, it was very hard to practice. I was not allowed to do anything but what I was told. And I found little tricks I could do, small things they would not notice. But it also stopped helping after a time."


    "You''re really impressive, you know."


    She sighed. "Not enough to kill you."


    "Well to be fair you came pretty close, and that last one in Theramas that went so wrong was probably partly me fucking with probability without realizing it. I''ve been trying to look back and see how much I did it, all the times I felt cold when I was in danger and then something saved me. Some I''m sure of, like I told this guy to choke to death after he stabbed me and he... he did. Some others, I don''t know. There was a fight in an alleyway where I think I made someone slip in a puddle? But maybe he just slipped normally."


    She nodded. "It was always hard for me to tell, but I assumed they knew."


    "Oh, they probably do. I think I''m just strange because... well, partly because you offed my parents pretty early on, but also I assume being on Earth made it harder to get things from the connection. It doesn''t matter, that magic is gone now. I could learn it again, I have the right gifts, but... I don''t know."


    "I will need to give up wild magic, I suppose, if I return to Earth."


    "I guess. I don''t know. I think there''s at least some magic on Earth, mana would be super low I''m sure - especially because the cities are so much bigger - but your soul and mind should stay connected and that could funnel some to you from their associated planes. I''ve been told wild magic is inefficient so it might be hard, but presumably you could still do some stuff. Or you could get a Dumine, and learn something that doesn''t take a lot in the first place."


    She laughed, just a single bark. "Breaking in to a Duminere is not possible, and I will not swear allegiance to any kingdom or empire."


    "Duh. Do you... I never know what you parts you''ve been following. You can use the new one - not new, but like, newly found - in Erathik. I have a guarantee of a certain number of guests, so I just have to send them your description and stuff. I don''t know if you''d actually want to, I mean you''ve put a ton of work into wild magic, but it''s an option." She looked... annoyed? Frustrated? I was getting the impression she didn''t like it when I was too nice to her, which was fair. She''d hated me forever and now I was trying to get all chummy? I''d punch my nose in. "Anyway, I can tell you''re near. What''s up?"


    "You had said you needed help, and I thought that either I could free you so you could make good on your promise... or possibly get here in time to watch you die. Whichever."


    "Well, bad news. I''m safe now but about to be bundled away by Hammersmith, and I can''t plot an escape because I''m stuck in a magical contract - and anyway it probably wouldn''t work. And, also, I do need to help save the world. But that should be done soon, on the first of the tenth."


    "That will be... eight planes aligned. A good day to do magic."


    "Yeah, well it''s just for the one plane. Brinkmar. I assume you''ve caught us talking about it at least a little. Anyway, after that hopefully I can get things taken care of. If you want to get the ball rolling before that you could talk to... where did he go? There, that guy. Professor Yanipliss. I haven''t told him about Earth, or about you, or about... me, being. Not human. But he knows I can see fate and is absolutely dying to learn more so if you can teach him anything about how to do that kind of magic he''d try and help."


    She rolled her eyes. "That uses ancient rune stones. They would be useless to him, and they need to be guided by the Sargher. They cannot use wild magic directly, but they... control... others."


    "Okay, but that just raises more questions. I thought they could only do the curse thing, how does that translate to fully controlling people?"


    "Curses, and some can make binding contracts. But regardless, how do you make a... an anvil, or a hammer, the first time? This is something they have developed over thousands of years. Like using bad tools to make better tools, over and over. They use children, mostly humans but also ones from other planes. They use devices, some stolen and some crafted for them ages ago. They use sites of power. Do not underestimate them just because they live in trees."


    It was quiet for the rest of the ride, but she spoke up as soon as the wagon stopped. "I will not kill you, Sargher. Go save the world, I can wait that long." With that she was gone, and I stepped down and got to work. After the final measurements were taken we headed back to the university, and only when everyone was off the cart did I see the guards relax.