Most can interact with one another, most can speak the primary language of the WidePond. How this language comes to exist throughout the SmallPonds, sometimes as a dominant language, sometimes as a formal or ritualistic tongue, is almost as bewildering as the fact that calendars align.
More questions for the Seers, more coincidences that Awakened take for granted and that no one ever seems to wonder about. I'm sure someone can come up with a good reason for the convenience provided. Or maybe I'm just too curious for my own good.
~ * ~
Valene stared at the response he'd gotten regarding Anya's father. Three and a half years and this is all they bothered to say? No apologies, no explanations. Simply an acknowledgment of his words and an indication they would look into her progression.
On the other hand, their answer told him they had acted with intention, that this was not an accidental oversight. For them to believe this answer would satisfy meant that the truth had implications that they would not trust to anything but direct communication.
Her Holding will be represented at the next Annual Convention. They have ignored all invitations until now. If their presentation is attention worthy we will provide them with our guidance.
Her father deserved better. Your suspicions are correct but your conclusions are not.
His suspicions about her father were correct. He snorted. He'd have had to be blind to not notice the signs. He'd been willing to admit there might have been the slightest of chances he was wrong, but he'd long learned that his instincts were sound.
His conclusions being wrong? Now that caught his attention. He hadn't expressed any conclusions, he hadn't said anything other than that her heritage was suspect. For her father to have deserved better and have been somewhere so remote-
He spun up his secondary feed, accessing records better left ignored, details that he perhaps should never have had full access to. Twenty-five, perhaps twenty-six years ago? The records were blank. Grumbling he dug further, more and more searches returning nothing.
For there to be absolutely nothing meant something significant had happened. The only way for all information to have been scrubbed, to not simply be redacted or left as unauthorized meant that even showing that there had been something would send a more significant signal.
If she weren't so low leveled, not to mention close to them, he would have had Phelann look into the gap. If anyone could find the details she could. He had yet to have her look into something and not come back with an answer. He suspected her Affinity was tied to some form of knowledge and research even if he'd never asked.
You didn't ask others about such things, you might guess, you might find out firsthand, but prying into the truth that let them pass the wall was paramount to stripping them bare.
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Regardless, she wasn't ready for these waters. Knowing the waters existed, knowing the details of the shallows was one thing, digging into who might have erased events of this scale was diving into depths that would eat you alive. Especially when acting in an official capacity as a member of the Seer's council.
~ * ~
Alex stared at the his EDN feed in shock. The notice had popped up minutes ago and he still had trouble believing the words.
Access to Velli Arbitration has been revoked.
Employment agreement with Velli Arbitration terminated.
Presence within Velli facilities will be seen as trespassing in 00:47:22.
All belongings will be inspected upon departure, removal of Velli assets will be treated as theft. All off-site Velli assets must be returned within 24 hours or retrieval teams will be dispatched.
He was in good standing. He'd done everything they asked. He'd stayed the late nights, abandoned his plans, lost touch with friends, put his job first every time. This made no sense.
Glancing around his tiny space he realized there was nothing to take with him. Everything was either Velli owned or pointed to Velli affiliation. If he wasn't working for Velli anymore displaying the Family crest would be seen as misleading at best.
His mentor hadn't approved of him taking the role. He'd suggested staying and working for the Arbiter's Council. It wasn't seen as glamorous, it wasn't always as rewarding, but it was a reliable position.
But this was Velli, the fastest rising Family. The offer had seemed too good to refuse, a perfect fit for his aspirations and experience. He'd have been a fool to pass it up.
His thoughts flickered back to when he had personally met the High Duke, or rather the Prince. He'd been so intense, so angered by a supposed assault on one of his descendants. He'd been so demanding. The defendant though, the OverSeer. He'd made a passing comment about how Velli might want revenge, that he, Valene, that was the OverSeer's name, was untouchable, that the Holding was untouchable for the moment.
Alex frowned, his feet having carried him to the exit as he thought. The guards normally let him pass with barely a glance, acknowledging his rising star. Today they stopped him, pulled him aside. They treated him worse than they did visitors, as if he was one of those people who stood outside yelling about the horrible things Velli did.
Of course Velli wasn't perfect, no Great Family was, but to claim they abused their power? That they were subversive and cruel? He'd never seen evidence of that, never believed the rumors.
Finally escaping the building he froze, his apartment was Velli provided, part of his employment. Would they even let him in to retrieve his personal effects?
Would his mentor even answer him after the way they'd parted? Would his friends return his messages when he'd ignored them for months? Everything he'd had for the last few years was Velli.
Maybe the OverSeer would remember him? Or maybe he could remember the Holding name, find out where it was, find out who was connected to it. Maybe he'd be able to recover.
~ * ~
One pulse, then another. The change to the bound Energy shivered through the Holding. A third pulse followed, weaker, less evident, less overt.
A Seer would notice the first two if they were close enough. An Awakened crossing the wall was discernible after all. An Engineer who was paying attention might have noticed the third, had they known it was coming. Few had ever been present when a Seed first stirred, fewer still had felt anything, none had ever recorded the change.
The Holding Energy flow flickered in an instant too short for humans to measure. Everything returned before the jolt was detected, everything appeared to be the same from one moment to the next.
The Seed had developed it's first sprout, the first of many future connections that defied understanding. The first vine that could stretch through the realm portals used.
The Holders had grown, the Holding would follow.
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