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  I’ll see you when I get there.

  - Sibsil Creed, Stories from Shurwinn, (2859)

  I was wiping down the dining hall tables after dinner when I looked up to see a face I hadn’t seen in months!

  The kid I’d seen after picking berries. Around his neck was a braid of beads: Yellow, Green, Blue. So a Blue Beader.

  He came towards me intently, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. When I smiled up at him, he dropped his hands and said, “Would you like to dance?”

  My eyebrows shot up. He looked about seventeen. It was cute, but astonishing.

  I reminded myself not to laugh since he was probably nervous about asking me to spar. As before, months ago, I wasn’t sensing anything from him, no anxious impressions, nothing at all. If I hadn’t seen him standing in front of me, I wouldn’t have known he was there.

  I cocked my head a little and looked at him probingly, wondering what was going on. “What’s your name?”

  His face lit up with a wide smile, “I’m Peydran Madrano.”

  I decided to try something formal and act like a Blacker. I raised my right hand, and he took it, bowing his forehead to my hand. “Sunshine greet you, Peydran. I’m Ryst. But you must know that.”

  He said wryly, “Pretty hard to hide an off sphere. Even in a monastery.”

  I laughed, and I could tell he was relaxed by his posture, but I still couldn’t sense anything from him. I decided to push out and see if I could feel anything if I tried harder. “You’re a Blue Beader, Peydran?”

  Nothing. I sensed nothing. Not his thoughts, not his feelings. He was just—not there.

  And I felt instantly relaxed. There was no reason to be tense. I wouldn’t feel anything from this kid. I could spar with him and not have any idea what he was thinking about, and that put me at ease.

  Denten was the only person I had sparred with since arriving in Shurwinn, so, maybe it was time to branch out. Perhaps a Blue-Black sparring session wasn’t unusual in Tindin since it was less about forms and more about self-development.

  Peydran grinned, nodding, “Blue, that’s right—Blacker.”

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. He was so open and approachable, even though he should've been at least a little intimidated by someone four levels above him.

  This could be a really interesting match. I decided to act a little like a mysterious Black Beader: “We greet the sun tomorrow in dojo 6, Peydran.”

  He bowed and walked away, smothering a grin.

  There are two worlds.

  Collected Unpublished Lyrics

  -Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn, (2788)

  When I arrived at dojo 6, Peydran was already there, just walking through the door. Denten was taking the morning off since I was sparring with Peydran, and we settled into the morning flow in quiet.

  Breathe. Stretch. Bend. Tuck.

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  I had no awareness of my dance partner. I could hear his breath, yes, and his movements. But other than that, he was imperceptible to me. Curious.

  I tried harder to practice my Talent, but nothing happened.

  We finished the morning flow and bowed.

  Peydran struck. I let him. He was quick, really quick. At about five feet, nine inches, he was taller than me and probably outweighed me by 30 or 40 pounds, and he was very good. Fast and light.

  He had a young energy to him and eagerness. Different from Denten. I reached out as we flowed, trying to see what I could sense.

  Focus.

  That was all I could get. Focus. He was focused, but nothing else. I tried to push harder.

  Focus.

  I breathed and tried to suck in… Could I suck in someone else’s intentions? Nothing.

  He was inert to me, and whoa, he could best me! I thought he actually might. Oh no, no way. I could not let a kid beat me when he was four levels lower than me!

  I flew into a fury of forms, using my slightly smaller frame as an advantage. I had to pin him fast and get him down hard so he couldn’t use his weight to twist out of my hold. He was down and yielded.

  “Great match, Blacker!” Peydran grinned

  Oh, stars, he was adorable with that easy smile. I laughed, “Great session, Peydran! Thanks for the match. What are you up to today? Do you hang out at the monastery much?”

  “Nah, just to see my Teacher. But I wanted to meet the off-sphere Blacker,” he teased.

  “And was it everything you hoped it would be?” I asked, taking a sip from my water bottle.

  He laughed. “Believe me, I’m totally shwinning right now.”

  I raised my eyebrows, “Shwinning?”

  “You know, like, ‘I’m your biggest fan. You’re a superstar.’”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “Stars! Peydran. How do you even know about me? How do you know I’m a Blacker? I honestly never have any idea what is going on around here.”

  “Evvvvreybody knows about Ryst Nova. You’re so cool. You’re all, ‘I’m the mysterious off sphere. I eat by myself and don’t talk. I’m a Blacker, and I’m not even a citizen.'”

  Laughing, I asked, “So, basically I’m a total weirdo, and you think that’s cool?”

  He shook his head and said a little more seriously, “Not a weirdo. Just someone who’s interesting. We don’t get many off spheres, so a lot of us have never met one. And you’ve been here a while, so there’s a lot to be curious about.”

  I nodded, “Hmm. I don’t know many people from the village, really. What do you do when you’re not spar—dancing with Black Beaders? School? Work?”

  “Yeah, I’m finishing Uni, so I’ve got a really big project going on this year. That’s pretty much all I do, and a couple classes on stream.”

  “Do you mind if I ask how old you are, Peydran?” I said, heading towards the door

  “Ask any question,” he grinned. “Twenty.”

  I raised my eyebrows, impressed. He was finishing school early like I’d done. “You’re graduating already? What’s your project? What're you studying?”

  He grew animated. “I’m a production designer, and I’m working on a big launch for my graduating project. I’m hoping this is going to launch my business, too. It’s an awesome business, and it’s been coming together really well.”

  “A production designer?” I asked. "Is that like engineering or architecture?”

  “No. Well, kind of, but not really. So, I’m a coder, a programmer, you know?”

  I nodded, so he continued, “I take those skills and produce large-scale projects. Anything that's needed to get a big event done. Or a business launched. All the stream sites, the promotions, and the steps leading up to it. It's similar to event planning, but with all the tech involved. All the moving parts of something big.”

  “Okay, okay,” I nodded. "Wanna tell me about your project? It sounds interesting.”

  “Have you seen Jasen and Alen?” he asked.

  “Ah, is that a stream show?” I wondered, totally lost.

  “No,” he clarified, "They’re animators, and they have a hilarious stream site. They make parodies. They’re in Uni too, over on Equi Oasis. So, they're launching their business. They find really old graphic novels, and they make hysterical parodies of them—"

  “Like Chaludra?” I blurted out.

  He stepped back laughing, and asked incredulously, “You like Chaludra?! You know there’s already an animation, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving my hands at him. “But I haven’t finished the graphics yet, so don’t tell me about the show.”

  He nodded, “Well, they wouldn’t do Chaludra because it’s already got a special edition print run. So, when Jasen and Alen's parodies take off… if they’re really popular, they hope to do special print runs of the graphics. So, they use their animations as entertainment AND as advertisement."

  I nodded. It was a good business strategy.

  “They're creating a demand for the print run,” Peydran explained. 'If we can get things really blowing up, then they want to go off sphere. Right now they’re only getting Shurwinn traffic, but that’s gone up a lot since I’ve been working with them.”

  Stars, it was so different talking to someone who was out in the village and in Uni. I wasn’t used to conversing about other oases and pop culture, but I understood the business philosophy.

  “It sounds like it’s the sort of thing where they’re starting a revival of the old graphic,” I said. "As in, ‘You read this when you were a kid, and now you have kids of your own, and they like our parodies and want you to buy them a special edition.'”

  He nodded agreement.

  “That does sound exciting, Peydran. I’ll have to check out their animations.”

  “Oh, they’d loooove that! An off sphere? They’d crap themselves,” he chuckled.

  “Oh stars, Peydran—hilarious! I had no idea I was such a novelty! Thanks so much for asking me to dance. This has been a lot of fun. It sounds like you have a lot going on, so I’ll let you get to it.”

  He bowed dramatically, “The honor was mine, Blacker. Sunshine!”

  “Sunshine!” And I felt nothing from him. All that time together, and he was just a blank to me.

  It was wonderful, and I hoped I’d see him again soon.

  Is it wrong to kill to survive in this accursed world?

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