"It will be very boring if I am caught for the whole time, Dzo," Haelin said.
"We will observe from a safe distance, and then focus on assisting you."
"When you throw the Star Claw, run in the other direction," Allidi advised.
Gidds nodded his agreement, then led Laura, Allidi and Lira along the neat rows of trees so that they could watch without their view being blocked.
Sky Wing had arranged themselves similarly, leaving Haelin-Dakal standing alone, looking very small but entirely self-possessed. At nine, she could only have been training as a Kalrani for a few years, but the Setari program was extremely intensive and disciplined, and Sight Sight talents definitely tended toward confidence.
Did being Gidds' daughter help, or simply add pressure?
Haelin certainly maintained her cool when Tzatch gave the signal. She swung her arm, hurled the Star Claw in the direction of the main cluster of Sky Wing, and then dashed directly toward her father.
The whorled glass horn spun end to end and—Laura was watching closely—stretched and changed shape as it did so. Haelin, although she moved at the maximum speed the game would allow, had no chance to escape the expanding twists and whorls.
Purple and shimmering, the Star Claw bloomed and grew, opening into something similar to a sea anemone or a cactus dahlia: hundreds of narrow petal tentacles curving up and around a protected centre. That, no doubt, would be where Haelin’s Dakal would be.
"I can’t even see," Haelin said, still in the channel where they’d been discussing names.
"Trying to fight your way out might earn you upgrades for your teszen, though," Laura pointed out. "You certainly can’t miss from the inside."
"Wouldn’t miss anyway," Haelin grumped, but without real annoyance.
"Move further back," Gidds said, and they retreated as the petals grew ever-larger, the ground sinking beneath them, and the nearest trees tumbling sideways.
Members of Sky Wing were already attacking the bruised starburst of a flower, but Laura was not surprised to see their initial efforts have no visible impact. An encounter designed to be a game-wide event would likely require enormous numbers of players. Tzatch clearly knew this, and was merely testing possible strategies.
Veteran of more than a few large, imaginary battles, Laura guessed the Star Claw would likely phase through vulnerabilities—most likely connected to the elemental wheels—but there was no obvious signal such as a colour change to indicate the shift. She asked Gidds if he could see anything.
"It’s definitely changing vulnerabilities," he said. "There doesn’t appear to be a visual signal."
"Nimenny can tell," Lira said, shifting her weight from foot to foot, then added over the interface channel. "It doesn’t hurt to be stuck in there, does it?"
"No." Haelin’s response was brief, dismissive. But then, in a slightly altered tone, she added: "I’m in a jelly bubble. I think it works like a shield. I guess I’d just exit the game if it hurt."
Laura glanced at Gidds, and he gave her the faintest nod. That had been a deliberate choice to reassure, then. Only nine, Haelin had still recognised and effortlessly responded to the anxiety that lay behind the question of a girl who had once been cruelly trapped.
Sight Sight. So helpful, so disconcerting.
And so very much a factor in her future. She sent Gidds a direct message.
Laura: You look like you’re enjoying yourself. I was worried that things like this would feel too much like the massive ionoth attacks to you.
His flicker-smile made an appearance.
Gidds: In part it’s because there are so many excited players. Even though they’re not physically here, it’s impacting Place and Sight Sight. The combat doesn’t bother me—simulations without injuries are merely challenges.
Laura: I’m glad.
Gidds: Would you like to come with us next week? A two-family outing?
Laura hesitated, glancing at Allidi.
Gidds: They will enjoy a larger group.
Laura wondered, but expected it was worth trying. Cass would be off on a visit to her in-laws, but mixing Julian and Sue with Allidi and Haelin would be a significant step, while being less awkwardly Sight Sight Duo faces off with potential Wicked Step-mum.
But first, a rescue.
Chapter Fifteen
"Lira’s so taken with this game you played that I think I’ll put off trying it out," Cass said, studying the helmet of her Exclusion Suit.
"That makes sense?" Laura lowered her own helmet over her head, and twisted to lock it into position.
Cass grinned. "It does, really! She was hugging it a bit to herself, you see. Her game with Unna Laura. I don’t want to stick my big nose in and take some of the shine off her new toy."
"How would you do that?" Laura asked, startled. "She likes you, Cass—really, she does."
"Oh, yeah. But in a naggy older sister way, at least when I’ve been telling her to behave. You’re the first person that I’ve seen her really take—oh, I don’t know how to put it—ownership of, maybe. At school she talks about my Unna Laura very matter-of-factly."
"This indulgent grandma gig is paying off."
"I guess so!" Cass sealed her Exclusion Suit, and her voice came out strangely echoing through the clear panels of the helmet. "But it’s really been a big step forward. Lira has such a complicated relationship with the idea of parents, and belonging, and who has authority over her. Not because she’s some snobbish Lantaren princess, or whatever, but because she’s realised that even the people who raised her—the ones she was stolen from—were simply controlling and making use of a Touchstone."
"And she applies that to you and Kaoren?"
"On and off. I might be in the same situation as her in a lot of ways, but Kaoren and I choose to work for KOTIS. And KOTIS is…well, there’s a lot of factions, and plenty of people pushing to have her spend days on end telling them everything about Muina in the past. But she was kept so sheltered and controlled that she can’t answer most of their questions—not good, since she hates feeling ignorant—and there are a lot of bad associations, so even the mildest session gives her days of nightmares."
Cass walked to the window of the room in the KOTIS building where they were preparing for their aether excursion, and looked out over the ruins of the ancient town that lay outside.
"They’re fairly sure Lira made all this, you know. Not the buildings, but getting the teleport network to work, and maybe even the system that causes moonfall and refines aether. She doesn’t know for certain—her whole life before being kidnapped involved being periodically plugged into psionic amplification machines without any explanation. Used to shape reality without any input of her own. Until finally someone put her in a machine with no intention of her getting out again."
Cass' voice was angry and sad—and perhaps shadowed with the awareness that KOTIS was exploring the possibility of eventually plugging Cass into a few machines. Laura gripped her daughter’s shoulder through the strange, slippery material of the suit.
"At least, with your collection of monitors and oversight committees, you can be sure there’ll be plenty of warning, and probably a year or two of public debate and dispute, if they do go that route. Interested as they are in creating more teleportation platforms, no-one here wants to risk setting off the disasters and instabilities that cost them Muina in the first place—and the delays will give you lots of opportunity to leave the Triplanetary in your dust."