Return of the Runebound Professor

“No,” Yoru said, her voice going as flat as a steel plate.

Violet shrugged. It wasn’t her problem in the end. She didn’t care about Yoru — but she did care about any potential threat the demon posed. She leaned forward and braced her arms against her crossed legs. “Whatever. I don’t care what you do, but I do care about what you plan. I already gave you your answer, so now you have to give me mine. What do you want with Aylin?”

“Nothing. He is of no interest to me beyond his connection to Spider. He is nothing but a drone in a hive.” Yoru reached up to her mask. Her fingers brushed across its ceramic surface. Then she let her hand drop again. “I am not satisfied with the answer you have given me.”

“Too bad,” Violet said with a sharp laugh. “That’s how things work for everyone else. Not every answer is the one you want it to be, and we can’t just force everything to work the way we want it to. If not Aylin, then is your goal the Web?”

“I do not care about Spider’s organization. No member within it is any more than a drone. Their weights are insignificant.”

“Lee? Moxie?”

Yoru hesitated for a moment before answering. Her hand found its way to the bedroll behind her and dug into the sheets, squeezing them in a tight grip as unease washed over Yoru’s body. “Not to be touched. I do not desire anything for them.”

“So everyone is nothing but a tool or a drone.” Violet crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow. She wished she had a chair to lean back in, but without one, this was the best she could manage. “Right. So you don’t need anyone. You don’t care about anyone. You don’t even have any goals beyond Spider. Why do you even care about learning of love and friendship? They seem pretty damn useless to you.”

“Because I do not understand them.” Yoru released the bag and rose to her feet, carrying her hair up with her before letting it spill down around her feet.

“You’re scared,” Violet said, standing as well. She couldn’t let Yoru get the height and position advantage on her if they started grappling. Whoever was on the ground first would have a disadvantage. That was the reason. It definitely wasn’t because she didn’t want to have to look up at the other demon. “You fear what you can’t understand.”

“Yes,” Yoru said. There wasn’t a hint of embarrassment about admitting to it. Yoru was simultaneously the easiest and hardest demon to read that Violet had ever met. She was completely honest about her thoughts, but her thoughts were so foreign that it almost didn’t matter. “I fear what I cannot control.”

“You realize that’s just life, right?” Violet asked. “Not a single other demon in the world can control literally everything. What happens when you run into something that you just can’t beat?”

“Impossible. There is a path forward in every scenario. There is always a winning move.”

Violet fought to keep her eye from twitching. Yoru was so damn stubborn that it was like speaking to a brick wall. “Even with Spider? You’re dead set on allying with him. Why? What happens if he turns against you?”

“I will not allow that to happen.”

“Just… pretend it does,” Violet said through a sigh. It was difficult to speak in hypothetical scenarios with a demon that could — at least as far as Violet could tell — see the future.

Yoru was silent for several long seconds. Her fingers twitched. Her head started to tilt and Violet clicked her tongue in warning, her eyes narrowing. Yoru’s jaw worked behind her mask and she let herself return to her normal position.

“I do not like this. I do not know. No path in which I come to odds with Spider ends in a victory. I am in the dark.”

“Which is how everyone is. Always. Every minute of the day. Nobody knows what will happen. And that means we have to adapt. We need to rely on more than just ourselves,” Violet said. “By relying so heavily on your power, I think you’ve actually hurt yourself. You can’t see without your magic.”

“I cannot see at all.”

“So you understand?”

“No. I am literally blind.”

“Oh,” Violet said. She massaged her brow. “Of course you are. That’s ironic — or maybe it’s just fitting. I don’t know what to tell you beyond this, Yoru. Life is scary. Things go wrong — and friends pull you through it.”

“Friends… are there to prevent you from falling to what you cannot predict? I can understand that.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Violet shook her head firmly. “You’ve missed it completely, blind girl. Friends aren’t there to protect you. They’re there because they love you. You protect each other, but not because you have to. Stop thinking of everyone as pawns or tools. Make a new category already. Friends are friends.”

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“I still do not understand.” Yoru was definitely irritated now. Her soft voice had grown tense and her head twitched, clearly desperately wanting to use her magic but keeping herself from doing it.

“I know,” Violet said through a snort of laughter. “And you never will, Yoru. Not unless you stop using this crutch. If you’re fine with that, then fine. Stay blind — and stay away from Aylin and Torick and Edda. Vrith too. Just stay away from all of them.”

“Why? I do not—”

“You see them as tools,” Violet said flatly, cutting Yoru off before the other demon could finish her sentence. “They’re disposable in your eyes. Nothing more than game pieces. For that reason alone, I don’t want you near them.”

“What does it matter? Survival is survival. If I am aiding Spider and he desires to keep you alive, then our goals are alike and their lives are not at risk due to my presence.”

“Lives aren’t things to fuck around with. We’ve fought so damn hard to get here. By all means, we shouldn’t be here at all. Spider gave us all another chance.” Violet stalked up to Yoru until she stood face to face with the other demon, her nose no more than an inch away from the mask. “Maybe he wants to give you one too. It’s up to you if you’re actually going to take it. But if you’re going to be like this, then do it away from me and the people I care about. Go ahead. Look into the future again. Figure out the optimal way to reach your next victory — and do it alone, just like you always will. The tent is yours. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”

Violet turned and stepped out of the tent. She’d gotten the information she wanted. Unless Yoru was the best liar she’d ever met, the demon was exactly as what she presented herself to be. She wasn’t a direct threat to Aylin or the others… but she was no ally.

***

“I have to say, this is quite freeing!” Silvertide cackled as the staff in Bird’s hands whistled past his body, passing so close that the wind made the tight wrappings covering him rustle.

Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he pirouetted, prancing back over the body of a lizard monster he’d killed while they were preparing the forest clearing to train in.

The elderly soldier was what some may have considered a disturbing sight. He was wrapped from the neck down in tight bandages that contoured to his body perfectly — far too perfectly.

Bird’s staff whipped up, but Silvertide spun out of the way, letting it slip just by his shoulder as he pranced right past her.

“He’s kind of built, isn’t he?” Todd muttered. “It’s scary. Someone that old shouldn’t have more muscle definition than me.”

Silvertide wasn’t the only one clad in tight bandages. Every single person in the clearing wore the same. It had been Bird’s idea. The closest they could get to actually being truly naked without… well, being naked.

“I’ll be honest,” Isabel replied, picking at a bandage around her neck and grimacing. “I’m trying not to look too closely. I think I’m starting to develop an entirely new fighting style from this.”

“You are?” Alexandra looked to Isabel with interest. Out of all of them, she’d taken to the change in uniform well. A little too well. Isabel had been forced to have a small discussion with the other girl to keep her from wearing the bandages around Arbitrage and getting too many strange glances thrown in her direction. “What is it?”

“Fighting blind,” Isabel muttered. Silvertide’s cackle rang through the clearing as he vaulted backward and Bird’s staff carved the air between his legs apart, just narrowly missing a very painful strike.

“I prefer fighting the blind, myself. Makes things a little easier on me when they can’t see what I’m doing,” James said from a short ways away. He sat against a tree together with Emily. Each of them had half of a sandwich in their hands. Isabel had no clue where James had gotten it from. She definitely hadn’t seen it when they’d been in the transport cannon. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Fighting blind? How did you find insight for that?” Alexandra asked, her eyes going wide. A flicker of disappointment passed through them a moment later. “I’ve tried before, but it’s impossible. For me, at least. When you reach Rank 4, you could use your domain to feel your opponents and your eyes would not be needed.”

“Insight came in the name of Jalen and Silvertide,” Isabel said, raising a hand to block out the fight unfolding before them. “Perhaps the elderly should be instructed to wrap themselves less tightly.”

“Elderly?” Jalen exclaimed, stepping out from a ripple in space to their side — and, much to Isabel’s immense distress — dressed the same as the rest of them. “Who are you calling elderly? I am still in the spring of my youth.”

“You’re old enough to be my great grandpa, man,” Todd said.

“Don’t insult me,” Jalen said through a scoff. “Do I look like a whelp to you? I’m far older than that.”

“You just said—” Alexandra started.

“Forget what I said. It’s about what I do,” Jalen replied. He held up a hand, a dart with a rounded tip pinched within his fingers. “And what I am doing is playing darts. Silvertide and Bird are having too much fun without us. I got bored.”

“Where’s the target?” Alexandra asked, glancing around the forest. They were surrounded by rough barked trees and towering canopies. There was nothing else.

Jalen smiled and plucked at a bandage wrapped around his wrist, tightening it. “I’m looking at them, of course.”

“I’ll pass on this one,” Todd said quickly.

“As will I. I’ve suddenly decided that I love watching demonstrations,” James said. “I think I’d prefer to keep absorbing information from afar.”

“Me too,” Emily added. “We can learn a lot from Silvertide.”

“Yeah,” Todd muttered. “Like the importance of underwear when you’re wrapped up like a glazed ham.”

A bark of laughter slipped from Jalen’s lips and he shook his head. “Oh, kids. Have I ever told you how much I love them?”

“No,” Isabel said.

“That’s because I don’t.” Jalen examined the dart in his hands. The smile on his features grew, but it was far from comforting. It was the look of a shark approaching a school of fish. “But I do love darts — and playing wasn’t an option.”

James pushed himself to his feet and pulled Emily up alongside him. Isabel and Todd both lowered their stances and Alexandra put her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“Can we do a rain check on this?” Todd asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Jalen said. He splayed his hand out, and four more darts materialized between his fingers. “Let’s practice, shall we? I suggest you start running.”

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