Kiya banged on the outer door to Morrow's workshop. It was nestled back among the gardens, away from the Keep, the windows along the front all dark. When no one came to open the door immediately, she leaned her head against it in exhaustion and banged louder.
They heard the sound of hurried steps creaking down a set of stairs, and lights came on inside. A lock and latch clicked and turned.
Kiya eased back and a disheveled man with spectacles flung open the wooden door, a young girl peeking out from behind him anxiously. The man looked Kiya up and down and shook his head in exasperation. He placed a hand on the girl's back while looking down at her, "Go on back to bed, Caroline."
"But why are they here, papa?"
"I'll tell you tomorrow, sweetie, just go upstairs for now and get back under the covers."
She gave him a wide-eyed look but tiptoed back to the set of stairs running up the right-hand wall and hurried up.
Morrow stepped aside and motioned for them to come in. Kiya stumbled at the threshold, and he offered out his arm as support. Surprisingly, she took it, and he led her to one of several beds set up against the back wall. There were curtains hanging as dividers between each bed.
Kar couldn't help but stare at everything else he glimpsed within the workshop. Maps, bookshelves, sconces along the walls that held not candles but some kind of globe that glowed brightly, assorted stands that held what looked like some type of armor and weapons, and a host of other things that Kar didn't have the words to describe.
"You're a mess Kiya," Kar heard Morrow say, "What happened to you this time?"
"I don't want to talk about it, can you just fix me up?"
Morrow nodded, gesturing for her to lie back on the bed he had led her to.
"Who are the kids?" He asked, nodding towards Isa and Kar as they stepped into the workshop and closed the door behind them.
"Your problem now. Destry thinks they could be Imbuers. Wants you to train them. Put them to work."
Morrow perked up, examining Isa and Kar more closely. "Oh, well… that's good. I could use the help." He turned back to Kiya then and held his outstretched palms over her, "Just try to relax."
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then released it.
Kar grabbed a stool from under a workbench near the door—it was cluttered with various tools, notebooks, and chunks of crystal—and set it down beside Isa. She smiled at him gratefully and took a seat.
Morrow meanwhile had donned an expression of extreme concentration. Kar leaned forward without realizing it, as he sensed a wave of power radiating from the man towards Kiya. She groaned and shifted on the bed but otherwise didn't complain.
Morrow soon lowered his hands.
"Let's sit you up, I can see what we need to work on. First we'll need to set this arm though." He pointed a finger at Kar, "Would you come help me young man?"
Kar nodded and joined him at the foot of Kiya's bed. Morrow had him move to one side to hold Kiya upright while he grasped her broken arm and raised it. She yelped and winced as he jerked it swiftly, then worked his thumbs over the arm bit by bit, "Hold her here a moment while I go and get a splint."
Kiya hissed one deep breath after another through clenched teeth, her eyes shut tightly, "What's the bastard's name that did this to me."
Kar startled, surprised by the question. He debated whether to say, but figured he'd better not upset her, "Aldwin."
"Aldwin." She hissed, as if imprinting it in her mind.
Morrow came back then with a pair of slightly curved boards and cloth wrap. He bound Kiya's arm, then laid her back on a set of pillows. Kar rejoined Isa who had moved to the floor and was now somehow sleeping, head laid against the wall. The young girl Caroline had snuck back down the stairs and crouched on one of the top steps while staring intently at Kar's sister. Kar waved at her, and she froze for a moment, then darted back up and out of sight without making a sound.
Kar chuckled, then looked back toward what Morrow was doing. He sat on a stool of his own that he'd set next to Kiya's bedside, hands placed on his patient as he did something that radiated power. He moved them from place to place on her, and Kar was amazed to see her visible bruises change color and fade away wherever he touched. Soon Kiya was snoring lightly and Morrow stood up, looking exhausted.
He stepped over to Kar and offered his hand in greeting. Kar took it hesitantly and shook, "I'm Kar." he said. Then motioned to his sleeping sister, "And this is Isa."
"Morrow. I would say I'm pleased to have you, but I suspect you're not here by choice?"
Kar nodded guardedly, not sure what to make of Morrow.
"My daughter and I were taken a little over two years ago from our homestead not far from here, so I may understand some of what you're feeling. Do you have family?"
"Yes… though I—I don't know whether they're alright or not." Kar said, thinking of Nat and wondering what had happened to the rest of those in the caravan.
Morrow nodded sympathetically, "We'll just have to hope for the best. In the meantime, let's get you two situated for the night, you look exhausted. You must have had a tough time getting here."
Kar nodded in appreciation but couldn't help but ask, "What were you doing, earlier, to her? Can you heal people?"
"Oh, that. It's… an aspect of my ability as an Imbuer. How much do you know about Focusing and Energía?"
Kar shook his head side to side, "Almost nothing. We grew up pretty far from here." On a whim, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the shard there, "I've been sick as long as I can remember, but we could never figure out why. This made my sickness go away, though."
Morrow's eyes lit up with enthusiasm, he stepped over to one of the nearby workbenches piled high with objects and grabbed a shard similar to the one Kar had.
"So these," He said, "are called Cryst Shards. How did you come by yours?"
"A family friend brought one back with him when he returned to our hometown. He had come here to Iridess a while back to check out all the rumors we'd heard about the City. I guess he got a hold of some of these while he was here."
"Did he tell you how exactly?"
"No, he didn't mention it. He can do that stuff though, like you all do, the—the focusing. Aldwin's the one who fought Kiya and gave her those injuries, but I think he might have gotten hurt too because he—he didn't come back to rescue us…" Kar trailed off, realizing all of this as he spoke.
Morrow nodded solemnly, "Well, if he was able to go toe to toe with Kiya, then that means he's a powerful Adept," Kar made a confused expression, and Morrow clarified, "That's what we call those who can Focus; people who can sense and use Energía. This, Aldwin, yes? Well, I'm sure he's alright, it takes a lot to bring powerful Adepts like them down. In fact, if he brought you shards like this, that means he's probably a hunter for one of the other Guilds."
"Aldwin doesn't really know how to hunt…" Kar responded.
Morrow laughed, "Not a regular hunter, I mean an Adept who hunts cryst-beasts. It takes the best Focusers to take down and harvest shards inside cryst-beasts, and that's really the only way we get shards."
"Oh, ok," Kar said, thinking it over, "But why wouldn't he come back for us if he was able to hurt Kiya?"
"Well that I don't know, could be he got injured, Just as likely though, in battling against Kiya he ran low on stores of Energía and couldn't keep going. Human bodies can only hold so much you see, and these shards," Morrow said while hefting one of them, "are how we renew our stores of Energía, but we can't draw on the shards to create Focusings directly, and it takes time to recuperate our personal reserves after we've used them up, or they run low."
Kar mulled all of that over, considering the implications.
"So Isa and I are… Adepts too? Does that mean we can learn to create Focusings like all of you can too?"
"It all depends, likely though, yes. If Destry sent you to me, then that means he wants to put you two to work. Which means I'll need to train you. We'll start tomorrow after you've had some rest."
Morrow brought down more pillows and blankets, and Kar helped Isa to one of the beds along the back wall. They took the two furthest away from Kiya. Morrow had told him that his workshop doubled as an infirmary when needed, which is why all the beds were set up like this.
Long after Morrow had turned out the lights, Kar laid there thinking about all the man had told him. He recalled Aldwin flying through the air; Kiya and her streams of fire. Was it possible he could do things like that? Then he remembered what the Governor, Destry had said about Kar when examining him. How had he phrased it? That he'd never seen someone with such a weak connection before. For some reason that thought troubled Kar. He'd been weak all his life, and he was tired of it. He finally drifted off to sleep and dreamed of flying between the ruined towers of Iridess…