Wizardness

For Fist Epsilon, their 5th day was the first day that felt like they actually might find a routine. It was the same as the day before, well, same exercise, anyway. They ran, they did strange practice with their melee weapons, they ate, they practiced their ranged weapons, they joined the pitched battle, they ran, ate, and finally slept.
Day 6 was the same. Exactly the same. Though they did manage to save more of the Blue fighters than either days 4 or 5. They also managed to do a review of their barracks they were designing.
Day 7, Lee ordered them to rest. A full day of rest. Tobias didn’t know what to do with himself. He still woke when he normally did. He grabbed his weapons and went for a walk. He let the rest of the fist rest. They needed it. By the dirt and damp, he needed it, but this spark of his wouldn’t let him have it.
This morning, the island felt more like it belonged on an alpine range rather than in the bay of the White’s Ferry. Tobias found a new path, it looked like it headed towards the summit rather than around it. He headed that direction.
Draganvil said suddenly.
“Oh yea?”
chimed in Silverthorn.
Draganvil said.
“What makes you say that?” Tobias continued, “Oh, maybe, one of these other futures, my flight came from a place where my father didn’t abandon mother and me?”

Tobias stopped. He stared at the path ahead, eye’s sightless. “What do you mean? I’m in a happy loving home and I get the most brutal weapon on the wall?”
Tobias heard a call behind him. He glanced down the hill. He waved at the two figures below and set off to meet them. He met them farther down the hill than they had come up the hill. It was Plain and Giggles.
“Glad we caught you, Lee wants us to review the barracks plan today over breakfast and to start planning construction.” Giggles said.
“Thought we had a rest day.”
“He said rest body, not mind.” Plain said.
“Ah. Well, I was getting hungry anyway. Shall we?” He gestured back to the barracks.
Tobias sat with his plate, it was overflowing with eggs, sausages, and breads. He had a big mug of coffee in this other hand. He sat heavily. A wave of exhaustion washed over him. His right shoulder hurt and he could feel a tension headache forming. Even his jaw hurt, as if he ground his teeth all night.
He ate quickly. He ate the eggs first, since he found they made his coffee taste off if he ate them last. As he finished, Commander Lee arrived with their barrack’s design. Tobias lounged as he reviewed them with the Fist. He had trouble focusing on the conversation. His mind continually wandered back to the conversation with his weapons.
Did he have other lives where he grew up in a happy house hold. He glanced at Plain, were there lives where his mother lived? Was there a time when Giggles didn’t have the echos?
Tobias let the thoughts bounce around his head. He massaged his jaw, then his neck, then his shoulders while the conversation went on around him. It’s not that he wasn’t interested. Ok, if he was being honest with himself it was because he wasn’t completely interested.
“Tobias, I’d like you to create a plan for when we will need to bring in experts to do things like plumbing, roofing, windows, and landscaping.” Lee said pointedly, cutting through the noise.
Tobias lowered his arm and cleared his throat. “Sure, sir. I’ll work with the fist to come up with that timing plan.”
Red shook her head at him. He got nudged from Plain, “Pay attention, order boy.”
“Are we boring you, order boy?” Lee asked.
“I’m sorry sir. I was thinking about the conversation I’d just had with my weapons, before rejoining the Fist.”
“Well, yes, I’m sure a maul is a fascinating conversationalist, but this is a critical discussion.”
“But you already knew what the plan would be, don’t you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Giggles’ echos are real. This is the 500th time we’ve had this conversation, isn’t it?”
“By the Stars, what do you mean by that?”
“Silverthorn told me, that I’ve had different pasts. That when my mother and father, who was a Good God Damn and used Silverthorn, stayed together, I wasn’t chosen by Draganvil, I was chosen by Red’s sword.”
Red’s head snapped to look at him. “What?”
“Look, Order Boy,” Lee responded derisively, “What matters is now. This time. This meeting right now. We cannot worry ourselves with these echos. We will lose. This war. We must end it with you. I was told that you would end the war. Now, let’s get focused on these barracks.”
Tobias fell back into his chair, “So, this time, we’re supposed to do it.”
“FUCK!” Lee cried. “The earliest yet.”
“Our arrow flights ARE being directed.”
Tobias suddenly saw a flair. He felt a pressure, then the webbing between him and the rest of the fist appeared. It’d been a few days since he’d seen it last.
There was a tenuous line between Lee and each of the fist member. Tobias could see Lee was pushing something from his spark into it. Tobias’ thread wasn’t the thickest of the connections between the fist members. In many cases, like Red and Raven, it was thicker between fist members. However, each fist member was tied to Tobias much stronger than to Lee.
Tobias saw the threat then, a wave of pressure flowed down his thread to Lee. Tobias tried to send a wave back against Lee. It was a small ripple and it bounced off what Lee was sending towards him.
Despite the minor impact, Lee glanced sharply at Tobias and concentrated.
“Why is Commander Lee staring at you so, Order Boy?” Plain asked.
“He is trying to dominate us.” Tobias sent another stronger wave. When the wave bounced back, he saw the thread stretch, and thin.
Lee’s wave flooded back into the gap, stunning Tobias. Tobias grinned.
“Why the smile boy?”
Tobias took a deep breath and thought of the river in his dream. The surge of flood water that forced him towards Sam’s father. He imagined that flowing down the thread at Lee.
Lee was ready this time and pushed forward at Tobias. Tobias used the momentum to pull back. To constrict the thread. He pulled and pulled, thinning the thread. Then he image it popping.
Tobias flew backwards. His head thudded like a helmeted head on the stone floor behind him. His chair cracked. He found himself under the buffet table.
Tobias felt a giant hand on his foot. He was quickly pulled from under the table. Plain helped him up.
Raven was crouched over Lee. She was obviously healing him.
“Was that you or him?” Plain asked.
“I think it was me. He attacked me and I, I cut our connection.”
“We all felt it.” Giggles said. “This, this is new. I’ve never seen this in an Echo.”
“Fuck. I just assaulted a superior officer.” Tobias muttered.
Soon, Lee was seated. His collar was coated in a quickly drying blood. Flakes of dried blood fell from his ears. Blood dried on the stone floor.
Tobias placed a plate of food in front of Lee. “You’ll be hungry soon enough.”
“Do you know what you’ve done? DO YOU?” Lee demanded.
“I stopped you from dominating me.”
“No. You snuffed it. You snuffed my spark.” Lee stared at his plate. “It’s gone. He destroyed it. It’s gone.”
Raven touched him. Lee flinched. “It’s gone. Ronlique, it’s gone.”
Raven started, “Sir, I can still feel it’s there.”
“Ronlique, it’s gone. Not even you can heal this.” Tears rolled down his face.
“I’ll put together that plan for you sir.” Tobias said. He patted the man on the back and left the barracks.