The more time Samina spent within the cave system, the more she didnât like it because really, what were the chances that, with the kidnapper getting turned around and her own failure to properly follow their trail of aether, they would end up in a place like this? Even more than that, what were the chances that Luxâs kidnapper would stick to their parallel tunnels, despite their claimsâin thick and warbling Jinkaiden and to no one in particular, as Lux was still out coldâthat they had seen nothing like the latticework of rocks and ores that separated their two tunnels. Who didnât turn around or try another path when lost? This person, apparently.
If they didnât remember passing something so beautiful, there was little to no chance they had done so. People could be obtuse and unobservant, sure, but not seeing something as stunning as the wall that separated them was impossible. Samina
might
have thought the wall simply not as breathtaking on the kidnapperâs side, but she had managed to work her way a little ahead of the kidnapper by the time they first caught sight of it. Having stopped to examine the wallâas well as run a test of whether she could use {Hidey Hole} to get through it if neededâshe had seen them stop. As covered as their face was, their deep purple eyes had still been visible, the shock and awe written clear through them before theyâd gotten moving again.
Fortunately, Samina had been fast enough to hide herself low to the ground, attempting to not be spotted by them. Beautiful things, she thought, were great for acting as barriers, something several of the people in their class had always been great at making use ofâ
Well, perhaps not
always
. Emilia, she was sure, had tried to deny her attractiveness for some of their youth. Samina couldnât blame herâthey all knew the sorts of things that
beauty
brought to a personâs doorstep, even when they were a child, and especially when they were a silverstrain. Her childhood friend had grown into owning her beauty, howeverâand really, considering the girl struggled to look her age, it was likely that, by the time she actually did consistently look like an adult, she would somehow have managed to be even more breathtaking.
As breathtaking as the winding rock and ore that ran alongside her, Samina was sure.
Was she a little in love with her friend? Definitely, but only a little. Emilia, for as much as Samina could tell, had little interest in other girls. Plus, her childhood friend was
far
too much like her own brother and Samina wasnât a masochist. Being with someone who had that much spontaneous chaos inside them wasnât for herâshe would content herself to enjoying it from the side, then slinking away when it became too much, thanks.
Regardless of all that, there was no way the kidnapperâs first sight of the wall hadnât been when they turned that corner. So why were they barely glancing at any of the crossroads they came to? Instead, despite their swearing and complaints, they seemed perfectly content to stay on this path, their steps so purposeful that it gave the impression they were being dragged along by an invisible leash.
Some unseen owner, dragging along a naughty pet, despite their yowls of complaint.
It was both strange and off-puttingâafter all, they were a living, breathing human who
could
decide they had missed the path they were supposed to take. They
could
turn back, and yet, they werenât, and while some people were so stupid they didnât have the sense to do such sensible things, that didnât seem to be the case with this person, something in their movements and energyâŠ
wrong
in a way Samina wasnât sure how to describe. Combined with the reality that this oddly unique set of tunnels was where they had ended up in the first place, it all seemed like
too much.
Coincidences happened, but this seemed a little
too
unlikelyâit was the sort of coincidence that left her itchy and wondering just how, exactly, such things came to be.
Perhaps it was simply the result of having read so many reports from the branch families who lived in the Free Colonies: her mind was filled full with facts about local beliefs in the
will of the aether
, and this sort of situation. This seemed exactly the sort of incomprehensible, unlikely coincidence that led so many of their continentâs nations to hold far more belief that the aether had some sort of personality or ability to purposefully manipulate the world than Baalphorians had, and Samina didnât like it, even if this particular coincidence was something that was working for her.
It was just⊠it wasnât a good feeling, was all. If the aether could manipulate peopleâcould urge them to move this way or that through the world, could influence their decisions and wants and desiresâthen were they simply beholden to it?
Samina wasnât the submissive sort, and that potential for a lack of control irked her. Oddly enough, Levi
was
the submissive sortâsomething that she had unfortunately learned after walking in on him having sex
more than once!
Seriously, while her brother had always been open with his sexualityâhe was by far the first person in their friend group to both express interest in anything sex and the first person to have sex by a good two yearsâshe needed him to
lock the fucking door!
Seriously, after almost twenty years of wandering in on him letting men do some of those things to him, Samina would accept him just messaging her to say he was having an orgy at their house. Did she need to know her twin had a lineup of men assembling at their house to fuck him silly? No. Did she need to know that sometimes he and Emilia picked up as many bisexual clones as they could to have fun withâagain, in
her and Leviâs childhood house?
Also no, but knowing in the most passive and theoretical of ways was infinitely better than
walking in on it!?
The problem with having workaholic parents, she often thought, was the lack of oversight they had generally taken in their upbringing. Her and Leviâs fathers werenât
bad
parents, but they were rarely around⊠and she wasnât convinced they even knew Levi had been having sex all through their house since he was a young teenager. Really, they might not even careâit wasnât like he had to worry about accidentally creating a child the way Emilia did, after all.
Emiliaâs mother had taken her to get a birth control implant long before sheâd become sexual active. It hadnât been a reprimand of her genetics; rather, it had been an acceptance of what Emilia was. They all knew she would eventually become someone who loved sex, and her parents hadnât wanted her to worry about whether she was ready to have sex in more than the most basic of
am I mentally ready
sort of ways. That was nice, especially since Samina herself had needed to go to the clinic by herself and ask for oneânot that sheâd ever had to make use of it.
All of Saminaâs friends were beautiful, but sheâd never really looked at any of them as someone she
wanted
to take to bed. Perhaps, in the womb, Levi had taken all of their sexual energyâthe aether itself knew that he had enough for both of them⊠and then some.
That thoughtâthat dichotomy between her and her twinâbrought her back to the other problem she was having as she crept through the tunnels. As she spent more time in this place, Samina was becoming increasingly convinced the place was just⊠oddâunique in a way that was annoyingly because she had nothing more substantial to connect the experience or the feeling or it to.
Everything was simultaneously so full and empty of aether here. The rock brimmed with it, feeling almost as though someone had packed far too much aether into a too small space. At the same time, the air itself seemed⊠not quite
lacking
aetherâthat was impossible, as far as she knew. Instead, it were as though the aether that existed outside of the rockâthat existed in the negative space of itâwas less condensed.
It was more wispy, more fractured. It was slower to respond, weaker when it caressed her back on the occasions she reached out to touch it.
All that said, it was a barely there thingâthe sort of thing that all of them had overlooked, perhaps too concerned with the creepiness of the cave system, the loss of their communication methods, and then the attack. Fuck, whenever they were back together, she wasnât even sure that anyone would be able to tell her if they noticed their skills being a little laggy within the cave system. Even Halen might not have noticed because while it was something that was there, it was so very subtle.
Now that sheâd had time to just exist within itâto be silent as she crept along, only her mind and body to keep her companyâhowever, she could feel it, and it was⊠odd. It wasnât exactly bad, per se. Wasnât nice either, and in some places it was far worseâeverything slower and yet⊠there was also
something else.
It wasnât something she could put into words, nor something her contacts or Censor had been able to tell her the source of. If she had to try, howeverâand Samina knew that if she ever brought this feeling up to Emilia, her friend would be forcing as much detail out of her as possibleâshe would say that aether felt as though it were moving at two different speeds in some places. It had left her feeling nauseous, her mind and body unable to shake the feeling that she had just moved through a battlefield.
Something blistering and toxic, despite how
soft
it had beenâlike two parents, trying to get a child to sleep in completely different ways. One parent, attempting to rock their child to sleepâa soothing presence that was slow and mellow. Their nervous system was relaxed, pulling their child down, down, down until what option did that child have but to let their eyes flutter shut, their mind shutting off as they let sleep come. Then, there was the other parent, attempting to run their child out of energyâtrying to burn them into an exhausted sleep. Their body running and running and playing until, finally, they crashed.
Two parents, fighting for control.
Two aethers, fighting for dominance.
It was terrible, and despite only having crawled through it a few times as she moved, Samina couldnât shake the feeling of wrongnessâof
otherness
âfrom her.
It was one of those things that Emilia would loveâBaylor was well, with his obsession with myths and such things. She would tell the other triplets as well, of courseâthere was no reason not to. There was no reason not to tell Halen as well, because much like her brother was fond of claiming he wasnât stupid, neither was Samina. Halen was a genius, and with something that felt this
off
, there was no way she wouldnât at least give him all the information she had for him to consider.
This all put her in an odd position: Samina
definitely
didnât want to run into sections of the cave system that felt like that again, yet, she also knew she should get more informationâshould make sure to go back and sit in the chaos of those places and record as much information as possible because while she had recorded the locations, who was to say those strange pockets would exist in the same places later? Who was to say they wouldnât move and shift, potentially never to be found again?
Perhaps, if they were anomalies, there was nothing to worry about.
Samina was worried. It wasnât a worry she could explain through anything other than gut instinct, however.
Something about those places had been wrong, and someone needed to figure out
why
they were wrong. Unfortunately, she had a feeling it was going to end up being her. Not now, however.
Right now, she needed to get to Luxâneeded to figure out whether to let Lux be taken further by the person or whether to wait for her two wake, in order to make running away easier. Weird aether things could wait, because really? If the weird aether thing was going to end the world
right now
, there was little she could do to stop it anyways. Better to focus on the things she could do, and getting Lux back from the seemingly random person who had kidnapped her was at the top of the list.