The rest of the afternoon passed in what felt like a few blinks as everyone moved from one task to another. Pax was both exhausted and invigorated as they continued to make progress untangling the puzzle of the unawakened.

  They even had time before dinner to visit the children’s quarters to catch a few more kids to work with. The more he examined it, the better he felt the difference between various children’s mana under the influence of his light.

  Kai was more than happy to see them, excited to help with anything that might get him and his new friends awakened sooner. The change in the normally sullen boy had surprised Pax. He’d relaxed a bit on their trip across the Wilds, but now had an amiable smile and close friends that looked like a new crew.

  It seemed unlimited food and freedom from persecution were the magic recipe for a miraculous change in any street kid. It made Pax’s irritation with the rebellion leaders ease some. At least, they’d created a place where those at the bottom of society could find hope again. Now, they needed to do that for the entire empire.

  The thought made Pax pause for a moment and wonder when his goals had shifted to becoming a hero who tried to save everyone, even strangers? When he took a break to Meditate and regenerate mana, Pax used the moment for a bit of self-reflection.

  Looking back, Pax felt selfish for his earlier goals to only take care of himself and his own crew. Gradually, that circle of who he wanted to help had grown to include many others.

  But every street kid in the empire? Pax couldn’t help shaking his head. He couldn’t deny that was how he felt now. It was such an odd sense to examine the narrow piece of the world he’d cared about months ago compared to his view now.

  Still, his current goals to topple the empire and be a significant influence in the new government they planned to install weren’t as different from his original narrow goals as they seemed at first. He’d just learned how much the state of the rest of the world would affect his small piece of it. As the empire continued to fail against the swelling beast hordes, they put everyone’s survival at risk.

  He felt more comfortable with his goals after reconciling what had seemed like a drastic change in goals, but wasn’t. The break re-energized him for the next hour of working with as many kids as were willing before they all had to head to dinner. Rin filled almost an entire notebook with their findings and, by the end, they could all see various repeating patterns. It was no surprise there were five distinct types of groupings.

  Pax wanted to talk to Incedis and especially the four managers about what he’d found. Kai had been the one to knock their blinders off with an offhand question whether the idea to attempt awakening the kids had come from something they’d found in the ruins.

  Pax and his friends had stared at each other in consternation, realizing they’d let Pax’s habit of independent innovation blind them to asking for help from those most likely to know more about the process.

  When Pax checked in with the altar before bed tonight, he planned to pick the brains of all four managers for everything they knew about exactly how light mages were involved in Awakenings during ancient times. Hopefully, the answers would help.

  Dinner was another hurried, but excited affair, as everyone shared their progress during the long day. Pax grinned at how much they were achieving with everyone working together. Some of the Team Tribal warriors had even begun putting together tentative scouting teams for when Pax negotiated, or just demanded, approval to finish clearing the ruins.

  Now, though, he had one very important thing to do after dinner that made his insides churn with both excitement and worry. Pax used the final bite of the hearty slice of bread on his plate to sop up the last bit of spicy soup still in the bottom of his bowl before shoving it into his mouth. When he finished chewing, he looked over to find his brother already done and waiting for him.

  “Is it time?” Pax asked.

  Titus nodded without saying anything. Pax turned to look at the remains of his crew who were also mostly done eating.

  “Do you want any of us to come with?” Rin asked quietly.

  “We’re happy to.” Amil looked serious for once. “We can even sit quietly and not say anything if it would help to have us there for support.”

  Bryn, Tasar and Dahni all nodded their agreement. Crissim and Titus’ warriors looked just as willing to help.

  Their support brought a half smile to Pax’s face and pushed aside some of his nerves. But still, he shook his head. “Mistress Harkness already got miffed at us missing last night. And she said Jane doesn’t react well to disruptions of her routine. Even though it might help speed up the cleaning if all of you trooped back with us to help close up the kitchen, I’m pretty sure that would be a lot more disruptive to Jane than just the two of us.”

  Their friends looked like they’d expected the news. With wishes of good luck, they quickly finished up their meals, cleaned up and left the dining hall. It was only a few minutes later when Titus and Pax looked at each other before wordlessly pushing through the swinging doors to enter the kitchen.

  The active bustle of the large space made Pax stop in surprise at the extreme contrast to the quiet of the dining hall behind them, winding down for the night. Steam billowed out from a long row of sinks where workers pushed dishes in and out, stacking the hot and clean ones on a neighboring table.

  A crazy mix of smells hit them too, a mix of tantalizing aromas with an underlying bite of cleaning soaps. Pax had a hard time parsing out what everyone was doing. The cleaning of dishes was obvious. But it looked as if there were workers still cutting up food even though there wouldn’t be any new food cooked until tomorrow.

  “So, you actually showed up tonight?” Mistress Harkness aimed a scowl at them.

  “How can we help?” Titus asked as he and Pax adopted their most pleasant looks.

  She gave them a slow once over, before finally giving a reluctant nod and marching toward them with a mop in one hand and a broom in the other. “Don’t just stand there. Go help Jane get the floor cleaned up out there.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Pax’s brows rose as he shot a glance over his shoulder at the swinging doors. “Out there?”

  “Just as I expected.” Harkness’ tone was clipped. “You thought you could hide back here and pretend to help out, but as soon as there’s a chance your friends will see you doing worker jobs, you balk.”

  Titus and Pax exchanged a look before they both laughed.

  “This isn’t some kind of game.” Harkness’ frown deepened as she pointed with the broom at the door. “Get out and this time, don’t bother coming back.”

  “No. I’m sorry.” Pax wiped his smile away and hurried to explain. “We’re sorry, but it’s just funny that you’d think either of us would be embarrassed to be seen doing working jobs. We’re both street rat orphans. Remember?”

  She hesitated, suddenly unsure. “I still see a mage and warrior with a lot more authority than me anywhere except in this kitchen.”

  “Well, we see the woman who saved the life of our mother.” Titus’ voice was soft and full of obvious gratitude.

  “Who is willing to help us try to get her back.” Pax gave her a conciliatory shrug. “Besides, street rats like us have no pride to be injured.”

  “Then why don’t you want to go out there to sweep and mop?”

  “I just thought that Jane might feel uncomfortable opening up to us if we were in a more public setting.” Pax hoped his reason made sense to her.

  She looked at the two of them for a moment before relaxing with a subtle motion. Then she shoved the broom and mop at them. “She never says much at all, whether it’s out there or in here. You’re just doing this, so she gets used to you being nearby. If she’s going to speak at all, that’ll happen when we get her back to her quarters. Now get busy. I’ll send her out in a minute.”

  “Makes sense.” Titus quickly took the broom, leaving Pax to glare at him as he got stuck with the mop.

  “Make sure you grab a cleaning bucket over by the sink.” Harkness pointed. “And flip the chairs up onto the tables before you start.”

  Pax nodded quickly, but Harkness had already turned and stepped back into the bustle of the kitchen.

  Pax actually found himself enjoying the work. The dining hall had cleared out, and he and his brother made quick work of stacking the chairs onto the tables. They fell into a companionable silence with the light manual labor. It wasn’t long before he was following his brother’s sweeping efforts with his mop.

  All of it was simple work where Pax could see visible progress, and the fate of the empire wasn’t hanging in the balance. Maybe he should forget all the magic stuff and work in the kitchen instead.

  When Jane joined them a few minutes later, she carried a wide dry mop to follow their efforts and sop up any remaining water. Both Pax and Titus stiffened, their easy movements stilted for a few long moments, as they snuck glances at their mother working nearby. Pax’s heart ached at the familiar lines of her movement, though they were slower and less fluid than he remembered from when he was younger.

  Thankfully, she seemed to focus completely on her work and barely acknowledged their existence. She moved in perfectly measured movements that overlapped each other enough to never miss a spot.

  “Good work, Plucky Pax.”

  Pax froze at the whispered words Jane said as the two of them crossed paths.

  She, in contrast, kept moving and dry mopping as if she hadn’t said a thing. Pax glanced over at Titus, who’d also stopped to stare wide-eyed at their mother. He waved a hand at Pax, silently urging him to respond.

  Pax moved further into his mother’s path as she came back around. “Thank you, Mama.” He said it clearly so she couldn’t miss it and tried to keep his voice light and high-pitched, as close to how he thought he sounded as a child.

  She paused for a moment, giving him and his mop a quizzical glance before aiming the same one toward Titus. When Pax saw her confusion, he knew he shouldn’t push. “The two of us are brothers. We’re new and going to help out with kitchen cleanup in the evenings. Let us know if we mess up, or if you’d like us to do anything else to help.”

  Her confusion cleared a moment later, and she gave them an acknowledging nod before moving back to her work. Pax looked over to see what Titus thought. His brother just gave him a resigned shrug before returning to his sweeping.

  Pax nodded and got busy mopping again. He tried to ignore the sudden flood of memories of how his mother used to be. He’d known they needed to be patient, but he hadn’t thought it would be this hard.

  ***

  After they helped Harkness load the meal prep for the next day’s meals into the cooling containers and shut down the kitchen for the night, Pax was more than ready to see what would come of some private time with their mother.

  When they made it to the wing of rooms the workers lived in and followed Jane into hers, he exchanged a worried look with Titus at what they found. It was almost completely bare. A simple bed stood against one wall with bland, gray sheets and a single, mostly flat pillow.

  There was an equally plain chest of drawers with a completely empty upper surface. Two simple wooden chairs sat against the opposite wall, not even facing each other. Pax glimpsed a laundry basket under the bed and a few sturdy pairs of shoes.

  They knew the crafters were working overtime to build furnishings for the influx of people in the base, but even the littles had quickly personalized their rooms. They’d tie a bit of decorative string around a bedpost or place a small stone they’d polished in a prominent place on a dresser.

  Jane’s room, by contrast, was completely impersonal. Not a single item anywhere to show who lived there. It could have easily been an empty room waiting for a new occupant.

  Harkness noticed their looks and shrugged. “She likes clean surfaces and bland colors. In the past, I’ve tried to give her something like a colorful pillow case, or a vase of flowers on her dresser. When I’d come back the next day, I’d find it neatly placed just outside her bedroom door. She made a resigned motion around the room. “This is what she likes and how she’s the happiest.”

  Jane had stopped at her bed and turned to look at the three of them standing just inside her bedroom. A small frown creased her forehead, and she seemed to be waiting for them to leave.

  “Jane, these two want to talk to you for a few minutes,” Harkness said.

  Jane’s frown deepened.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll stay here with you, and if you get tired of listening to them, they’ll leave. But they’re going to be coming by in the evenings for the next week. They come from our hometown of Thanhil and want to share memories about it. Is that alright?”

  Pax held his breath as Jane seemed to consider the words before looking their way and giving both of them a once over. Then she shrugged before turning to sit on her bed with a blank but slightly expectant look. Harkness joined her, but kept enough distance between them so they weren’t touching.

  Pax flashed a tentative smile at Titus before they grabbed the two chairs from the other side of the room and placed them across from the two women sitting on the bed. Jane looked briefly uncomfortable. Harkness gave her a single pat of reassurance on one shoulder before shifting away again. That seemed to calm her down.

  Pax drew on his Charisma and Strategist for what was one of the most important encounters in his life right now. He hoped the recent point he’d gained facing off against the committee helped him now. Following his instincts, he decided it was best to start slowly and follow Harkness’ lead. Reminiscing about Thanhil seemed like a good place to start.

  Pax put on a kind smile, kept his voice quiet and used simple words. “Hi Jane. My name is Pax. This is my brother Titus.” He motioned toward his brother sitting quietly and still next to him. “We grew up in Thanhil in a tailor shop with a mama and papa named Kindra and Celis. We haven’t seen them for many years and miss our home. Mistress Harkness said both of you come from Thanhil, too. Would you like to talk with us about our home city?”

  Instead of answering, she looked to Harkness. When she gave Jane a nod, she turned back to the brothers and nodded.

  “What do you miss most about Thanhil?” Titus asked in a voice as soft as Pax’s.

  To their surprise, a sudden smile graced Jane’s face, and she actually spoke. “The food. I miss the food.”

  Pax responded instantly to the familiar smile, feeling like a boy again and reflecting her smile with a bright one of his own. He glanced over to see a gentle smile also on Titus’ face. Maybe they’d make some progress with their mom tonight, after all.

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