WARNING: UPSETTING CONTENT.
Mentions of death, bereavement, grief, isolation.

Worried that Makoto would overwork themselves again, Oren suggested a private training session to see if Makoto had mastered the Soul Searcher yet.

The young man hauled a box of water bottles to the Training Grounds, a strained smile appearing on his face when he saw Makoto waiting by a tree.

"Oh, here, let me help with that", said Makoto, jogging over to Oren.
They grabbed one side of the box, before shuffling backwards.

"You didn't need to do that."

"It's no problem.
If you don't mind me asking, why have you got so many water bottles?"

The pair placed the box on the ground, with Oren propping it up against the tree trunk.

"Well, sometimes the Soul Searcher can get too intense, and a recommended trick to help with that is to practise touching a box instead of the ground."

"But I thought it only worked on the ground?"

"Well, more experienced people can touch any surroundings, but yes, it wouldn't work on a box.
Not this early in your training anyway.
But the sensations can be very overwhelming, so practising on a box will help you focus your mind on a single sensation, and then when you touch the ground, your mind would be accustomed to focusing on one sensation, making it less overwhelming", explained Oren.

Makoto understood what Oren was trying to say, but a small part of them was still hesitant.
What if they just weren't cut out for this?

"Oren... is it possible that you got it wrong? That my core energy, or whatever you called it... isn't that strong?"

Oren's face softened, and they gave Makoto a sympathetic smile.
He gestured to the ground, before sitting down and waiting for Makoto to do the same.

"Energy like yours... you can't miss it.
I felt it long before I told you what the Soul Searcher technique was."

"Wh-you did?
But how did you sense it when I hadn't even heard of the technique before, let alone tried it?"

Oren shook his head.

"Not that energy.
Have you heard of soul sparks?"

Makoto shook their head.

"Years ago, a scholar from another village observed a poor family, consisting of a mother, two daughters and a son.
The scholar himself was actually quite cruel.
He stripped them of their land and took away what little food they had.
He estimated that they'd be dead within a month", explained Oren.

"That's horrible!"

Oren nodded in agreement.

"Her son was the youngest, and died within a week.
One of her daughter's fell ill shortly after. The scholar thought he'd seen all he needed to, but then something extraordinary happened."

Their curiosity peaked, Makoto leaned forward, completely enthralled by the story.

"Despite grieving for her son, and worrying about her daughter, she foraged for food and begged for money every minute of every day.
She ignored her own hunger.
Her daughter succumbed to her illness a few days later.
What the scholar didn't know, was that
the mother spent every day visiting villagers to ask for a job and a place to stay.
A kind man offered her a home, but she had grown very weak.
Every morcel of food she found, she gave to her daughter.
Even though she knew that she needed to eat, she gave the last of the food and water to her daughter, before sending her away to live with the man.
The mother died two days later."

Makoto felt the blood rush to their head, and the sound became muffled.
It only lasted for a few seconds, but in those seconds, they felt the mother's death as if it were their own mother's.

"The man had food.
Plenty of it.
But she chose to feed her baby.
The events deeply impacted the scholar, and he came up with the theory of soul sparks. Soul sparks are essentially pieces of a person's soul that are so strong, that they are felt by others.
Pure, unfiltered kindness—the kind that doesn't just come from random acts people do to make themselves feel better, is the kind of trait that creates soul sparks.
When you do things for others, without the expectation of a reward, your soul's energy is at its strongest, which creates the sparks."

Makoto was at a loss for words.
The theory sounded wonderful, and the idea that such a powerful thing could be born from heart-wrenching pain was an intriguing one.

"Wow... I can't believe I've never heard of soul sparks before."

"It's got no real scientific data to back it up. It's just something that came about from Plurg's agricultural days... but I believe it."

"What about the others?
Can you feel theirs?"

Oren shook his head.
"No.
That doesn't mean they aren't kind-hearted people though.
In fact, I've only ever felt it with one other person."

"Who?"

Oren looked at the ground, suddenly becoming self-conscious.
He quickly shook his head.

"It's not–"

"I won't judge you.
I promise."

Oren looked back to Makoto, holding their gaze for a few seconds.
He exhaled sharply, before nodding.

"There was a girl I liked once.
She had this energy that was so welcoming, and you couldn't help but feel safe in her presence.
I thought I just felt like that because I liked her, but Calihan told me about soul sparks, and that's when I started to think that that's what I felt."

"Did you ever tell her how you felt?"

Oren shook his head.
"No, it would make things too awkward."

"Oh, she goes here?", questioned a surprised Makoto.
"Is it someone I know?"

Oren nodded.

"Would you feel comfortable telling me her name?"

Makoto expected to see some hesitation, but Oren shook his head immediately. 
Oren really didn't want anyone to know about them.

"Sorry, there are some things I want to keep to myself."

"Oh!
Of course, no, I get that.
Sorry for overstepping."

"It's alright."

"Well, whoever she is, if there's still a small part of you that likes her, I hope she feels the same way."

★★★

Things were still frosty between Astra and Sophia.
Astra wanted to talk things out, but Sophia wanted to be alone.
What's worse was that she was starting to feel the pressure of her future career prospects, the mission, and her personal relationships, and the one person she needed... was the same person that couldn't stand to be in the same room as her.

After Sophia, Oren would be the next person Astra confided in, but he had been trying to spend more time with Alessa.
Astra loved that they were trying to mend their friendship, but she felt more alone than ever before.
Imelda seemed distant, and even Finian used his spare time to plan his lessons, instead of hang out with the others.

It just felt like everything in Astra's life was falling apart.

"Hey, Astra", said Rhiannon.

Astra was staring at a random tree in the Training Grounds.
Rhiannon assumed she was checking it for research purposes, but when she saw the blank expression on Astra's face, she knew something was up.

"Hmm?
Oh.
Hey.
Sorry, did you need help with something?"

Rhiannon shook her head.
"No, just came to check up on you."

"Check up on me?
Why?"

Rhiannon shrugged.
"I don't know, does there have to be a reason?"

Astra studied the expression on Rhiannon's face.
She didn't look like she was acting.
And why would she?
In the short time Astra had known her, she could see that Rhiannon valued honesty and integrity.

She smiled at Rhiannon, a chuckle escaping her lips.

"You're a real sweetheart, do you know that?"

Rhiannon grinned.
"Thanks.
But really, do you wanna talk about anything?"

Astra sighed.
"Maybe another time."

Rhiannon frowned, but didn't push her further.
"Alright.
I'll leave you to your tree watching.
But let me know if you want some company next time."

★★★

Ashryn had spent the morning quizzing Sophia on all things related to Calista's Marks.
She knew Sophia would be more than happy to help, and the added bonus of Sophia thinking the pair were bonding would no doubt prove useful in the future. She headed to the flower garden, hoping to get there at a time where there weren't too many people. 

She watched some of the agents walk around, huddled up in groups and going about their days as if nothing was wrong. Ashryn wondered what would happen if she just shouted then and there.
If she shouted out the truth about what the agency did to her family.
About the lie their precious Aoife told. Maybe then they'd stop smiling and walking around like their lives are so perfect. Ashryn hated it.
Her entire family—gone.
Just like that.
Their deaths went unnoticed by the world. No funeral.
Their bodies were probably thrown in a hole somewhere. 

The anger bubbled away inside of her, slowly eating away at her.
Her eyes widened when she looked ahead at the Calista's Marks' section of the flower garden.
Right beside them, with a watering bucket and nutrient pack in hand, was Faizah.

Of course. 

All roads lead to her. 

Her files, how protective everyone was of her, and now this.
She wasn't sure how or even why, but Ashryn just got the gut feeling that Faizah was involved in her family's death. 

She had to be. 

And now she had to f*cking pay.

- - - - - -

Hi.

I love Oren and Makoto's interactions. I would love to hear your thoughts on the soul sparks theory. I definitely feel like I could've worded it better, as the explanation is a little long-winded, but I didn't want to just delete that part, because I felt it was important to keep. Not necessarily for the plot, but for the character analysis/development. The other agent Oren mentioned was actually Faizah. I thought it was an interesting comparison between showing Oren's views of Faizah and Ashryn's. 

Do you have any theories about anything or things you'd like to see? I'm curious to know.

Astra and Rhiannon was a friendship I had started to build up at the start of the book, but haven't really explored much. We'll be seeing more of their friendship soon though.

Ashryn is definitely acting a little irrationally here, but grieving people aren't always rational thinkers. I'm really interested to see how you all respond to Ashryn's actions moving forward. 

I've got a little bit of free time, so was able to write this, and about 75% of the next chapter. I might publish the next chapter when it's done, or hold on to it until next week. Would you prefer to wait a week or read it as soon as it's done?

What are your thoughts on this chapter? 

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

ruesbennett

SoniczurcX

bardsarethebest