Sara nibbled on a biscuit as she sat under Gnarly. For one of the first times since she arrived her attention was not on the tree, but instead the entrance. Time to make my escape. Sara knew the sheer power of the ancient trees in the Upper City would be more than enough to get her link collar off, she just had to get out of the guild. With the cloak that Tess had given her and the small puch of coins for from the job the night before, Sara thought she should have an easy time blending in the Upper City. The only thing left is to get out of the Guild.

She knew Tess would be watching this morning, so she waited for her to make her appearance, and it only took a half a biscuit before Tess was striding towards her through the empty court, new gray cloak fluttering behind. Sara tucked her bag of biscuits under her cloak, not wanting Tess to see that she had asked for extra today to take with her.

"Ugh, relax. Your biscuits are safe." Tess said as she approached.

"Better safe than sorry." Sara replied.

Tess did not go directly to Sara though, and Sara tracked her with her eyes as she went to the small bakery and picked up some tea and cups. Tess brought the tea over to Sara's table and Sara eyed her suspiciously as she sat down. "Feeling better?" Tess asked.

"Not really." Sara said. "Still some minor tremors."

Tess sighed, tapping a finger on the table for a moment. "Alright then. Here, I will trade you a cup of tea for a biscuit." She poured a cup for Sara and pushed it across the table to her.

Sara hesitantly dug a biscuit out of the bag under her cloak and handed the single biscuit across the table to Tess. "Thank you."

"Juko just told me." Tess said, sipping her own cup of tea. "The doctor is in the neighborhood."

No! Too soon! "Really." Sara said flatly, trying to keep the fear off her face. She resisted the urge to bolt immediately and took another sip of her tea.

"Yeah. We should really get your Ka more balanced before he gets here."

"It will balance on its own." Sara said. "Maybe we can just reschedule the appointment for later?"

Tess barked a short laugh. "That is not an option. Why aren't you more excited about being healed anyway."

"I said before that it wasn't necessary, and I meant it." Sara realized that was not much of an excuse, but did not trust Tess enough to give her the truth.

"It is necessary if you ever want to be a Level Four again." Sara didn't respond. All Level Four Movers and Makers had to be registered with the Imperial Army, and Sara was probably still on that list from before her burning. She did not want to know what would happen if they tried to add her again. "Unless you don't want to be a-"

"Just leave me alone alright?" Sara was starting to get frustrated with herself and with everyone else trying to help. The only help I want is getting the cursed collar off! She jumped up to head towards her room, but a wave of dizziness and nausea left her leaning on the tree.

"Stop being so defiant. We're trying to help you." Tess said.

"No, you're not!" Sara wanted to stay calm and get away but her mind was spinning out of control. What is going on? "You want a high level maker! I didn't ask for that. I never asked for it. And I don't want it."

Tess reached out to grab Sara's shoulder. "Sara, let's calm do-"

"You calm down, and let me-!" Tess's hand found Sara's shoulder and a spark flew when they touched, and they both just stared at each other in surprise for a moment.

"What is your problem?" Tess was starting to lose her control as well. "Getting yourelf fixed will make you a better Maker, but you'll also feel better and not have to-"

"I don't want fixing! I want to be left alone!" Sara moved past her before she had a chance to react and stumbled through a run back to her room. She regretted slamming the door as she entered, leaving her head throbbing with its echo. She looked down at her shaking hands. Is this another side effect of the Ka withdrawal?

The echoing throb was still reverberating through her skull when Tess entered the room, thankfully not slamming the door again.

"Sara you need to relax." Sara could see the link chain in her hand.

"No. I don't feel so good." Sara sat down heavily on the bed.

"I know. I had a feeling you would react like this, so I drugged your tea." Tess said lightly.

"Tess!" Tess loomed over her on the bed as Sara fought to keep her eyes open, but eventually Sara lost, and everything went black.

* * * * *

Sara was staring at a wall. "You up yet Sara?" Tess asked.

"Huh? No." Said Sara, trying to reorient herself through a groggy mind. She looked around the room, everyone was staring at her. "What did you do to me?" Lady Juko, Tess and a man Sara assumed was the doctor were arranged around the bed she was in.

"I patched a few holes and let you sleep for a bit." The doctor said. "Oh, and replaced some of your missing Ka." He gestured to Tess. "She filled us in on your rather extreme charging session last night. There was no permanent damage from that, but as for the burning, it appears that will take at least a few sessions to resolve. Most of the damage was above Level Six, so the lower level damage should be reversible."

"It will?" Sara tried to keep herself calm while absorbing the bad news.

The door popped open and Efdi poked her head into the room and whispered, "Lady Juko, Lady Faray, you are needed at the front desk."

"Both of us?" asked Tess.

"Yes." said Efdi. "Concerning a job yesterday it appears." Everyone turned to look at Sara, which made her fear spike.

The doctor said, "Please do not agitate the subject, it is best if she remain relaxed." Juko and Tess gave each other a wordless glance.

"We'll be back soon." Tess said as she and Juko left. Sara laid back against the pillows, trying not to think about what they would be talking about.

"Well, there was some extensive damage centered above the Six Level." The doctor started again.

"Probably near a Ten." Sara said distractedly as she tracked Juko and Tess across the courtyard.

"So there were multiple Movers linked to you at the time then?"

"No, just one."

The doctor raised his eyebrows at this. "A Level Six Mover that can make a sustained pull of near Level Ten is linked with an untested Maker and allowed to pull on the link until the Maker is burned down to a Level Two?"

"Something like that." Sara said flatly. Juko and Tess had made it almost to the office near the entry.

"This was no accident, was it?" That question brought Sara's attention back to the doctor.

"No." Sara met his eyes, challenging him to ask the next question, but he never did.

"Well well." He tapped his stylus on the tablet he was taking notes in. "It appears that this will take at least a few sessions to resolve. Since most of the damage was to the higher levels, I was able to clear out a few of the smaller disturbances on the lower levels today. In a few days you should be able to pull almost up to a Level Four with no issues."

"I will?" Sara tried to keep herself calm. He will betray you! He will put you back in the box!

"Don't get too excited, there is more good news!" The doctor said cheerfully.

"There is?" Sara said warily.

"Yes! It appears that whatever level you were at before, the burning was slow enough and near enough to your natural limit that it did more good than bad. You were probably around a Level Six or so to start, but once we are finished you could potentially be an Eight or even a Nine."

"Wow." From almost-not-a-maker to one of the rarest in the Empire.

"Yes indeed! A self-made Nine, if we do it right. Why if we get the details, we could develop the method for increasing..." Sara did not like how any of that sounded, she was doing her best not to think about the burning at all. There is something else to think about. Escape.

Sara saw the bedpan near her side of the bed. "Do you think I could use the outhouse before they come back?" Sara asked as innocently as she could. "I am still feeling sick."

"Hm? Oh, yes yes. Let me just get this back on you." He said as he quickly snapped the old link collar back on her. "Although you will need new tags..."

Sara was stunned. It was off!?!? Why didn't I check? When Sara had recovered enough of her composure to get out of bed, she headed straight for the door. She grabbed her cloak from the table before exiting through the door, the doctor did not seem to notice, and she went out into the courtyard. She could see the group of people gathered at the front office, so she stole towards the back court, trying to use the tree to keep herself hidden from their view. She looked back once at the group and saw Tess' head focused directly on her, but she did her best to give her a weak smile and kept her pace steady, despite the rush of adrenaline.

I can do this! I will not betray myself! She kept the cloak bundled as she turned fully into the back court. She quickly scanned the perimeter fence for a place to exit, but the fence appeared to be well maintained with no gates. She did notice a gap near where the fence butted against the building. She moved towards the gapas stealthily as possible, looking around for any signs of alarm. The gap was not wide enough for her to fit through, and she cursed the biscuits she had been eating for the past few days. The fence felt taller up close, but Sara thought it was still climbable. She pushed her cloak and coin purse through and took one last look towards the entrance to the back court before clambering up the fence, and recklessly pushing herself over the top. She landed hard on the side of the street, knocking the breathe out of her, but she still picked herself up quickly. She staggered across the street and into an alley, where she collected herself. When she recovered she thought she heard Tess calling her name from the gated courtyard and moved further into the alley, wrapping the dark blue cloak tightly around her. She tried pulling the cloak high enough to cover the link collar, but it did not work, so she undid the black armband as she walked and retied it around her neck to hide the link collar. Freedom!