The next morning Kar awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. His mouth watered, and he sat up in bed rubbing bleary eyes. Kiya sat on a rug in the corner of the workshop, it looked like she and Caroline were playing with a set of dolls. She laughed at something Caroline did and Kar couldn't help but smile.
He heard a pained groan to his left and looked to see Kiya sitting up. Her complexion had improved, the bruising on her skin gone, but her arm was still wrapped in its sling and she moved stiffly.
"You'll need to take it easy for the next several days Kiya," Morrow called out from the counter where he stood cooking, "And I'll need to do several more healing sessions with you to make sure that bone sets fully, and your internal injuries are on the right track."
Kiya ignored him, glaring at seemingly nothing and everything all at once.
Morrow finished and brought a plate of food and a cup of tea over to Kiya, setting it on the small table next to her bed.
Kar stood up and went over to sit at the table where Morrow had set out food for the rest of them.
"There's a bathroom just under the stairwell over there where you and your sister can freshen up and shower," Morrow said, addressing Kar and Isa, "and I have spare clothes that should fit you both. I keep extras on hand for patients."
"A…shower?" Isa asked, confused.
"Ahh, my apologies, I forgot you're from the out-lands. I'll show you how it works, but there's a sink and tub with running water, hot and cold. It was something they had here in the city, you know, before the Cataclysm. Fairly simple design, all things considered."
Kar and Isa looked at each other in obvious confusion and Morrow chuckled.
After breakfast, they freshened up as Morrow suggested. Isa first, then Kar. He felt like a small child trying to figure out how the knob worked to turn the water on and make it hot.
He eventually called the man in to show him how it was done.
Not long after, finally bathed and clothed and feeling cleaner than he ever had in his life, Kar rejoined the others in the workshop.
Kiya had fallen back asleep, and Morrow and Isa were hunched over one of the workbenches discussing something animatedly.
Kar approached, curious.
"You're a natural!" Morrow was saying to her.
She held a glowing Cryst Shard in one hand, and what looked like a large coin made of similar crystal in the other.
"What is that?" Kar asked.
"These are Cryst Chips," Morrow explained, "They're something the old Darans used. You can find them all over the city. They were originally some kind of battery for devices or artifacts that required Energía to operate. They can still be used for that purpose, but the Guilds use them to trade with one another."
Kar raised his brows at this. Back home, everyone had just bartered for the things they needed.
"The economy of Iridess revolves around these," Morrow held up two chips-one for each hand—and pinched them between his forefingers and thumbs. One glowed faintly, while the other was dark. "Charged chips are worth more than dim chips. It's not very exciting, but most of my days are spent simply transferring Energía from shards to chips for the Fierdi Guild to trade."
A small surge of power pulsed from Isa and the chip in one hand lit up, while the shard in her other hand appeared to dim ever so slightly.
"Isa here already has a handle on the trick of it! Having you two here to help will free up so much time for me to work on other things."
Kar felt unsettled at the remark. He stopped himself from saying anything aloud, but he had no intention of staying imprisoned here with Isa. They didn't belong here. Although… he wasn't exactly sure where to even begin planning their escape.
"Alright, you keep practicing Isa," Morrow said, turning to Kar, "I'm going to show your brother how it's done."
He led Kar over to a separate workbench and assembled one pile of shards and another of unlit chips, "Now, I want you to take a shard in one hand, and a chip in the other, and you're going to imagine the light in the shard flowing into the chip. Pretend it's like water, and you're just pouring it from one container into another."
Kar grabbed the shard and chip as instructed. The shard felt familiar, of a similar heft and shape to the one Aldwin had gifted him all those weeks ago. He could sense the power within… the Energía. It wasn't difficult to pretend it was like water. He lifted the shard in one hand and tipped it over, holding the chip underneath. He pretended he was pouring water out of a pitcher into a cup, as he did so, he felt a small jolt, and sensed the Energía in the shard start to trickle through him and into the chip. The minutes ticked by as he held that position, he could feel that it was working, however… the chip barely brightened if it did at all.
"Hmmm, that's different." Morrow finally said. "Usually, it either works all the way or doesn't."
Morrow grabbed a shard of his own and a chip, and focused for a split second. The chip flashed to full brightness almost instantaneously.
"That's how it's supposed to work. Try again from scratch."
Kar repeated the process multiple times. There was never any change. He would feel a trickle of flow and each chip would brighten almost imperceptibly.
"When he tested me, Destry mentioned something," Kar interjected, "He said that I had the weakest connection that he had ever seen. What does that mean?"
Morrow didn't say anything for a moment. He eventually stepped around the table and spread his hands, "Let me check something," He concentrated like he had the night before with Kiya.
Kar noticed then that the woman was awake now and sitting up in bed, watching intently.
"I see what he meant," Morrow mumbled, then louder, "It seems that you're too weak to actually Imbue things on your own. That's a shame."
"So… what does that mean?" Kar asked, "Can I learn to do a different kind of Focusing instead?"
Morrow hesitated, "Well… no one can learn to do different kinds of Focusings. You only have an affinity for one type. Kiya here is a Pyro, which means she can only create fire related Focusings. Blasters create blasts of energy or force. Imbuers can funnel Energía into other objects or people… and there are many others, but the point is you are locked into what you are. And as we seem to have established, you don't appear to be strong enough to Imbue anything meaningfully, which happens to be one of the least Energía intensive types of Focusings there is."
Kar sat back slowly, placing the shard and chip in his hands down on the workbench.
"Which is ok," Morrow said, trying to reassure him, "It just means I'll have to find some other way for you to help me out around here since you won't be able to recharge chips or Imbue other things."
Kiya cleared her throat loudly, "What's the use of an apprentice if you can't teach him anything, Morrow."
Morrow glared at her, "I can still find a use for him."
She snorted derisively, swinging her legs out of bed and standing, "Destry won't go for that and you know it. If he can't work as an Imbuer, then he's going to have to scavenge like the rest of them."
"Come on Kiya, have a heart. If they send him out in the Ruins, he won't last, and you know it."
She smirked, "Not my problem. Everyone earns their keep here, you know that. I'm taking him to the barracks."
Kar looked at Morrow; the man wouldn't meet his eyes. Then he looked over to a frightened Isa, who was struggling not to cry.