Chapter 57: An Unexpected Reunion

In the morning Kai was hungry again, but not so overwhelmingly. Since he woke up too early, still ready for pre-dawn training, he cooked some more of the rock spiders. As he ate, he sat down to think about how he was going to approach the strange scent.

Fresh despite little sleep, he spent a while focusing on his new sense. He was now fairly certain he wasn't actually picking up new scents, it was more of a spiritual awareness. Going around sniffing things certainly didn't seem to help at all. Yet his impression that he could detect monsters was only strengthening. After further testing, he realized that he could also pick out humans, just less clearly. Everything else, from flowers to the foul bone fires, was no different from before.

Which meant he was still fixated on the strangely familiar presence in the caves.

As Kai walked toward them, he considered whether he actually had a good reason to pursue it. Technically he could just ignore everything else and go test his fate in Krysal. But the journey was still long and he would be making it with so few supplies that he was reluctant to start. Better to wrap up all loose ends here and prepare before going that far just to gamble on fate again.

Just as he'd suspected earlier, the caves were an obvious location for outcasts to use. He could sense a small group of hunters in one and left them be, instead focusing on the familiar presence hiding deeper within the hills. Whoever it was, they seemed to be actively hiding, because tracking them down led him into a maze of cracks that barely deserved to be called caves.

Since the meeting could just as easily be a negotiation as a fight, Kai decided to drink one of his few remaining Class potions. A tiny amount of power trickled down his throat into his soul, giving him a shadow of a Warrior's Class. Fortunately, his theory was correct: his soul stabilized in his own sight, orienting around the Class and obscuring everything that was broken. That would make a better first impression.

Kai rubbed his jaw and realized that he would make a terrible impression every other way. He already had a lot of beard, his hair was unkempt, his clothes were ragged, and...

And he ran into Zae Zin Nim before he could reconsider.

She jerked upright from her position in the cave, staring at him in shock, which gave him enough time to examine her. Since they'd last met, her weeping black scars looked no better and her robe looked much worse. It seemed that more of her hair had grown back, though it was still patchy and ragged. Her eyes, fixed on him, flickered through surprise, anger, and then irritation.

"I thought I said..." She stopped to cough into a fist. "I said I never wanted to see you again."

"Unfortunately, I have traveled for months just to annoy you in particular."

Immediately her already narrow eyes became slits. "No matter what you say, you tracked me to my hiding place." She reached into her robe, deceptively fast, already holding another of her pills.

"Wait!" Kai raised both hands palm up. "How much of that medicine do you have left? Are you going to waste more of it on someone who doesn't mean you any harm?"

Though Zae Zin Nim stared at him suspiciously, she didn't immediately swallow the pill. As the silence stretched, Kai decided that he was being given a chance to explain himself.

"I didn't intend to find you in particular, but my life hasn't gone the way I'd intended. I'm banished from my home and wandering. When I felt your unusual energy, I thought that we might be able to help one another. All I want from you is a fair exchange of knowledge, I swear. I don't know what you need, but I'm a native of Goralia. I don't think you would be hiding out here if you were fine on your own."

"Well... at least you're less suspicious than before." Zae Zin Nim slowly straightened and pulled her arm back into her robe. "You aren't going to try to convince me you want to help out of some sense of altruism?"

"No, I despise you and hate the idea of us working together. Which means you should trust me, right?"

To his surprise, she gave a low laugh that transformed her face. A moment later it dissolved into painful coughs that wracked her body. He wanted to step forward to assist her but restrained himself and just waited for the fit to subside.

"I know you might not want to talk about it," Kai said gently, "but would you tell me what's wrong with you?"

"No."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not likely, given the miserable state of this wasteland." Zae Zin Nim's scorn seemed to pass him, but Kai was still annoyed on behalf of his continent. Despite his best intentions, a trace of invective made it into his voice.

"How much progress are you making on your own?" Kai met her gaze directly and waited until she lowered her eyes. "If you don't think we could ever work together, I'll leave and stop wasting my time. But if you want to get anything of value from me, you need to reveal something I can work with."

After a long pause, the foreign woman shuffled away and sat down on a level rock. She didn't have much of a camp, but he could see a bedroll and the remains of a small fire behind her. After hacking up some more black bile, she spoke in a ragged voice.

"I am... not truly sick, not with anything that could be called a disease. Rather, I am trapped in a specific position and unable to advance. I believe even here you must be familiar with such things."

"Our Classes run into barriers pretty early." Kai found another rock, dusted it off, and sat down at a respectful distance. Maybe he'd finally gotten through.

"That is actually what I need from you. The trap I face cannot be overcome by any of the skills I know, which is part of the reason I fled to Deadwaste. Everyone in my homeland considers your powers inferior, but they seem intuitive and they develop quickly." Zae Zin Nim paused to drink from a narrow flask. "If you could help me awaken one of these Classes, you would have earned my gratitude."

"As far as I know, anyone can awaken if they have a good pool of mana. That shouldn't be different just because you're from Cloudspire."

"It hasn't seemed so easy to me. The first pool I found was a failure. My hope was to make use of the one in the center of the crossroads community, but their guards are too competent for me to infiltrate."

Kai blinked in surprise, then shook his head. "I think you've misunderstood. They have a pool of water that's infused with mana, but it isn't intense enough to awaken a Class. You need something fundamentally different."

"Qi doesn't work that way." Zae Zin Nim stared at him as if this was his fault.

"You used that word before, too. That's the kind of... natural energy you have on Cloudspire? Not mana?"

"We have both, but..." She shook her head rapidly, as if shaking off water. "I'm not sure what I think about that. It doesn't matter. You have already been helpful to me, presuming you are telling the truth about the pools. I need to know what you want from me."

"That's easy. If you've read about Classes, you know that they're just granted by chance, right? Well, mine was a weak one, weak enough that I was thrown aside. I can't hope to keep up with anyone unless I can find a new source of power." Kai hesitated as he thought about what was happening to him. He didn't want to talk about it, but it seemed likely that Zae Zin Nim would eventually figure it out. "There's also... something different. I was injured and my soul is behaving strangely. If you know what's happening to me, either because it's common in your home or for whatever reason, that would be repayment enough."

Her dark eyes flickered over him and he felt a strange sort of spiritual sight before she answered. "You seemed normal, but that Class... it's different from before. Hmm. Since you have been so direct, I must tell you the truth: I do not know if I will be able to help you with such things."

"Would you teach me how to use this qi stuff? In exchange for helping you awaken a Class."

"I could teach you the skills, but I don't know how useful they would be to you here." She sat silently for a time, huddled within her robe. Now that she wasn't glaring at him, she looked tragically frail. "You called yourself Kai Granfian before."

"Kai Clanless, now."

"Kai Clanless." Zae Zin Nim straightened and fixed him with a glare. "I may have misjudged you. We may be able to help one another, and I believe we should make the attempt, but I can make no promises."

"That's good enough for me." Kai grinned at her, but she didn't smile back.

"If this pool is not sufficient, do you have a plan?"

"The only mana pools around here that would be intense enough for awakening will be controlled by Hunters Guilds. But deeper south into Goralia, the mana is richer. I'm also not banished from those cities, so I could help you a little more. If we travel there, I think I can promise finding you a source. I can't promise that your Class would be what you need."

"I would be suspicious if you did. But very well." She began to move to collect her things, as if the agreement was complete and there was no more need for discussion. Kai had nothing to pack and doubted she would appreciate help, so he just watched her for a while before speaking up.

"If we're going to be traveling together, what should I call you? You have, uh, a lot of names. I don't know which ones are clan names, or if you even have clans, or... I don't want to cause offense."

"Use all three."

"...if you insist. But it would be weird if you called me 'Kai Clanless' all the time. Only the 'Kai' part is my name."

Zae Zin Nim didn't answer him at all, so that seemed to be the end of it. She gathered everything into a small pack over her shoulder and departed the cave, only briefly glancing to see if he was following her. As they walked out of the cavern, however, she spoke in a low voice.

"All three parts are my identity, but they are not the same. 'Zae' is an inherited name. My parents bestowed 'Zin' and 'Nim' on me, though for differing reasons. Most should call me ZaeZinNim, said together as one name. In the sense you understand here, ZinNim is my personal name, for friends or close allies. Saying only Nim would be like a pet name." She cast him another glare as if she had an infinite supply of them. "Do you understand?"

"Thank you for explaining, Zae Zin Nim."

"Good." She turned away and began heading south, so she fell back when he took the lead.

It wasn't the path he'd intended to take, but Kai was willing to set aside thoughts of Krysal for the time being. The powers of the Frontier nations had treated him poorly, and it seemed that Deadwaste wasn't respected as a whole. Perhaps he'd have better luck with a brand new path.