The Star 24

Using his spiritual connection, Orison checked in on Cole. According to the feline assassin, he took Wade to deal with things. The young mage got the impression, his friend didn't care too much for Wade and didn't want the VR hacker learning anymore secrets, becoming a companion by default.

It was a bit high handed but the young mage didn't mind it. The clueless reincarnated soul of Heath was an issue for River to deal with. He didn't have any intentions on interfering with whatever plans the soul who was once his daughter had cooked up for her past life fiance. After asking Cole to be generous with his help, Orison turned his attention to Terra Capri.

He appeared in a rundown apartment building at the edges of the first ring. Startled to the point of mindless terror, an older and declining Cassandra clutched her pained chest as she screamed. A wrathful thirteen year old boy came barreling into the living room, ready end lives.

Despite the gun in his little brother's hand, Orison deactivated his helmet. "Sorry for scaring you, mom... I think it would be a little of an exaggeration to shoot me for it, little brother. But, if you think you got to, go ahead. Anywhere but the face. I don't want to spend the first hour of our reunion with a bruising welt. That's just embarrassing."

Cassandra immediately flung herself at him, a ball of intense and mixed emotions trying to express themselves all at once. It took some time to get her calmed back down enough to speak coherently. But by then, she had worn herself out. Seeing the grim and not quite friendly look on Vincent's face, his silence had been a truce for their mother's sake.

After getting her sedatives and other medication, his younger brother took him back to the living room. "Why did you force dad into taking a job he didn't have the clout to keep if you didn't plan on joining the military?"

The young mage slid on a poker face. "I'm assuming that the lack of the jewelry I made to enhance your psionic and physical potential is the real culprit here. Who sold the first piece and why?"

Reaching out, he spiritually contacted Oliver while Vincent laid out a short but painful family history. The most disconcerting thing was that the kid only had a couple of dead stone pieces from back when he was little. Rupert had smuggled away the rest for bribes and financial comfort, not fully understanding the danger.

When the pieces' special nature came to light, some bogus charges were made up and used as a way to ransack their property and confiscate the rest. The only thing Rupert did that could be considered wise was claiming they were pieces of meteor stone preserved by a method he didn't know. It was already confirmed that such material from the Squid Ink Stretch had incredibly short half-life once it left the strange influence of the stationary, dark stellar nimbus that was the stretch.

Some political opponent in the colony used the opportunity to smack Rupert with some inane charges of his own and got the man kicked out of office. Luckily, he still had medical skills to fall back on in a place that had a shortage of skilled professionals. The only problem was, someone hounded them out of two separate attempts at setting up a family practice, causing them to lose all savings.

Rupert took a lesser emergency medical provider position at a factory and struggled to adjust to blue collar life. Things that had been good between Cassandra and her husband for years, weren't any longer. He returned to light philandering and she returned to pouring everything she had into her child and ignoring what she couldn't emotionally handle. Ultimately, that meant the VR prophesied little sister never happened. Not with Orison and Vincent's mom, at any rate.

As the story came to a close, the young mage informed his brother about his public doings and glossed over more intimate details for the time being. "Yeah, so overall that's the gist, two active years of salvage plus some vacation and private consultations. Bam, ten years gone, mostly in stasis. I've obviously been up to more than that but there are some things that aren't safe to share... yet."

Vincent shook his head. "I can't believe this is all my dad's fault! I- I refuse to. Even if what you said is true, you should have explained it better."

"I didn't say it was all your dad's fault. Selling jewelry meant to give you a little edge was the snowball that lead to this avalanche. I can't help the past go away but I can help with things moving forward," Orison declared.

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Oscar got back with him. "A friend of mine has posed an inquiry to the colony using his father's account. One of two things is going to happen. The charges against Rupert are going to vanish or a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. Either way, the ones who directly moved against my family, they are going to lose their lives. Can you live with that?"

Grudgingly, Vincent nodded.

Orison smiled as kindly as he was able and handed him some pills and a small bottle of liquid in a sealed porcelain container. "Swallow these. Wash it down with that and get in the bathtub before nasty comes out of every hole you have."

Eyes wide, Vincent said, "Why would I do that? I don't even know you!"

The young mage said, "Because you're my little brother, I'm bothering to explain things to you and letting you do it yourself. If it was anyone else, they would never have seen that medicine, much less politely asked to take it. But, because you're my little brother, refusal is also not an option."

Vincent went to run but Orison pinned him down. "I'm going to let you back up. Every second those supplements are exposed to the open air, they lose a little potency. Either take them your own way or you're going to get choked with them."

Sullen and shooting daggers out of his watery eyes, Vincent did as he was told. Within minutes of getting in the tub, the kid started moaning and crying between expulsions, throwing every insult and accusation possible. Eventually, that drew the sedated Cassandra to check out what was going on in a panic.

The young mage hit her with a gentle wave of will to knock her out and laid her back in bed. By the time she woke back up on her own, the two brothers were getting along much better. That was mostly due to a respectful fear Vincent had been instilled with after witnessing one strange, nearly impossible feat after another.

"What are you eating? It smells divine," she said as she ambled to sit at the kitchen table that served many purposes in the cramped apartment.

Somewhat mischievously, Orison said, "Oh, I'd call it spiritually moving but I wouldn't call it divine food. All out of ambrosia and nectar, I'm afraid... Would have waited for Bert to get home but my little bro said that it was hard telling when that would be."

A ghost of a bitter frown passed over her face before she hid it under the joy of reunion and fine dining. Rumors of Rupert's after work rambling were exaggerated for that day, at least. He had made it home a few short minutes after the three had their fill.

As soon as the haggard man passed the threshold and saw Orison, his demeanor switched between relief, guilt and a touch of accusatory anger. "Should have let us know you were dropping in for a visit with some warning. We could have spruced up the place a bit."

Shooting the man a saccharine smile, the young mage responded, "No need for fuss. We're all family... Vincent, take these and head back to the tub. I promise round two won't even be half as bad as round one."

"Wait. What did you give him? And why-"

In a voice little louder than a whisper but filled with enough pressure and potency to shake dust loose, Orison said, "You lost the right to ask questions when you stole my little brother's legacy for financial and political cushion. I know why you did it and I forgive you but that is the extent of my generosity. Sit down, eat and don't hinder the advantages I'm trying to give him a second time."

Reigning in the power, he added, "You and mom need some nourishing primers before getting some treatment yourselves."

What started as a bitter first exchange became fairly good natured as the doctor monitored the effects of the enriched food on them and the slightly alarming changes Vincent underwent after finishing 'round two'. It became practically warm and fawning after strong and visible improvements were noted for all of them. The polite and conciliatory call from the Colonial governing office building made the man nearly faint in shocked relief and tears.

What Vincent had been aware of was only half the story. The other was a tooth and nail struggle for Rupert to stay out of prison while doing his best to navigate a perilous withdraw from a highly coveted position of power. In the colonial office, there were only friends of the moment and rivals.

All unknowingly, several smaller corporate interest groups had seeped into different cracks of the place as it transitioned from a nowhere colony into a moderate trade hub. That had turned Rupert's position into one with a target painted on it. Once colonial council positions equaled something more than a retirement with Alliance citizenship for wife and children, the situation put Rupert far beyond his depths.

Being somewhat more fragile of health, the healing food had taken a toll faster on Cassandra and she retired early after sluggishly fussing about Orison's sleeping arrangements. As soon as she was snuggled into bed, the young mage gave his little brother a shot of Triple Seven and sent him to his own bed instead of the couch. After the grizzly vision Orison received of the young teen's room with spirit sight, he would have rather slept on the bathroom floor.

"What are your plans after this?" Rupert asked after a long, relatively meaningless conversation.

Orison said, "I'm going to siphon a large pile of chips into separate accounts for you, mom and a trust for my brother with the help of a VR diver friend. Your citizenship is already halfway to secured. After I've souped him up as much as I can, I'm enrolling Vincent in Seven Rings Academy and letting him decide his own future.

"If there's a place you and mom want to be, let me know. If there's any illegitimate children or mistresses you want to provide something for, that's on you. But, you should have the financial ability to do so. This is the end of this nightmare. If you don't want to be with mom anymore, break clean so she can look for some kind of happiness elsewhere."

Rupert looked at him slightly breathless. "I-I know it wasn't a fairy tale life but I was good to them."

The young mage poured him another shot of Nurse Blue. "It wasn't an accusation. There's just not a need for you to play house anymore if you're not up to it. It's not like my mom is the only one who deserves a chance to be happy. Neither of you are going to find that chance in this sick spiral of loveless codependency."

Rupert sighed. "It's not that simple. We've been together for years. There's love there but there's other things too. It's not easy to untangle all of that overnight."

Giving the man a saintly smile, Orison said, "On the contrary, as of two hours ago, you're not married. My friend needed to do that to open separate accounts for you both and I don't have the time to waste learning if you're still the good man you've been when there's a moderate fortune on the line."

Angrily, Rupert's voice raised a few decibels. "And you don't see that as high handed? This is just like when you left the first time. Would our lives have been any worse than they are now if I'd have stayed out of politics to begin with!? Do you think our personal lives will be any worse down the road if you had stayed out of those decisions!?... I appreciate what you've done for us, what you're doing, but know where to draw the line!"

The young mage chuckled darkly. "Life is filled with uncertainty. I did what I could to give you a chance to earn a future for this family because I didn't know if I'd ever be able to return. And yes, it would be worse.

"My brother would have been processed through an intake program because our psionic talents are public record. Your time in territory governance bought him out of that fate. Now, it buys you a back door to full citizenship.

"Without concerns of finance or family, you get to jointly decided if being together is what you both want. If not, one can't hold the other back. If such freedom of choice makes you uncomfortable or angry, I'm sorry. But, that only convinces me I did the right thing."

Red faced, Rupert shot back, "Oh, are you sticking around to see things through this time? Are you going to protect your mother and watch over the most important years of your brother's life? If Cassandra goes chasing after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow you're painting for her, will YOU be there to pick her up after disappointment breaks her?"

Orison sneered. "Mom might be emotional but that doesn't mean she's weak. I'm not taking her away from you. I'm giving her a choice. If that choice takes her away from your side, you need to look in a mirror to find the reason, not at me."

In silent, helpless anger, Rupert grabbed his threadbare jacket and walked around the street block a few times. A little over an hour later, he returned, cleaned up and headed off to bed without saying a word. In spirit sight, the young mage saw Rupert wrap his arms around Cassandra as if he was afraid she'd float away.

There was no doubt that the man was far from, if ever, forgiving him. But, Orison got what he wanted. Rupert was fully aware of Cassandra's worth to himself and not able to continue being a playboy trapped in marriage for honor and duty in his own mind.

By the next morning, a tired but proud Wade reported through Cole that he had done what he could within the time and resource constraints he was working under. Oliver risked a full on 'man to man' beating from his father but he streamlined a few processes indirectly using his father's cyber watermark to make discreet inquiries. Assuming he could survive it, he would have risked dismemberment to be owed a favor from a fully awakened Orison.

In the following few days it took for metaphorical smoke to clear and ink to dry, the young mage spent most of his time torturing his little brother. He coaxed a secondary awakening of talent and martial drilled a modified cultivator legacy technique for improving psionic power into the boy once he was done. For all time, Vincent would never truly know if he loved his older brother but awe and fear were deeply ingrained.

The young mage wasn't as generous with his mother and step father. It wasn't so much because he didn't want to be but too many 'blessings' would only lead to more tragedy if he wasn't around to defend them from it. In that one point, Rupert had the high ground over Orison. And after a dizzying display of earnestness, the man held onto Cassandra by the skin of his teeth.

A small marriage ceremony with heartfelt vows from Rupert was the last thing of importance to happen on Terra Capri. The three gathered up what few belongings were absolutely essential to them at the hyper pad and embraced their new life on Tiamat Dusa, the world where the Seven Rings Academy was located. It would be a few more days before Orison would see them one last time and disappear from their lives once again.

That period was marked as dark days for Terra Capri. Several families and companies experienced tragic accidents, financial ruin and a string of uncovered criminal activity. But, such events were seen as a pruning for new, healthier growth by those fortunate enough to have not garnered the eye of whatever esoteric force of calamity had briefly visited the planet.