Monica Coinoch was a petite woman with fierce eyes. Her short-cropped black hair had silver and red streaks, and she was clad in simple clothes. She was slender but her short-sleeved shirt revealed wiry muscles on her arms.
"Cillian is missing?" Yuriko frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that, but how do you expect me to help you?"
"Ah, Blanca too," Vice-Dean Biera added. "We three were among the last people to see him before he vanished."
Yuriko asked, "Is there a spell to find him that would make that relevant?"
"Precisely," Olivia Biera said. "We three were there during your presentation, so we three will be the foci of the spell: Locate Person."
"I see," Yuriko said. "Are we performing it now?"
"Yes," Monica said in an abrupt tone. "I apologise for disturbing your evening, but I will make it up to all of you."
"I don't mind. I would not deny Cillian's…er, mother?"
Monica Coinoch blinked, then snorted a laugh. "Ah, you are a foreigner, indeed. No, Cillian is my great-grandson."
"Oh."
"Please, come this way."
The four women strode out of the Blossoming Vines and Yuriko discreetly told Ryoko that she might not be back to the mixer, and for her to enjoy herself.
"Dean Biera." Department Head, Eddie Farran'ir intercepted them just before they reached the entrance. "What's going on?"
"Eddie." Olivia nodded. "Monica's great-grandchild is missing and we were the last to see him. We're casting a scrying spell."
"You need four Magi for it?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
"Locate Person."
"Ah. Triangulating?"
"How else?" Olivia snorted. "Monica's already tried the normal spells, but Cillian was undetectable."
"Not dead?" He shook his head. "No, of course not. You would've scried his remains in that case."
"Don't speak such misfortune things, Sha'ledras," Monica cracked.
"Hmmm, sorry." Farran'ir muttered, "Do you need more help?"
"We will suffice," Olivia said. "Please watch over the academy. Dean Varro is still in Bresia."
"Got it." He turned to Yuriko, "I pity that you weren't even able to enjoy supper. If you can make it back later, there will be dancing until the small hours of the morning."
Yuriko shrugged. "We'll see."
Eddie Farran'ir nodded and stepped aside. As soon as they were on the streets, Monica, Blanca, and Olivia began casting a flight spell. Yuriko simply pushed off with her Anima and followed after them as soon as they were airborne. They flew towards the campus, then to the Nirian Hall where she first met the Vice-Dean and Secretary. Even this late, the building was not unoccupied. Guards and custodians worked the hallways and bowed in respect when the four women flew inside.
Vice-Dean Olivia's office was the destination, but they did not stop there. Instead, they landed and moved to a side chamber that had a large, silver-backed mirror covering one wall. Runescript formations covered the floor, the wall, and the mirror.
Olivia, Monica, and Blanca gathered in the middle of the chamber. Monica brought out several trinkets from her purse. It was obviously spatially expanded since there was no way those things could fit in a container that was smaller than Yuriko's fist.
Seeing her curious look, Olivia began explaining.
"Locate Person is a divination spell, but that alone isn't enough. Monica already tried a version but was unable to divine Cillian's position. That only means that he's inside a Chaos Fount. Boosting Locate Person requires a few more components, including those who've had contact with him within the Season. The fresher the contact, the better."
"Oh."
Olivia handed her a trinket that looked like a long thin needle balanced on top of a thicker metal rod. The needle swung freely, wavering up, down, and around without being dislodged from the rod. There were notches on the rod close to where it connected with the needle.
"Each of us will hold on to this compass and once the spell is cast, the needle will swivel and point to where the target is. You'll have to note down the details in the notching, and from there, we'll determine where the entrance portal is."
"I assume we'll be at different locations?" Yuriko asked. "How far away?"
"Just within this room is enough," Olivia said. "The scrying room will help interpret and plot out the location." She turned to Monica and Blanca. "Mon, stand over there. Blanca, on the opposite side. Yuriko, please hover close to the ceiling in the centre of the room."
"Alright."
She floated up until the top of her hair brushed against the ceiling. She held out the compass and noted the notching. Olivia nodded and gathered the trinkets Monica pulled out of the purse. They were disparate items with little in common with each other. Some were carved wooden figurines, others were metal rings, and there was a glass bead that had what looked like a feather trapped within. The Vice-Dean arranged the items in a circle, took out a pen, and inked patterns around the trinkets. She was done within a minute, then stepped back.
"Please keep Cillian foremost in your minds," she said.
Yuriko nodded and recalled the young man who'd accompanied her and the others from Duskfoot Guard to Nirlith. They'd gone through quite a few troubles on the way, and she even exposed him to her Mien, half on accident. Her Mien…was he attached to her in the dreamscape?
She closed her eyes for a moment and envisioned herself in the mists, but when she felt herself in the dream, her eyes beheld the empty scrying room instead of mists. The golden threads were still around her though, so she focused on that and pushed the mystery to the back of her mind.
Cillian's thread wasn't directly connected to her but hovered just a few paces away. It wasn't that distinguishable from the other threads, but she could instinctively tell whose thread it was when she stared at it. She reached for it and touched it, gaining an impression almost at once. He was alive, of course, otherwise, the thread wouldn't look like that. Those who had died but had threads connecting to her were not as golden or robust. Her brother's thread was still clinging to her body even though it had been cut off a few paces away. It was no longer flailing about in the dreamscape's winds, however, but lay limply against the floor.
Cillian's thread did not provide anything more than a general impression of his survival, but it would be a good medium for the Locate Person spell, right? She took a firm grasp and pulled herself out of the dreamscape and back into reality.
Olivia Biera had begun casting. Her speed was at least twice what Yuriko could manage on her own and her fingers were a blur. Eddie Farran'ir's casting speed was slower than Olivia, Yuriko decided, but he made up for it by using his prehensile toes and ears. Even at her speed, Olivia took several minutes to complete the cast, and all the while the compass on her hands, as well as the other two, swivelled erratically. Only when the Vice-Dean's voice roared into a crescendo did the needles stiffen unnaturally and point in a direction. Eastwards, it looked like, and at a low angle, though not as much as Yuriko expected. The variance between the three compasses wasn't much, only by a thousandth of an inch or so, she thought, that the compass notches were fine enough to read it.
Yuriko called out the labels on the notches, which were nothing more than a set of numbers, while the other two did the same. On the mirror wall, the image of the four women faded away and was replaced by a map. Three fine, silver lines projected from Nirlith City and converged somewhere in the Keromere Mountains. A bunch of numbers appeared on the confluence point, map coordinates from what she could tell, but Yuriko wasn't versed in reading Bresian maps.
"Kerromere…twenty leagues north of Nirlith, and roughly seventy leagues dues east. Altitude is two hundred paces below our position which means it's about three hundred paces above lake water level," Olivia muttered. "The confluence area is about two longstrides wide."
Olivia began casting another spell, and the image, as well as what she said, transferred over to a scroll stretched out on the desk. "Well, there you have it, Mon."
"Thanks, Oli," Monica said. "That narrows things a lot. Thank you for your aid, too, Secretary Ferron and Professor Davar. I'll head out immediately." Grim-faced, she strode out of the office and left the three staring at each other.
"Well, again, I apologise for interrupting your evening," Olivia Biera said. "I think you can still make it back to the Blossoming Vines easily."
"Alright, Vice-Dean, you're welcome," Blanca said with a smile then turned to Yuriko. "Shall we?"
Yuriko exhaled slowly. She felt a twinge within herself. Her dreamscape body was grasping tightly at Cillian's thread, and some bits of his emotional state filtered into her mind. There was more than a little bit of desperation there, wild and uncontrolled. There was no pain, but she could tell he was anticipating it. There was also a hint of fatalism, and it was almost as if he didn't want to be found. No…it was the fear that even if he was found, it would be too late.
"Who do you think took him? And why him?" Yuriko asked.
Olivia and Blanca exchanged glances, and the Vice-Dean said, "We don't know. The Coinoch family has two True Magi within their ranks, but they are also a large clan. Cillian is not a favoured scion, though as you saw, the clan matriarch would not abandon her own as long as there's a chance for recovery… But as for why, I…I'm not sure."
"But you have a thought."
"Of course," Olivia said, "the most obvious reason is you."
"Me?"
"Foreigners don't come through the Shattered Realm all that often, you know. The last one was several centuries ago," Olivia admitted. "The Republic is an open nation, but we are bordered by two semi-hostile nations. The only other path to reach us without going through the Ishodir Empire and the Xotha Matriarchy is through the Great Erithmus Lake. Erithmus is larger than all three nations combined and stretches out to the south and east. Several other nations are along its banks…"
"That's all quite interesting, but do you have any idea who would do such a thing?"
"There's always the Chaos Magi?" Blanca shrugged. "Or maybe the Alcalde clan. They've always been at odds."
"Don't spout mere conjecture. The Alcaldes may be devout Cyclists, but they wouldn't do something like that!" Olivia protested.
"Chaos Magi?" Yuriko frowned.
"Well, most of them are insane, corrupted by what the Chaos did to their Elemental Hearts and minds, the few that survive it…well, they tend to be powerful and unhinged."
Yuriko frowned at both of them, but Blanca didn't seem to notice. Olivia scrunched her nose and shrugged.
Either way, Yuriko felt that leaving Cillian to his fate would have unpleasant consequences. And she had a hunch that he had been abducted because of his role in bringing her and her team to Niria. Decision made, she said, "I'll go help."
"But…you have class tomorrow!" Blanca protested.
Yuriko waved her hand dismissively. "They can spend the day in self-study. This involves life. I'm going."
"Do as you will," Olivia said. "We'll have someone else cover your classes while you're away."
"Alright. Thanks for understanding." Yuriko strode out of the office and flew after Monica Coinoch. She spread her perceptive aura but didn't find the older woman nearby, so she flew out a window and activated her Chaos Sight. She found Monica nearly a longstride away already, heading northeast.
Yuriko propelled herself after Monica and caught up a minute later. Monica slowed her flight and stared at her for a long moment, then asked, "Is there something?"
"I decided to help. It's likely he was captured because of me."
"Hmmm, thank you…but aren't you dressed inappropriately?"
Yuriko shrugged. She was still in her evening dress and her shawl covered her exposed skin well enough. Oh yeah, she hadn't told her Chaos Lords or Ryoko of her decision.
"Give me a moment." She cast Message and as soon as she was done, she said, "I'm at your service. Let's rescue your great-grandson."
Monica nodded, and both of them flew directly at the indicated coordinates.