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“I will do nothing more now. It’s best to give this time, to let your Limiter and bond settle, and I have a feeling it might improve a bit more after I’ve left. Next time I come down to work with Gwyn, I’ll check in, make tweaks if I can. I don’t think this is the best condition you can attain. Might be able to boost it by another ten, fifteen percent.”

“Anything you can do is more than welcome,” he promised me, bouncy with excitement now. “Not having to constantly watch myself out in public is huge already.”

I bet that did get exhausting, constantly being on guard like that. “All right, Abby?”

She popped up eagerly from her seat nearby. “Ready!”

“Jon, Donovan, switch places please.”

They readily did so, Abby and Skylar taking their places. Skylar asked me as she settled, “Should I put my hand on her back too?”

“Yes, please, that truly helped.”

She promptly did so.

I drew another Aperta Vis, arranging it like I had with Jon’s, and studied the situation for a moment. Huh. “You know, it’s very obvious how much an anchor loves their psychic from the bond.”

Skylar flashed me a wink.

So cocky, this one.

Amused, I set to work. The relay block first, keeping it small, as small as possible. I could sense Craig shifting nearby, anxious and not sure what I was doing. To him, I explained, “I’m trying to connect anchor bond to Limiter. It’s easier with Abby, for sure. All right, there’s the first strand.”

Abby gave a little shiver. “This feels weird, but that last part felt nice?”

“Your Limiter is likely very thankful for the boost in energy. It’s like a dehydrated person slumping about, the second they get proper water into them, they’ll immediately feel revived. All right, a second strand. Abby, because your Limiter is in better shape, I might be able to do more than five strands. I’m going to play that by ear.”

“Sure!”

She was also younger, still in a state of growth, which might give me some leeway.

I paused at five strands, studying the situation.

Gwyn leaned in closer, her head almost on my shoulder and gave a low whistle. “Wow, that looks even better than Jon’s. It’s melding perfectly into one strand. Sensei, I really think you could do two or three more.”

“Good instincts and I agree. Let’s try two more and pause.”

I did just that. Then paused, studying the situation. The strands were melding fine, but the Limiter gave a little shimmy, and that was a good warning sign. “I’m stopping here. I think the Limiter is at capacity for the moment. It needs time to adjust. Abby, same with you, when I come down again I’ll check you. If we can make adjustments, we will.”

“Awesome! Can I move?”

“Not quite, give me one moment.” I closed out the connection and erased the Aperta Vis with one hand. “All right, now you can move.”

She bounced up, then swung around to give me a hard hug around the waist. I laughed and reciprocated. I was sure she was happy. I’d just made her life a hell of a lot easier. Well, her and Skylar’s.

Craig came in closer, a hand out. “Thank you, Seiji, truly.”

I shook hands with him, returning the smile. “It was my pleasure. Abby, how do you feel?”

She studied her hands and her torso, like Jon had done. “Shielding just got a lot easier. Not to mention stronger. Master, what do you think?”

“I can tell an obvious difference,” he admitted. There was relief in his eyes for her, as well. “Your shield is visibly stronger even for me. We’ll need to test what our new limits are on something that’s safe to fry.”

Turning a little to the camera, I said, “And that’s that for the moment.”

Lachlan stopped recording and pocketed the phone, coming closer to stand near me.

“How’s your sight?” I asked.