Natalia could tell that Korim was getting frustrated. His mouth was constantly in a thin line and his forehead remained consistently furrowed. The group had attempted to aid him, but Wayfinding was a notoriously rare talent, even among Korim’s southern elven kin. It was almost like a full Skill but tied to Aetherical bloodlines and passed down through the family line. There were different levels of it and Korim was borderline top of the chart, at least based on the examples Natalia had to go off of.

  She had only ever met a single other Wayfinder before and he had been a middling one of mediocre talent. That was compared to Korim at least. The man was famous in the frontier city they had passed through on their way to The Edge, saving multiple people who had gotten lost and helping to find and stop monster manifestations before they got out of hand. Korim, on the other hand, had been able to tell the city officials where pockets of Aether had been settling, where the currents were deviating into dangerous areas, and the location of a gathering of bandits that had been hiding in an Aether rich area to mask themselves.

  Korim had few equals, which made his current difficulties equally frustrating and paradoxically humorous. Seeing their Wayfinder so humbled by a forest, no matter how ancient, had become the source of quite a few jokes at his expense over the first few days. In the beginning he had borne them with a smirk, now, almost a week later, his brow only furrowed deeper and the jokes had stopped. Only Boris had managed to help and only in a minor capacity. A proper Working of magic required deft Aether control and a knowledge of weaving it that went beyond Skill use.

  Ironically that made it less flexible for off the cuff casting. It took time to properly prepare the weave of a Working. Boris had often compared it to art or a puzzle. Once the full picture was complete or the puzzle solved, it became easier to do it the next time. With enough repetition, even the most complex Working could be completed in a matter of moments. Especially when the weaver was a Silver Rank battlemage with specialized training.

  Suffice to say, that expertise didn’t have the necessary time to whip up a Working that would solve their problems. What Boris had been able to do was utilize an already existing Working that helped Korim to cut down the “noise” that had been interfering with his Wayfinding. To be honest, Natalia didn’t really understand the specifics but Korim had claimed to feel a difference.

  That had made the next few days better, with Korim cutting a path through the undergrowth with a confidence that was gratifying to see, which made it all the more confusing when he began cursing on the third day, his face looking like a thundercloud.

  “What is it?” She asked, coming to a stop beside him and hesitantly putting her hand on his arm. That seemed to be the right thing as it almost shocked him back to normal, though his furrowed brow didn’t magically disappear at the physical touch.

  “I’m lost.” Saying it almost seemed to hurt him physically, and to be honest, it probably did. Natalia doubted Korim had been lost since he was a young boy. He had come into his Wayfinding extremely young, so it was a very brief part of his life where he hadn’t known how to find his way.

  “How?” She held up a hand to forestall a frustrated outburst. “I mean, what does someone have to do in order to block your Wayfinding?”

  She saw the way her question cut through his frustration, the way his eyes narrowed in contemplation, and she was glad. A part of herself she tried to keep buried deep, hated the pain that Korim was in, and wanted to do anything to alleviate it.

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  Korim hummed, and despite herself, she was drawn to the way his lips pursed to make the sound. “I think you might have been closer to the truth than you thought. There aren’t many ways to hide from Wayfinding, but misdirecting completely? Forcing one to walk in circles? Only magic can do that. High-ranked magic if it’s affecting me.”

  With any other person, Natalia would have taken those words to be an arrogant boast, but she knew her teammate. Sure, Korim took pride in his work, the same way a craftsman would, but he didn’t boast. He also wasn’t arrogant, unlike most of his people. If he said it was magic, then that was what it was. Something did bother her, though.

  “So what about Boris’s Working? Did it not help?”

  Korim shook his head. “It did and it didn’t. It quieted the Aether overload enough to help me focus, but ironically, that allowed whatever magic is hiding this place free rein to target me directly. I can feel it.” He tapped his head meaningfully. “Once I had the thought, my Wayfinding latched onto the foreign signal like a bloodhound. Not that it lets me find where it’s coming from. Just let me know I’m being targeted, similar to my bouts with Boris.”

  Natalia nodded, understanding what he was saying. A niche function of Korim’s high talent with Wayfinding was that he could read Aether signals as they were forming, which meant that in his practice fights with Boris, he was able to react incredibly quickly to the other man’s spells. Boris thought it was cheating, but there weren’t any regulations ruling against natural talent, so he just had to suck it up.

  “So what’s the plan?” Boris said, stepping up from where he had been watching the conversation. His eyes met Natalia’s before flicking to where her arm continued to rest on Korim’s. The accompanying little smirk had her withdrawing her hand quickly, blushing in a way she was sure Korim would notice. If he did, he didn’t do anything to give away that he had. His eyes were far away, but his mouth moved regardless.

  “As much as I hate to say it, I’m going to have to do things the old-fashioned way.” He turned to the rest of them and must have read the confusion there. “That means brushing the dust off my bushcraft rather than relying on my talent. It probably means turning it off completely.”

  The group turned a little grim at that. Korim’s Wayfinding was what let them feel safe despite being in an ancient, dangerous forest. His talent let them find monsters as they formed, keeping them from stumbling on the dens of creatures more powerful than them. If he turned it off, then they would be blind to the more magical elements of a magical forest. It was a gamble only slightly mitigated by Korim’s ability at natural bushcraft.

  Natalia turned to the rest of her team, looking at each of their faces in turn. Alicia seemed a little nervous, but overall determined. Gisham was stoic, like a rock, but she noticed a slight furrowing of his brows, practically a shout of concern for the tank. Boris didn’t seem to care, laid back in appearance, but she knew his mind must have been running a mile a second. Her gaze fell on Korim last of all and found him watching her. His face had eased, as if figuring out the problem had eased his frustration.

  “Are you confident you can find this place?” She asked him, hoping that he would say yes. Powerful magic could only mean a high-ranked magus had been here. She tried to keep herself from hoping too much. That the magic in play could have been set in place by anyone, but her heart wanted it to be the work of her grandfather—the work of Calamvor.

  Whether he had seen the desire in her eyes or not, Korim answered, “Yes.” Natalia turned to the rest of her party.

  “Then we proceed.” She waited for them to object, to say she was crazy for forcing this on them, but they simply nodded. Natalia let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding and spoke further. “Let’s get ready to make camp. We’ll give Korim some time to get the lay of the land, and we will begin moving in the morning.” She watched as they nodded at her words, and was overcome by gratitude for her party.

  She turned to hide her emotions and simply breathed them away before nodding at Korim to lead them to a suitable spot to make camp. She didn’t know what was going on, if the dungeon was even real, or if there was a massive Working of magic confusing things, but her heart told her she was close. Close to finding the truth. The hope burned hot in her chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to quench it.