Weiss yawned widely as she continued flipping through the books, her head bobbing a little bit. Tired... Her body absolutely craved sleep, but she couldn't give into it. She wished not to wake everybody in the sleeping quarters with her screams of anguish over what she suffered at the hands of Gele's men. Normally, she adored reading, but her mind numbed long ago. She moved to fiction to try to kill time as her mind refused to take in any further information after a certain point. She absorbed none of the stories she read. They slipped past her as if a fish through water. She tried to keep herself from falling asleep, but it proved impossible.

  The next she knew, darkness swirled around her hadn pain blinded her. She whimpered as the throngs from the cat-o-nine tails ripped her flesh asunder and—

  "No, none of that."

  The words made Weiss look up and the sensations of everything faded. Warmth surrounded her, enfolding her in reassurance and calm. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked up, met by a woman in a tube top and a knee-length skirt. Radiance made her almost hurt to look at, but she didn't look away. The warmth and gentleness washed over her and she felt her mind collapse in a heap. "Who...are you?" This...was clearly some form of magic. Dreamwalking didn't exist on Selia but she remembered novels that featured the ability. This was no dream; this woman clearly modified the dreamscape to protect her from nightmares. Normally, such an intrusion would worry and infuriate her but...she welcomed anything that would keep the awful, graphic torture away from her.

  "I'm Veshana, a Cresselia. I'm one of Beventi's associates. We go back pretty far with each other. As soon as you fell asleep, I sensed you would need my protection. I normally don't stay with only one person while they sleep, but you clearly need my protection. Rest one, little one; you won't have anything to fear as long as you rest within my arms." Veshana wrapped her arms around Weiss and Weiss nodded, her eyes closing. Everything turned black but the warmth and kindness remained wrapped around her.

  Eventually, her eyes fluttered open and she looked around. Her neck and back ached from the table she'd fallen asleep on. But in the center of one of the books rested a strange object. It resembled a feather but gave off strange energies, much like she'd sensed from Veshana. Was this the Lunar Wing Summer mentioned? Either way, she didn't complain. She welcomed any amount of reset at the moment. Too many long nights kept up by Mister Gele's men... Hopefully this would help her resist nightmares that haunted her mind... She so desperately needed therapy. Would anybody here understand? She doubted it. She truly did. This world seemed so peaceful... How could anybody have been tortured in these peaceful realms?

  Either way, she picked herself up off the table and placed the books on a cart to be returned to their proper places. She found a window and looked out. The first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon and she nodded a bit. At least she rested a little, even if only for an hour or so. She couldn't be sure though... The library remained inside, cut off from any windows.

  Either way, she found her way back to the room Summer had shown her. Blake already sat up in a chair in the corner of the room. Weiss settled on one of the bunk beds, conversation failing her. It'd been so long since she'd last spoken to somebody in a way that wasn't spitting vitriol that only earned swift punishment due to her attitude... She tried so hard to not break under their demands, but she was irrevocably affected. She could tell. It would take a lifetime of healing in order to return to who she had been before...if she even could be. Tired... So tired... She wanted to curl up and never wake up. The torture left her so soul weary... Not even bone weary but soul weary.

  "So what hole did you crawl in for the night? You look like hell." Blake's tone was curt and Weiss sighed internally. What a pleasant person to be around. Blake really seemed to have no desire to talk to anybody that wasn't of her own race. Though only humans seemed to exist here as the dominant species... Granted, what little Weiss absorbed from the books she'd read implied most Pokemon shared human-level intelligence and Beventi's reactions last night definitely seemed to strongly reinforce that notion.

  "Would you rather I have kept you awake all night with my reading?" How unreasonable could one be? Honestly. At least Blake slept without nightmares. She had not the luxury of such rest. She needed nightmare blockers. They tortured her much, much too long. She was irrevocably damaged in mind, body, and soul. She wished to be whole again, but she doubted such would happen. She hated how much Gele's men hurt her... Her poor poor mother. What became of her and Winter? What happened to both of them? No news... In this case, no news must be bad news. Then again, why would they pass on such news to a prisoner?

  "I suppose not, no. Are you going to sleep now?"

  Weiss shook her head. "No, I need to get ready for the day." She opened the suitcase she brought with her and went into the bathroom adjoining their room. She took her time and got comfortable with it. The warm water made her skin sing. The second shower in only who knew how long. she missed running water of any sort. She truly missed the small comforts... Only darkness greeted her, her only constant companion while kept in that terrible dungeon. She missed the warmth and comfort of home. She wondered if it even still stood. What happened to her family? She tried not dwelling on it, but it bubbled up inside of her.

  Something snapped in her mind.

  She sank against the shower wall and sobbed as if a babe. So much happened... So much robbed from her. How long she sat within that darkened place, she knew not. She wished to see her family again, but they may suffer the same fate as her... She knew not what happened to anybody. The Guild, scattered and broken. One of the few forces against Gele's men and his coup. So many infiltrated over the years and broken from the inside without any resistance. Only the technomancers stood against him. She missed her friends, her family... How many lay slain now? She had not a faint idea.

  She wept for quite some time until her tears dried, the water running cold. She dried herself off and went to use her magic to dry her hair until she frowned. Her magic, stripped from her for an unknown amount of time. She was forced to rely on lesser technologies... So she sighed and dug out a hair drier from the vanity and trudged back into the room. Cords... Who used cords anymore? Everything on Selia was wireless bliss. Nothing needed cords or even batteries. Such a primitive world.

  Blake went into the bathroom and she heard a yelp, followed by Blake angrily stomping back out. "What did you do?! Why is the water cold?! How could you be so selfish!? Guh!" Blake sat down on the bottom bunk with a heavy huff, arms folded. Weiss tried to pay her no mind, but she found it difficult... She winced and looked down, drying her hair. Something broke inside of her... She'd not intended to use up all the hot water going to the room... Tears well in her eyes but she said nothing. Blake...would not be a good person for her mental health, but she had nobody that might understand her. These people lived a peaceful life, not one of war and pain and suffering and torture as she had the past months.

  It was about then that a knock came on the door. Blake stood up and answered it. "Oh, Summer. What's up?" How could Blake go from angry to soft and understanding? She... What a mess. What. A. Mess.

  "I figured I'd check on you two since you haven't been down to breakfast yet. Are you guys hungry?"

  "Yes, I could use some food..." Her weight dropped so drastically... She was basically a walking skeleton at this point. Well, not that bad but...one could see her gaunt cheeks and bony hands. She covered up with long sleeves to try to hide her morose body shape. Once full and beautiful, now gaunt and a walking corpse, more or less. She needed to put weight back on for how much she'd dropped. But slowly... Eating too much now could send her body into shock.

  "Sounds good," Blake said. "Let's go. Well. Let me get dressed first." Summer and Weiss left the room and Blake came out a minute later in a t-shirt and shorts. Black shorts, purple top.

  Weiss frowned as something came to her mind. "Summer...can I talk to you for a moment alone in the room?" She didn't want to talk about any of this, she failed to want to. She knew she needed to, though. Her mind refused to bend or break, but her body decayed while she sat alone in that darkened room. So much time lost... Sunlight felt so foreign to her now.

  Summer nodded a bit. "Yeah. I'll be out in a minute or two, Blake." They walked into the room and locked it. "So what's exactly on your mind?"

  "I'll need to see a doctor soon... I've been through... Well. Literal torture the past several months. I need therapy for certain as I can almost guarantee I have PTSD from that. But my body... I don't want to send it into shock by eating too much. I'll need a doctor overseeing me and my food intake." She knew she needed to be careful when it came to things... She didn't want her body to break down or to send it into shock. All she knew was that she had a long recovery ahead of her. A recovery that may very well take a whole lifetime... But the coup... The war... She wished to return. She wished so much. She missed her sister and mother. What became of them? Winter, her mother... Her mother, forced to marry the brute of a man that tried to take over their country. Her alliance lay with the Empire, not that fell man.

  "So that's what your story is... I'm an empath, so I've sensed the severe scarring on your soul and psyche since we met last night. Honestly, that's probably more than the doctors here at the Union can handle. We'll probably need to go to the trainer regions. Almia's hospital has good staff, but they're not equipped to handle someone that's been through literal torture. Somewhere like Castelia or Lilycove or Celadon would be better equipped for this. I'll have to set someone to searching for some specialty staff. That might take a couple days or a week to find. I'll try to have it done as quickly as possible but no promises on a time. I'm sorry it's the best I can offer right now." Summer frowned.

  Weiss shook her head. "I understand. My circumstances are unusual." She sighed. She truly wished to see a doctor immediately, but what she said rang true. She stood as an alien in this world. Could people cover it up? Could Summer explain to the people that would look after her? "I suppose all I can do is use my own best judgement for the time being." That was all she could do... She hated it. She needed a strict plan to follow. But on such short notice... Yes, this was the best that could be done.

  "Sorry I can't be of more help. The Union has some crack doctors, but it's not good enough to handle someone that's been through what you have. Though...I'm not sure any doctor on the planet is truly equipped to handle what you've been through. We'll do our best, though." Summer offered a smile, but Weiss couldn't return it. Hollow... Her chest rang hollow right now. She didn't know if she could trust herself to not overeat or over drink. She needed someone to make sure she didn't overdo it. She truly did. She wanted normal-sized meals, but that would almost certainly send her body into shock. Maybe multiple smaller meals throughout the day for the time being... She had nothing to do, so she could watch her food as best she could…

  "Anyway, Blake seems like she's starving, so let's go." Weiss nodded at Summer's words and followed Summer out of the room. She fell into step behind the woman alongside Blake. The black-haired woman shot her a bit of a nasty glance and Weiss rubbed her shoulder. What was her mistake? She severely needed doctors, both mental and physical. She thought she committed no crime by letting Summer know she needed help... Was it simply too selfish? She hoped not... Tears bit at the edges of her eyes. She tried to cause no harm to others. It stood as part of the technomancer's ethical creed: do no harm unto others unless extreme situations came up. Such as the coup…

  Weiss frowned as she thought. "I don't know enough about how my body will react to food, so maybe I best hold off until we find a doctor..." At this point, a few more days without food meant nothing to her. She started, yes, but harming her body would do no good. She knew not enough about health, but she knew she could potentially go into a type of shock due to how much weight she lost and potentially die if she ate too much or in the wrong way.

  "I'll have to get people on that pretty stat then. I don't want you to go hungry for longer than needed. You literally do look like you're starving," Summer said. Weiss knew. Her face gaunt, her eyes sunken... She resembled a walking corpse. She really knew she did. But yes, a few more days meant nothing. She wished for food badly, but sending her body into shock and dying was not something she wanted by any means.

  "Thank you." That stood all she could say right now. As they grew closer to the cafeteria, her mouth watered. It smelled so good. She could smell fresh-baked bread and other foods. She'd been allowed naught but bread and water... Maybe she could at least stomach a few slices of bread with some butter... She prayed that ought not upset her too much. "Maybe I can have a few slices of bread and butter with some water..." That stood as what her body ate over the past few months. A piece of bread here and there with water. Stale bread usually but it tasted heavenly when nothing else went into her stomach.

  "If you're sure it won't harm you... I don't want you to die." Summer concern rolled off her even though Weiss' abilities didn't include empathy. Thankfully, that seemed to turn Blake around a little bit. Her yellow eyes clouded a little bit but she said nothing. Her head went down a touch, her shoulders coming up ever so slightly. Weiss knew not what sat on her mind, but hopefully she'd come around to understand Weiss a touch more…

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  They approached the buffet-style area and Blake picked up a few plates on a tray while Weiss simply picked up one small plate and put some pieces of bread on it with a few pats of butter in plastic. She felt envy rise in her over Blake able to eat what she wanted, but she knew she needed to remain on what she had eaten before. Shocking her body would do no good. It would take months of recovery to return to a healthy weight and not kill herself simply because she ate some food she could no longer handle. Blake stood at an obviously healthy weight. Her muscles toned and her eyes bright and normal. The sheer opposite of Weiss in every way.

  They sat at the table and Weiss painfully buttered her bread, her body begging for more than a few small pieces. She got half a piece every few hours while under Gele's detainment. Even this seemed a feast to her even if she so desperately craved more. But she needed a medical team's watch before she could really delve into eating normally again. Even so... Compared to the stale bread, the fresh bread tasted like absolute heaven. The small addition of the butter added a depth of flavor that compared to the finest dishes she'd eaten before the coup started. Something so simple tasted like heaven... She wished to eat far more than the simple butter and bread, but she knew she needed to slowly introduce her body to food again. Holding back would challenge her immensely, but she knew she needed medical supervision.

  After they finished, Summer spoke. "Well, you guys are welcome to interact with anybody here and wander around the Union as you see fit. I'll give you clearance cards that'll let you go anywhere a normal Ranger has access to. Usually, civilians aren't allowed access to our library and such, but you guys do have quite some learning to do. I'll assign Wendy to watch over you guys. The only thing I'd say is don't leave the Union too far. There's not much between here and [city name] besides forest and Peril Cliffs which, as it sounds like, is a pretty dangerous set of cliffs. Only experienced climbers are allowed there. Though people do try to sneak there."

  Blake shook her head. "I'm not a mountain climber. I wouldn't go up on cliffs unless I had experienced people looking out for me."

  Weiss shook her head as well. "I have no desire to fall to my doom." She narrowly escaped Gele's grip. Why put herself in more danger? She had never really been in and around nature before... Areas of it remained on Serlia, but she simply never ventured out of cities unless one counted getting onto trains and making changes at different terminals…

  “We have Rangers stationed there, of course, but sometimes people slip by. It doesn't help there are dangerous springy plants that live natively on the cliffs. If you don't know what you're doing on those plants, you can die as well. It's called Peril Cliffs for a reason." Weiss noded. Made sense. But springly plants...? Never heard of such a thing. Then again, botany stood as one of her weak points. Why study nature as a technomancer? Her abilities stood with technology, not nature. She knew some elemental magic and illusory magic, but nothing related to nature. She never raised plants before, though she knew they stood a favorite of people seeking companionship but not able to keep pets. How a plant brought companionship, she failed to understand... Most stores contained an entire section for plants with orchids being popular. Pretty, yes, but she harbored no desire to try to raise them. She heard orchids were notoriously finicky and often failed to bloom again after purchase.

  "I won't venture far," she promised. If anything, her curiosity would allow her to study the many machines here... She no longer retained her magic, but her desire to understand machines and technology failed to disappear with it. She received curious vibes from the strange little machine on Summer's wrist... What was it? Her instincts indicated it stood as something that didn't exist on Selia... Plus, with her defeated, depleted body, going far would cause issues. She no longer retained any stamina to do much... Even the short walk last night exhausted her.

  Summer nodded. "Well, with your body condition, that's probably a good thing... Is there anything in particular you're interested in?"

  "Ah, I'm a technomancer... Technology and machinery are my main areas of interest. I don't have my magic, though, so I can't exactly use it." She frowned. What lesson did she need to learn without it? Yes, she understood the Time Witch needed a bounty for the time she spent in whatever world... To take her magic, though? How cruel... Her entire personality centered around her magic. Without it... She drifted. What could she possibly do without it? She retained her knowledge, but with no ability to manipulate with magic…

  She shoved the thought away, not wishing to go down too far into that hole.

  "Oh, I can show you where to go then. I'm sure Ben would love to take you under his wing. Well. You'll have to prove yourself to him first, but if you're good, he'll take you pretty quickly. Once you've recovered a fair bit, we could probably send you to the Ranger Academy to be a Mechanic." Summer grinned. "Although just a warning: Ben isn't the most people-oriented person. He was my partner when we were in the field, but once I got on track with my mental health, he retired and became part of the Unions mechanics team and worked with Professor Hastings. Hastings is retired now, but he still comes in once in a while to help out with things. He's super old now, but his mind is still sharp. He lives down in Pueltown."

  Weiss nodded a little, swallowing hard. She admittedly wasn't the most people friendly either, but Ben sounded on another level. She knew not much of these Rangers, but they seemed a cross between some sort of wilderness ranger and potentially a police officer. That definitely required a lot of people know how which she herself lacked to some degree. She spent most of her time studying, not socialising. Studying stood as far more important to her than dealing with people. If she never dealt with people again, she would appreciate it. Especially after everything she suffered at the hands of Gele and his men. People... People stood to be capable of such terrible, awful things... How could someone torture another with zero remorse?

  Her bottom lip quivered and she felt a hand on her shoulder. Summer stood there, smiling at her. "You okay?"

  "I-- yes." It felt hard to not constantly go down the rabbit hole of memories and intrusive thoughts. PTSD certainly stood to be one of the most difficult challenges she ever faced in her life. She wished to be rid of it, but she knew not what to do? How could she? She needed therapy. Badly. But would anyone be able to truly help her...? Nobody in this world would understand. They wouldn't understand the pain, the sorrow, the difficulties... The lack of sleep, the lack of food and water... Forced to stay awake in mind-numbing darkness. She wasn't sure which was worse: white torture or dark torture.

  Summer squeezed her shoulder, helping cast away the dark thoughts. "C'mon, let's go introduce you to Ben. I'll come back to talk to you soon, okay, Blake? Help yourself to whatever you want to eat." Blake gave a thumbs up, chomping away at her meal. Summer and Weiss stood, Weiss falling into line behind Summer.

  Weiss still felt envy of Blake's ability to eat whatever she so pleased... The food smelled so heavenly to her malnourished body. But she knew she could not eat what she wanted yet. She needed a medical professional to help oversee her reintroduction to food. She wished so much for the bagels, the egg sandwiches, the porridge, the everything she witness in the buffet line. At least the bread tasted better than the heels of staleness she received while in that horrid cell. Fresh bread with warm butter felt a feast to her malnourished body even though it truly had only been three pieces of warm bread.

  They wound their way through the labyrinthine building to a wing where she heard people scrambling around behind the door. Summer raised her key card and the door opened to a young boy, no more than fifteen, being run out of the room. A man around Summer's age stood there, arms folded, tall brown hair sitting atop his head like a crown. "Honestly, Summer, you need to tell Solana to give more oversight to the Mechanics. This year's batch is even worse than last year's! What has been up with the decline in their education the past few years?!"

  Summer sighed. "Ben, the education has only gotten more rigorous the past few years. You know it. You were the one to come up with the new curriculum. She's made things even tighter than before. They should be getting better, not worse. But seriously, they're kids. You can't expect them to know everything immediately on leaving the Academy. Give them a few years of actual experience before trying to toss them straight into the belly of the beast."

  "Bah. They need to learn better and faster." He folded his arms. What a pleasant individual... No wonder Summer's remarks about him not being people oriented. He couldn't even allow children with no real-world experience to try to find their footing before tossing them into the deep end. How could somebody be so callous toward children? The poor child looked no older than sixteen... She felt she would fail to get along with this Ben character... She failed to be the most excellent with people in her own right, but this... This stood to be downright bestial in the high expectations he placed on literal children, fresh out of school. "Anyway, who's this? She looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over."

  "This is Weiss. She showed up unexpectedly last night with her companion, Blake. We're taking them under our wing until Weiss is more back on her feet. But it'll take a few days to get her someone that can really make sure she doesn't overdo it with food."

  Ben gave her a stern, almost frightening look. "You don't look like you understand the first thing about technology. Why in the hell is Summer bringing you here then?" Truly pleasant one, this Ben... Why he stood chosen as head of the Union's technologies, she failed to understand...

  "I'm a technomancer in my world. Technology is my strength. Is there anything I can do to prove to you I know what I'm doing?" She knew she didn't understand any of this world's technology... It was downright primitive compared to Selia's but she needed to gain his trust and support... Or at least his confidence that she did understand what technology could do...

  "Techno-- Never mind. I have a broken Styler in here. If you can fix it, then you'll prove to me that you understand what you're doing." Ben led her into the lab to a sml table. A strange device sat on it in pieces. Wires strewn everywhere, nuts and bolts in haphazard piles... It sat deconstructed and in shambles. It seemed simple enough... She never encountered a device like this before, but she understood technology deeply. A simple device like this ought to offer her no issue once she looked at it closer. She pulled a chair up to the table and tinkered. Odd circuitry in here... She knew not what it did, but it stood as the only pieces that could fit into certain places.

  Several hours slipped by and eventually she held up the reconstructed device. "I didn't understand how some of the circuitry worked because I just wasn't familiar with it... I've never seen anything like it before, but I hope I did it well enough." A simple device, though she knew not its function. WIthout her magic, she failed to divine the use and function of the strange circuitry. But she hoped she passed Ben's test. She offered the device to him and he sat down. He took some of it apart, his brows creased in concentration.

  "Yeah, the friendship circuits--"

  "Friendship...circuits?" Friendship could be placed into circuitry? She had never heard of such a thing! How could one convey and put friendship through circuitry??? She... It didn't compute. How was such a thing possible?

  "Do you seriously know nothing about Rangers? Aside from those couple circuits, you put it back together pretty much as any seasoned Mechanic would. Good job."

  Weiss shook her head. "I'm not from this world. The Time Witch believed this was the best place for me and Blake to be..."

  "Just more Summer weirdness then. Whatever. You know what you're doing more than a lot of these new Mechanics... You can spend time here if you want to." He pushed away from the table. "C'mon, I'll show you what all we could use help on."

  As they walked, he explained the various areas of the lab which was...massive. She cooled, relaxing. She was home. Technology stood as her happy place. She always wished to be surrounded by technology like this... This truly existed as a dream come true for her. Technology as far as the eye could see... She could sleep here comfortably if even given a cot. As long as people didn't stick around too long... But this place likely required 24/7 teams... A pity. She felt most at ease here. This place truly fulfilled all of her dreams of being surrounded by technology at all times. She longed for her powers... Such usefulness would grant her exceptional progress. The circuits here could use with upgrading... None functioned as efficiently as back home. So much could wrap up in a tiny package... The processors in the Styler conflicted with how small the ones back on Selia were. Acaniel... How she missed her home, but she could not yet return, not until she healed her body at least. Her mind would likely take a lifetime.

  "So what do you think? Do you think you could handle working here a couple hours a day? You put that Style together incredibly quickly despite having no idea what it was."

  Weiss nodded. "The technology here is...somewhat ancient and primitive compared to what I'm used to at home." She wished she held onto her ethis to show him what her home world's technology stood capable of. Most displays were hard light instead of physical... Far less likely to be damaged than physical displays. Magic and science truly blended together in the most wonderful ways imaginable, pushing progress along in a big way... She wondered what branch of magic would pop up next, but likely not within her lifetime. If only she could live longer to study magic longer...

  "Primitive...? This lab is some of the most cutting edge technology in the world! Even places like Galar and Unova can't match what I'm doing here. I build a lot of the processors for the newest generation of Stylers by hand! No plant is capable of building the chips yet." He led her over to an area which clearly stood for that use. She quickly gathered how things got built and shook her head.

  "They're massive compared to what I'm used to at home... I wish I had an ethis to show you, but our processors are a quarter smaller and probably ten times more capable... I would need materials from home most likely to put them together." No, these truly did conflict with what she knew. Small, powerful processors that used magic. Technomancers stood inseparable from magic. "Can you not use magic to help your processing power?"

  Ben heaved a heavy, long sigh. "I've had more than enough magic to deal with for one lifetime. Oblivia was way more than I needed to deal with in any lifetime. Our magic is a learned trait here. I'm assuming your magic is inborn?"

  Weiss shook her hand back and forth. "It depends. There are some skills able to be learned, but stuff like technomancy is inborne. It really depends on your bloodline. Magic can be learned, then eventually become infused into a bloodline. My family is old and powerful. I'm one of the most powerful technomancers on the face of the planet, though I have learned several schools of elemental magic as well as illusory magic." Magic truly depended on the person's bloodline and their own ability. Plenty of magic stood to be learned easily, but some simply stood to be inborne like technomancy. Her family went back centuries, over five hundred years. Powerful, powerful mages. Neither her mother or sister studied their abilities and expanded them, but technomancy... Technomancy was far too powerful. All technomancers joined their local Guild and got educated. Ethics had to be instilled from the youngest of age to ensure one didn't become a...freelancer. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. She could never turn freelancer. She was too loyal to the guild. She learned her ethics lessons well. The only time she violated those ethics was before she'd been captured... All Guild-aligned technomancers could unleash their ethics to defend their kingdom...

  “Anyway, enough of the nonsense of magic. Would you like to learn how the friendship circuits in Stylers work?” Ben asked.

  Weiss nodded. “Please.” Such a strange thing. She’d never seen anything like it before… She couldn’t help but be curious. With that decided, Ben sat across from her and started teaching her.