Esteban forsook the waters of Estuary and took one of the high-clearance shine-doors that connected the Greater Lyceum to Javier Academy. After stepping through into another similar vestibule, Esteban took a rug kept there for guests. Behind him the pressurized water-wall of Estuary pulsed, but ahead, the halls of the Academy spread forth.

He floated down a corridor that led to the audience chamber of Javier himself. But first, he detoured into one of the many armories. A quartermaster raised his tail in salute when he entered.

Esteban browsed through racks of garments and the arms hanging on the walls. He chose a set of all-purpose military vestments, most of which were dark blue. This included a jacket with built-in heat gens, a large belt and chest strap with tactical hooks for pouches and military décor, a new tail wrap, a replacement dagger, and an extendable cylspear and tubesheath that attached to his tac-belt with two straps, so as to not pat annoyingly against his side like the previous generation always had. He also chose a translator jewel that looked like an emerald clasped under his neck.

This emerald was much better than the clandestine earpieces both he and Parvos had worn to observe the Stone Keeper. Nothing in the sonorous emanations of Kaf’s language was particularly noteworthy—other than Esteban could tell the rock creature was uncomfortable in the Refinery. Had he survived Yoss? It was possible. He remembered that staff he'd carried. Stelle had said Fontana and Parvos had not survived, but would she have known about the Stone Keeper, or even Yoss for that matter? He supposed it was possible the wardens from the other empires kept in contact about such things to maintain a singular record, or as a matter of professional courtesy, but he had no idea—he would ask her later. In that moment, he was pierced by a longing for her stronger than any he'd felt since his arrival. He now wanted to be done with this meeting.
"Anything else, captain?" the quartermaster asked. Esteban realized he'd been in his own head for some time.
"No. This should be fine. Thank you for your help."

He pressed a button and the cylspear extended in his tail. He shot it forward and spun the weapon in the dry environment. He tested a slew of advanced attack and parry techniques against a nearby target dummy (much to the impress of the quartermaster). Finished, the cylspear rescinded into its sheath with a clink. He attached it to his tac-belt and left for Javier's chamber.

He floated down corridors until he came to an open door. Two guards with cylspears coiled in their tails stood at either side. They nodded as Esteban approached.

He could hear gentle notes of a stringed instrument emanating from the room.

"Come on in, Captain." Javier's call echoed down the passage. Esteban floated inside.

The chamber was simple, lined with tall tearaplast windows that overlooked the distant coral relic and allowed the edgewater sheen of luminescent ice to bathe the room in cyan glow. A deep blue tessellated rug of swimming seabeasts covered the stone floor. Shelves built in between the windows held various fare—an abstract crystal sculpture by Saunter, the famed Nightflight artist; a battered Pathway mask locked in golden frown; chromatomes and kelpyri scrolls scattered here and there. There were codex's—the paper books seldom seen in Deep—stacked in neat columns. Many were of military history and theory. At least one was of music.

Esteban leveled the hover-rug to a respectful height before Javier and saluted him.

Javier was larger than he; blue-tinted and bearing a dark green speckle pattern down his front that disappeared behind him. Two navy-blue eyes sat close over his longer snout. He wore similar military attire as Esteban, though more decorated. His muscular tail leafed through pages of a codex on the top of his desk.

Javier shut the codex with his tail, the cover revealed it was The Voice of the Visitor by Virgilio. He then pushed it aside and adjusted something on a chromatome at the far end of the desk. The music ceased and the door closed. Javier looked at Esteban and wrinkled his brow.

"What was it like between worlds?"

"Nothing. Then the relic waters."

"Did you hear anything?"

Esteban shook his head. "No."

"How long was it?"

"A stone, I'm told."

"How many times has it been now, captain?"

"This is the fourth. Twice at 485. Once against Lupavin over in…Mega. I was badly wounded. Phased out during triage."

"Ever lost yourself?"

"Never."

"Ever see yourself?
"Once. Many stones ago. My captain at the time, Diego, took recordings. He thought it was important that we saw our lifeless bodies for some reason." Esteban's fins fluttered in a dry shrug.

Javier smirked. "Maybe shame."
"Maybe."

Javier's time on and between worlds was a matter of legend. He had been long lost before Esteban had ever arrived. Javier was of the storied First Wave of ancient Shoal arrivals who had founded their civilization. He was possibly the first Shoal, though that was debatable. He had gone between worlds during olden times, but had finally reappeared at the relic twelve stones ago, stepping back into the role of leader during these interesting times. There was an awe surrounding him. A noble celebrity—a living link to the distant past. The Academy itself had been named for him, though that had happened many stones before he'd returned and taken up residence. Esteban had read about Javier's many exploits after his own initial arrival as part of the education given to all new Shoal.

Javier rose from behind his desk and ambled to the furthermost window overlooking the Coral Relic and Time Keeper Stones.

"Some say the Door has a voice. A whispering wind that speaks between worlds."

"I don't know if I believe that, sir."

"You've been between so often and heard nothing." It wasn't a question. "Have you been on Center before?"
"Once. Long ago."
There was silence for a moment, then Esteban spoke.

"May I ask you something, sir?"
"Please."
"Do you have any memory of your time between worlds?"

Javier looked out across the seabed. A new school of chromatic wingfish swam by.
"Yes."

Silence for a moment more, then he spoke.

"I was in battle with the Stone Keeper captain. Targ. This was in the early days of our expansion through the Firmament and we were determined to claim Center and the Great Door as our own. I was taken down by his warclub. Next thing I remember was sadness, a great sadness. And there was a sense that I was somewhere, or someone...someone else, in that sadness. It's very hard to explain. I knew I was in the last moments of it—of that—state of being, or memory, or whatever it was. I can't remember what had been going on, but I knew it was sad. Very sad. And I somehow knew that I must hold onto the memory of whatever had happened—that I must fully grasp it and remember it—that I was going somewhere and I had to bring the truth of that sad happening with me, that I had to hold on to it with everything I had. But in the end, I couldn't. The memory of whatever it was slipped away. The sadness is all that remains, and frustration, which is also a kind of sadness, I suppose."

Javier turned and floated back to the desk

"Next, I was below the arch and I spoke my name and no one believed me." Here he laughed. "It had been so long. So very long and so much had changed. It seemed like waking from a midday nap—but that can seem eternal sometimes too, can't it?"

Javier smiled his Shoal smile at Esteban. "I'm glad you made it back, captain. Tell me what happened on Essence."

Esteban told him of the trials that had befallen the delegation, the challenge of setting up the tents, the general cold misery of the world, the malfunctioning heat gens in the hover-rugs, the Stone Keeper, the liminal tedium of the Refinery, and of Yoss; their flight through the halls, his sudden departure, and his return to the sweet warmth of Estuary. He didn't touch upon Fontana's hubris and insistence of bringing the Alabast to Essence as Javier already knew.

"I hate that Yoss escaped. It's a shame we couldn't have retrieved your translators also," Javier said after Esteban concluded the tale.
"There was little of use. Kaf said nothing of the Aethe reclamation. That was to be brought up after the Refinery, back at the camp."
Javier moved over to his shelf of trinkets.

"We have some visitors today," he said and took the golden Pathway mask in his tail. The ever-frown of the face glinted in the turquoise light. Javier moved onto a golden hover-rug by the door and floated up beside him.

"I'd like you to come with me to the main audience chamber, if you feel up to it."