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'Um, now that you mention it,' said Emiliana, 'I suppose I have. Why do you ask?'

'Malast told me that I was already in possession of a blessing called Focus. I'm not entirely clear on what it does--or what it MIGHT do in the future, I guess--but, uh... I'm pretty sure it helps me concentrate on multiple things at once.'

'I... see.'

'And I definitely got it from Rasalased. So I'm pretty sure you got it, too.'

'Um. I suppose that explains...' She paused. 'Wow. And here I was, beginning to feel like such a smarty pants, when in reality, my brain had been hacked.'

'That's... I mean... hmm. I don't know if "hacking" is the best way to think of it.'

'No? You don't think Rasalased hacked our brains and toyed around with them?'

'Well. Sure. But... a blessing sounds like a perfectly reasonable term for it, to me. I mean, has it been anything but helpful, so far? If not for Rasalased, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now.'

'You are very optimistic, aren't you?'

Hector's eyes widened a little, and he snorted. 'You'd be the first to think so.'

'Mm.'

'But that reminds me,' said Hector, 'Malast granted me a second blessing, which I know even less about than Focus. He called it Domain. If you could find out more about that--anything at all--I'd really appreciate it.'

There came a dainty sigh through the Shard. 'Despite no longer attending school, I seem to be acquiring quite a lot of homework...'

He breathed a half a laugh. 'Ah--sorry. It's not urgent or anything. I can probably figure it out on my own. You don't have to look into if you don't want to.'

'It's fine. I'll tell Chergoa to remind me about it later. Domain, was it?'

'Yeah. And thanks. Again.'

'Mm.'

Hector felt a fleeting surge of embarrassment, and it took him a second to realize that it wasn't coming from himself but rather through the Shard.

'Oh no,' she said. 'I think I'm beginning to pick up Gohvis' mannerisms.'

Hector just kind of pursed his lips as he tried to imagine that.