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But if Hector was fine and there was nothing to worry about, then what in the world was taking so long? Surely, Hector would not have been making him wait like this intentionally, so it could only have been Rasalased's doing.

Or the Forge's.

The fact that the Forge had a will of its own was no great revelation, of course. Abbas had known that it was at least half-sentient since the moment he first dove in to inspect its ardor.

But this was... unexpected, to put it mildly. Abbas had no prior experiences to rely upon here. The Earth Cruncher had never done anything even remotely similar to this. Capturing someone's soul and speaking to them directly for hours at a time?

Assuming that was really what was happening.

He couldn't imagine what else Rasalased or the Forge would be doing in there with Hector's soul. It had to be some sort of information exchange, right?

Abbas tried to use the time wisely and meditate or have Worwal read a few of the books that were left, but neither attempt panned out. He couldn't concentrate, and apparently neither could Worwal.

'In retrospect,' the reaper said privately and in Valgan, 'perhaps it was unwise to allow one of the Shards of the Dry God to come into contact with a Fusion Forge.'

When he put it like that, Abbas felt like a bit of an idiot. 'Agh... but it didn't come into contact with it. Not directly.'

'Yes, it had a human being serving as its connecting rod. Is that better or worse?'

Abbas stifled a sigh. Frankly, he'd forgotten that Hector was carrying a Shard around with him at all times. Among the many oddities about the boy, that had perhaps been the first one that Abbas had learned of. That, from a conversation with Asad back in Sair, which seemed somehow like a lifetime ago, now.