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These were not things that he had the luxury of dwelling on, right now. He had to put them out of his mind. To stay focused on the task at hand.

Germal wasn’t making it any easier, though. ‘I sensed that, Master. You saved that man just now, didn’t you? Even as you protest, you continue to prove my point. You care for this world and its inhabitants deeply.’

What an irritating conversation. He wished one of those Roberts would get close enough to provide a meaningful distraction again.

Germal just kept going. ‘I’ve always been able to sense your compassion, Master. You try to keep it buried. I know not why. But it has been there for as long as I have known you. In fact, I believe it is the very reason why you granted me the honor of getting to know you in the first place. And yet... here and now... I sense it more strongly in you than ever before. You are not trying nearly as hard to hide it, anymore. How curious...’

Gohvis-Aeha said nothing. While it was true that the Prime had created this powerful psychic cloning technique by studying Germal’s multiple personality disorder, it had also never really been clear how much Germal himself had been able to discern about what the Prime had been doing. And naturally, the Prime had never bothered to explain this technique to anyone.

‘Master, have you managed to evolve your projections still further?’

Well, he definitely wasn’t going to answer that. The Prime would be furious.

Germal kept nattering as the chase drew out, and Gohvis-Aeha continued to ignore him. Even as the landscape began to the change and the Giants of Jaskadan, as the trees were commonly known, came into view, Germal still did not let up. Only the subject matter shifted, as the Liar started questioning where they were going and why.

Thankfully, it didn’t take much longer after that in order to finally reach Father’s encampment. The massive swaths of deforested land made it rather obvious that they were quite close.

Now it was just a matter of getting to Father and warning him before Kallmakk began running amok through his mobile fortresses. The man was not going to be pleased about that, but there was no helping it.

Ah. There. He sensed Father’s location and went straight for it like a lightning bolt, zigzagging through various troops on standby and probably knocking a few of them up into the air by accident as he passed, thanks to the wind tunnel being left in his wake.

Oh well. They were servants. They’d be fine.