Page 28 of Triadic

Marit heaved a great sigh, his jaw tightening a moment as he searched for words. "For Peter's sake, I'll explain that the subtle planes are discreet and not continuous. That means the physical plane, including etheric, is separate from the astral plane, though they have very specific points of connection."

"Sounds like a mountain of themes for meditation," I quipped to everyone's approval.

Ceridor prompted Marit to continue. Marit huffed and seemed to have a hard time figuring out a way to word it.

"Corbi was shouting for Peter—"

I gasped. "I heard you, Corbi! I heard your voice inside the dream vision and was trying to get to you. That's when Marit tackled me."

Corbi gave me a squeeze. "I could feel you nearby. We've imprinted on each other etherically while I've been doing so much healing work with you. That won't be necessary long-term, but it did help tonight."

Ceridor sized up Marit. "Corbi opened a connection point, and you managed to get through?"

Marit tilted his head, unsure. "Corbi shouted, and I could have sworn I heard Peter shout back. Then I saw somethingblack in the shadows, scrambling into the forest. It was Peter. I tackled him, but Peter's eyes were black with a vision, and he fought me. I could feel we were in the astral plane by then, and I had to get us back, or we could sever the connection with our physical bodies. I screamed for Corbi. I could swear Corbi dragged us back somehow."

Ceridor softly paced the room. "It's hard to replicate something like this to practice, but I suggest you find a way. And please, don't leave the monastery without telling me. Not only will I come with you, but there are things you need to know that I cannot tell you inside these walls."

"Is he in danger?" Corbi demanded, referring to Wren. "If he is not safe, then we need to leave and find him right now."

Ceridor shook his head. "I have no reason to think he would be endangered from all this. A river sprite gave you something, a trinket that might mean something more, and almost assuredly does. But that just increases the importance of the person in question, and if anyone has any sanity in this situation, then it should increase his protection. I cannot explain in more detail, but we should leave to find him as soon as we hear from him, and then I can tell you more."

We promised we'd keep it secret, and Ceridor let himself out. Corbi finished his massage, and by then I was nearly fast asleep.

The three of us snuggled in under the covers, and I drifted off to their soft conversation.

Chapter Thirteen: Marit

Peter jostled the bed just enough to wake me. He slid off at the foot and ran to the washroom across the hall. When he came back, he grabbed my book. I hid a smile, not opening my eyes because then my ever-active mind would truly wake, and there would be no turning back. Wren used to tease me that there were always four occupants in our bed: three humans and one book. I loved reading while my partners slept, then sleeping through the morning while they were awake, as if they were watching over me, standing guard so I could relax.

Then our angel wriggled into my arms and tucked his nose into my chest.

I flopped onto my back and pulled him to me. Peter scooted up until his check rested on my pectoral and his ear tucked into the crook of my shoulder. His breathing slowly evened out again, and he slept without a care inthe world. Though I was now fully awake—cursed to be something of a light sleeper—I kept my eyes closed, hoping to not wake Corbi and manage to rest a bit more.

Our room grew lighter as the forest around the monastery registered the dawn. Corbi woke and slid out of the bed and proceeded through the morning stretches and calisthenics that we trained on in our tradition. One joke the younger monks had was that our required fitness maintenance was so robust and good for one's health it made the older monks live into the hundreds. It was wonderful in terms of benefitting from the magical prowess of older practitioners who'd spent decades developing their skills, and it certainly had saved Wren's life that dark night.

But such longevity had not served us in terms of the monks in power still observing old rules from prior eras when we needed to be quick on our feet. Ceridor's injuries in an armed mugging were all the proof we needed that it was time to pivot to retaining our younger aspirants and drawing on the records of training regimens for warrior monks.

Peter kept saying we should leave come spring and travel around for a bit. Maybe he sensed that Corbi and I needed a change. With Wren leaving and bruising our hearts, suddenly these walls seemed more a hindrance than a home.

Yet I loved this monastery with everything I had. It had saved me when my father had tossed me onto the street. The older monks had given me a path in life when I had been judged as useless. Knowing that Corbi would remain here, since medical services was one of the key ways inwhich the order brought in money, I'd worked my tail off to make myself indispensable in whatever ways I could. I worked constantly in the library, and had its entire contents nearly memorized. I'd attended the levels of training several times over, watching the instructors like a hawk so I could learn how they teach. I'd trained my absolute hardest to advance in magic, as far as the order and the resources of my own immortal soul could take me.

So far—and maybe this was only because Corbi would immediately quit if I was ever sent away—they'd allowed me to remain here. But now, through the strange events of the last few weeks, we might actually leave of our own will. If the older monks in charge truly stuck to their stodgy rules and never allowed us back, then they would lose a medic in Corbi, a librarian and potential instructor in me, and at least a hardworking shopkeeper in Peter, if not also a training aspirant.

Listening to Corbi breathe as he moved through his stretches and then onto calisthenics, pushups and crunches, leg lifts and lunges, I thought back over the events from last evening. With a strength I hadn't known I had, and my faith in my loved ones propelling me forward, I had managed to find Peter on the subtle planes and somehow drag him back to the material world. Such an accomplishment, witnessing it and seizing it firsthand, made me feel powerful. I felt like I could challenge and take on a whole army.

"I want to do the exercises," whispered Peter, who had moved away from me, so at some point I must have snoozed. "I want to train so I can enterthe monastery and stay with you."

"Let me check how your stomach is doing, then I'll give you the all clear, or an estimate of how much longer you need to wait," Corbi answered, from the sound of his breathing still finishing his stretches.

"Then let me suck you off," added Peter, like it was nothing.

My eyes flew open, but it only showed me Peter's back as he sat on the edge of the bed and watched Corbi stretch.

"What?" Corbi asked.

Peter gave a shrug. You'd think it was bashful if he weren't being so bold. "You did your morning exercises. That deserves a reward."

Cheeky thing, though I liked his logic.