“I CAN do it, I can finally do it!” cried Tūmb?ār, as he went flying around the passage.

  Four days had passed and having ventured through four more grand halls replete with exquisite architecture and forms, they now came into another long stone passage, lit by tall lamps, with inscriptions lining its surface and the wall itself acting as a shield from the magma that flowed outside.

  In the nights when they rested in each hall Tūmb?ār had sparred with Naktha?m, Feyūnha?, Sanyha?mān, and Yūrmat?tha who were more than surprised over his sudden growth. Ai?th, who cared little for such things, not pleased with the liberal use of his powers, could not help but feel happy over the boy’s giddiness when he issued them.

  The night before, the four questioned him as to how he was able rectify his problem so quickly and he pointed to I?ēha?, who hoped that he would not mention her. The four then went to her while she was training with Ai?th and questioned her.

  I?ēha? spoke of the training that Feyūnha? had given her and, using the same exercise, she had Tūmb?ār course the elements down the length of his body.

  “Perhaps you’re a better teacher than me,” Feyūnha? had said, sighing.

  “Oh Feyūnha?, be not sad,” I?ēha? had said, doing her best to cheer her up, “I would not have been able to teach him as such if you did not give me that exercise before. It is also partially my fault for disappearing on all of you. Perhaps had I remained, then you would have been able to teach him properly.”

  The princess had sighed again, and said, “Perhaps I should have asked this earlier of you, but promise me now you won’t disappear again. At least not of your own will.”

  And with a z?h?ya, I?ēha? had sealed the pact, saying, “As long as my life shall persist on this planet, let it be so!”

  “You done yet, Feyūnha??” Tūmb?ār had said, impatient. “You’re supposed to be my sparring partner next.”

  She had apologized and, after giving a tight embrace to I?ēha?, she went with Tūmb?ār and the others to continue with his training for the rest of the night.

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  “Don’t waste your powers like that!” shouted Feyūnha?, trying to grab a hold of him.

  Tūmb?ār was much too excited and kept hopping around with ease, continuously coursing the air above and below his feet. And in his acrobatics, he would unleash a flurry of elements from all parts of his body. It was not long before he became tired and fell to the ground, panting and sweating all over.

  “I didn’t think I’d become so tired,” said Tūmb?ār with a weak voice as he tried to drag himself atop the snake. Feyūnha? pushed him up, and he spread himself upon Hvesykhi?’s back.

  “I’m sure your teacher already told you of this,” said Feyūnha?, “but I suppose now you understand one reason liberal use of our powers is frowned upon.”

  “There are more reasons?” asked Tūmb?ār.

  Ai?th, having remained silent until then, said, “Aye. Usually this is only told to the other Servants, for other persons wielding powers are rare to come by. The powers you wield were bestowed to us by the Gods, and though we rarely invoke their names or ask their permission to use them, it does not mean they do not watch over its use. Our liberal use of these powers is one reason they have slowly faded from our world.

  “Yet there is something I have always felt strange about these abilities. The powers seem to course through every individual. Of the many people I have healed, in each one, it seemed the powers rested inside, dormant, unable to be unlocked as it were, as if bound by lock and chain.

  “The Vādrun?s speak of Arha??ār, That One and All, as bestowing the knowledge of the powers to Ishvha??ār, who, in turn, gave it to the Deha??ār, who, in turn, gave it to us. Had that being chosen to keep our powers as such? What is it I wonder, for it seems all knowledge of it has disappeared. The Gods refer to it as like themselves and yet, at times, say that it is greater and beyond. As I?ēha? had mentioned before: truly something I and many others cannot comprehend.”

  “The sage had told us of it,” said Sanyha?mān, “but I don’t think any of us understood it either. As it stands, I don’t think any would argue that the Gods are the last of things that can truly be comprehended—though since their abandonment, even that makes little sense.”

  “Would you know anything of this, maiden?” asked Naktha?m.

  “It is not my place to speak of such things,” she said, to their surprise. “Many things I have been told relating to it by the Deha??ār, but even I cannot understand much of what is said. Bound are we to not relate any knowledge concerning That for it was agreed to keep such secrets safe from the privy of mortals. A binding stronger than even the use of my powers. And given what Ishvha??ār had told me, not just that one time but many times before, the matter concerning it most surely eludes even them.”

  “Well, if the Gods won’t speak of it, let alone have knowledge of it, I suppose we’re doomed to never understand,” said Feyūnha?. “And I assume Hvesykhi? is bound by the same oath that I?ēha? is.”

  Hvesykhi? did not respond, nor did Yūrmat?tha, and they afterward remained silent on the issue, feeling it would be useless to speak any further on things they themselves did not understand.