Page 178 of The Space Between Stars

“I… I needed someone to train me, Drogus.”

“Being that you are the only conduit in recorded history—with any mind to them—I think you are a wonderful person to train you. You just need a tactic beyond looking for Luck when it fancies you. And you need someone to coach you along the way. Like me.”

“What do you know about distortionists?”

“Very little. But I have trained many people in many things, and there is something to be said for methodology.”

He made it sound so simple. Like everything was still on track when it wasn’t. They’d only recruited a dozen ships and a fierce reputation. To think she had believed that she could build an army capable of toppling the world’s most dangerous empire! She had been deranged. She couldn’t distort. She couldn’t even keep her friends close.

“Fankalo?”

“Drogus?”

Drogus opened his arms wide.

She fell into them before she could think straight. He held her for so long, she forgot she was even there until he patted her back. “Now. What does the little queen know about distortionists? Let’s see what we have to work with.”

She pushed away, embarrassed, and tried to press her tangled mane behind her ears. Again, it flew forward and stuck in her mouth. This was why women kept turbans. “There were four classes among the Ruxians. Each had the power to distort matter at their will, but they all did it in different ways.”

“Creation, Destruction, Preservation, and Chaos.” Of course, leave it to Drogus to have read the same texts. At least one of her Hands retained useful knowledge.

“Right. Ninety percent fell into the classes of Preservation or Chaos. Their ability to distort is governed by space. Preservation holds space together, Chaos pulls it apart. But I’m not really sure what that means.”

“And the others?”

“Also opposites, but governed by energy. Creation distorts by pushing energy out. Destruction by pulling it in. Those abilities were more limited, but also more dangerous.”

Drogus closed his eyes and nodded slowly. “Balance.”

“I suppose so.”

“You must be Chaos aligned.”

“That was my best guess too. King Seraphindo was Chaos, and considering the records of his abilities, pulling space apart might mean moving things away from where they should be into somewhere different. But when it comes to foresight, Chaos takes to seeing all possible futures more easily where the others have limitations.

“Distortionists all have the same skills, but it’s like they’re channeled through a different lens. Preservation, for example, usually only sees things immediate to their survival. And Destruction…” She thought about her brother. “Will always fixate on what could cause them harm.” Constantly seeing every imminently deadly future had to have an impact on a person’s psyche. Add that to six years of torture, and you got Calver.

“I’m glad you are not a Destruction conduit.”

While Destruction distortionists were inherently more valuable than Chaos, Fankalo couldn’t help but agree. She rubbed at her arm. “Methusu wrote that a distortionist’s gift is also their curse.”

“What do you think?” Drogus asked.

“In the histories, Destruction conduits usually died prematurely, and nearly always from self-infliction. There are a lot of presents I would hurl into the ocean.”

They looked at it: the sea. Endless and boundless, and what would it hurt to pour more of herself into it?

“There are cases of conduits who have distorted. Accidents, mostly. But others that became so attuned to their sense of stratum and flow—Dreiden called it the void space— that they had a breakthrough. I had this hope that, if I trained hard enough, I could be more than what I am.”

Drogus sighed into the wind. “I, too, dared to dream once.” She waited for him to say more. He only winked. “Now I use my decades of education and experience to play advisor to a couple of raider brats.”

“At least one who listens, anyway,” she muttered, secretly appreciative of his slight. “So. What do you advise I do?”

“Early sailors did not have charts to guide them. They watched the sea and stars. I recommend you spend some time alone with your Luck and listen to what it tells you.”

Any renewed hope she might have had from Drogus’s chat fizzled out. “You mean just sitting still?” If Creation knew there was only one thing she was not well suited to…

“I mean a focused meditation. Remove other senses and distractions.”