"Calvorite, come with me," was all Rhonin said during the first formation.

Kanden felt every set of eyes burning holes into his back while Olivine stood at the head and visually inspected the formation with casual disinterest.

Two thoughts occurred at once: What did he do, and why had Rhonin called him out in front of everyone before he'd had time to screw anything up?

Olivine's eyes shifted to the left where Rhonin waited. "Go on, Calvorite."

Leaving the formation and following Rhonin, who strode away, Kanden glanced once over his shoulder as Olivine called the group to attention and led them in the opposite direction.

"Before you ask," Rhonin began, keeping a brisk pace that forced Kanden to run, "we are going back to the second level."

"How far did you get?" Kanden demanded, excited for a second mission. And if he were a little honest, perhaps a smidge thrilled he no longer needed to look forward to having his ass beat in hand-to-hand combat.

"Maintenance and Engineering have managed to get us about halfway through," he replied.

"Did you figure out why the upper floors were sealed off?"

Rhonin halted and spun so fast, Kanden almost ran into him, but caught himself before he could fall. He retreated two steps when Rhonin's jaw tightened.

"I don't have time to answer a dozen questions this morning," he replied in a calm voice that belied his tense demeanor. "We are still clearing a path through the main corridor, but we're stuck and need to explore another alternative. You're the only person small enough to fit through the ventilation system, and you don't need training in hand-to-hand combat for that."

His words carried an edge, warning Kanden not to press any further. Confused by the sudden shift, he closed his mouth. Secrets and hidden agendas bothered him, but Kanden's heart said Rhonin could be trusted. There was more at stake than some silly stars in Overland, requiring people so much smarter and stronger to lead them to the surface, even if that meant limiting what Kanden needed to know. After all, Rhonin was just his instructor, not his friend. To expect anything else would be overstepping his bounds.

They didn't speak again until they entered Marina's lab, where the newly-minted Council member sat on a counter with an open book in her lap.

When the men entered, Marina set the text and slid off the surface before opening her arms to Kanden. Unlike previous times, she waited for him to approach her. As he walked into her embrace, he noticed her tactical gear, including a canvas belt over black cargo trousers with many pockets and a form-fitting shirt clinging to her curves. Her tight braids had been tied at the nape of her neck, hanging in a low ponytail.

Holding him close, they rocked together as she whispered in Spanish and English. "Oh, mi angelito, I've been thinking of you. Are you okay?"

Having known her his entire life, Kanden knew what she was asking: she wanted to know how he was coping between losing Mother, breaking up with a Ryker, and likely how he was adjusting to the Enforcer training.

"Yeah," he replied, soaking in her positive energy. Marina was the closest thing he had to family — his final safety net, offering him comfort no one else could.

"Alright, you two, let's break it up," Rhonin interjected, though not before he shared a knowing grin with Marina. His eyes sparked with interest, and his mouth turned up at the corners in a doofy grin. The moment lasted half a second, ending with him clearing his throat and reaching for the equipment set out on another counter. "We've got a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time. People will ask questions if Calvorite is gone too long."

Marina released Kanden and winked as she patted his cheek. Then she shrugged into a backpack filled to the brim with supplies before handing a smaller pack to Kanden. "There are glow lights and rope in here as well as other basic climbing essentials. You'll be going through the ventilation system, and the rope is to pull you to safety if necessary."

Kanden opened the flap and slipped on a pair of gloves that had been resting at the top. The fabric compressed his hands, offering resistance as he flexed and sticking to the smooth countertop when he tried to sweep his hand across the surface.

"They're designed to provide a steady grip and prevent rope burn," Rhonin explained, snapping a matching belt around his waist. After donning an unlit glow stick, he shrugged into the backpack while Kanden did the same. "Let's go."

Trotting to the door, he held it open and motioned for Marina to pass through. "After you."

Her smirk and lowered lashes said everything Kanden never needed to know, prompting unwelcome images of those two locked in a passionate embrace. Especially when she grabbed Rhonin's ass as she passed.

Once she exited, Rhonin looked up and cleared his throat, transforming his besotted features to something more neutral. "You look like someone pissed in your breakfast."

Kanden burst into laughter. It was true; he had made a disgusted face, trying to mentally erase what he'd just witnessed. "What did you expect? She's practically my sister. I don't need to see that."

"No more than I needed to deduce what you and Ryker got yourselves up to. I had to explain the state of her lab after that encounter."

Touché. Kanden couldn't recall all the details, but he and Ryker hadn't been gentle to the counters, and there might have been a crash at some point, but it was all lost to the sexual haze of the moment.

They closed the door behind them as they left and walked to the access tube where Kanden and Ryker had made their foray into the upper levels. When no one greeted them at the ladder, Kanden asked, "Where's Ryker? Isn't this this legacy since Devri found it first?"

"He's with Ember," Rhonin replied, stepping onto the first rung of the ladder and lighting his glow stick. "His fear of heights will slow us down, but I promised to inform him of your progress. He'll return once we clear the floor."

Kanden didn't like leaving Ryker out of the discovery process, but he also wondered about Ember, who must have been heavily pregnant by now. He hadn't seen her since the sentencing, and the way her father publicly treated her didn't sit well with him. "Is she okay?"

Marina followed Rhonin up the ladder and answered on his behalf. "She went into labor late last night. Ryker is the only medic she trusts, so Yasmin offered to stay with them. The other healers won't work with him, and they dislike the idea of two rebels sharing the same space even less."

"If people didn't treat everyone like a disease, there wouldn't have been a rebel cause," Kanden snapped while cracking his glow stick and illuminating the space with red light. "They only wanted the right to live as equals among us. Everyone ignored your instructions to honor them as members of society, acting like these people are better off dead. What was the point of all that show if no one cares?"

"We're working on it," Rhonin growled from above. "Change doesn't happen overnight; it is gradual and requires patience."

Kanden shook his head and followed them up without any more questions or repeat incidents from his last excursion. He'd never understand the nuances of human interaction or their proclivity to hate others.

They bypassed the missing rung and stepped onto the ledge. Using the wall for support, Kanden glanced upward where the ladder stretched into the dark. "Has anyone checked upstairs yet?"

"Yes, but everything we need to fix the solar panels will be on this floor," Rhonin said. "The top level is where the main control room is, along with offices for what I presume were the original Council chambers. Unfortunately, we can't do anything until we have more power, and any supplies we need will be here."

"What have you found so far?"

Rhonin walked along the path they'd explored last time, no less littered with debris from a forgotten century. "Medical and science provisions, which you should recall from your last visit. Enforcer gear and shields we could have used during the riots. Engineering equipment on both floors."

Again, his words carried a bite that hadn't been present on their previous mission. Taken aback, Kanden lowered his head and dutifully kept his distance as they entered the double doors that had earlier denied Rhonin entry.

Marina gently touched Kanden's arm on their way through the next set of rooms, similar to the first group. "Try not to take his remarks to heart," she whispered. "Rhonin is struggling with his own things while trying to keep peace in a faction that doesn't want Enforcers or elites leading them."

"I'm fine," Kanden assured with a fake smile. Any friendship he'd thought Rhonin shared had been a fanciful hope and no one's fault but his own. He'd wrongly assumed they could speak freely after Rhonin had shown kindness, and this was his consequence to bear.

He changed the subject when Marina opened her mouth. "So you and Rhonin, huh? I saw what you did back there."

Marina closed her mouth and quickly looked away, making Kanden snort. "I'm a woman with needs, okay?"

"I believe you," he said through a chuckle, deriving immense enjoyment from this. Until now, Marina hadn't been interested in anything that wasn't an experiment in a test tube. "Why him though?"

In his peripheral sight, Kanden watched Marina's mouth curve at the corner. "Why not? Don't tell me you didn't look."

Oh, he had — once. No one needed to know that though. "He's a bit old for me, don't you think? And he's right ahead of us; do we really need to have this conversation here?"

She shrugged. "Not too old for me, and he knows I never stop talking. This won't phase him; he trusts and speaks highly of you."

Oh. Well, that was nice. The anxiety he'd done something to offend Rhonin lessened enough for Kanden to relax and accept Marina's explanation.

As the approached a third corridor through double doors, Kanden immediately understood why Maintenance and Engineering hadn't progressed further. The entire path was blocked by a collapsed ceiling and rubble.

"We aren't entirely sure what happened," Marina said while removing her backpack and taking out a high-grade metal clip. "We won't know until we get the power running and can access the old data in the control room. We've decided an earthquake caused the rubble, but we can't determine if that's what caused the evacuation to the lower levels."

"And you need me to go through the vents to find another path," Kanden finished, to which the Council members both acknowledged with a nod.

He'd proposed that idea months ago in the safe room during an act of defiance. Now he was here, the fear of finding himself stuck returned, making him queasy. There were so many ways this could go wrong, including being crushed to death by the poor structural integrity. However, with their options dwindling, there was no other choice.

Rhonin hooked the clip to Kanden's belt and attached the rope from their supplies, giving it a solid yank to ensure the knot's placement. Then he guided Kanden back to the second corridor near the doors where an open grate waited.

Before Kanden could climb inside, Rhonin stopped him by placing a hand on his right arm. "How's your shoulder?"

Kanden rotated it once. The tendons were tight, but the pain had dissipated during his down-time. "It's fine."

"What about you?" Marina asked, coming to his other side and stroking his hair like Mother used to do. "Are you feeling up to this?"

Kanden uttered a breathless laugh. "It's too late for that, isn't it? Someone needs to do this, or we'll all die anyway from lack of resources."

"That's the spirit." Rhonin clapped him on the back. "The gloves should provide a solid grip against the surface. If you get stuck for any reason or have an emergency, pull the rope."

That was all good and well, but there were other things to consider. "What do I do if I find an exit or another path?"

Marina grinned as she stuffed a pair of bright yellow ear buds into a pouch attached to his belt while Rhonin gave him a multitool similar to the one Kanden had found in the vault. "Make some noise and pull the rope. Two large bangs if you're stuck, three if you find another route to bypass the corridor."

With nothing else to do but press forward (or upward so to speak), Kanden pocketed the tool and climbed inside the duct, nervous and excited to discover the Cavern's secrets.