"Osiris."

Strand weaves around Osiris's hands. It dims and brightens, casting green light onto the messy scatter of books and star charts spread across his desk and the surrounding six feet of floor.

"Osiris!"

"What?" Osiris lowers his hands.

Saint-14 is there, a solid wall of Exo in the doorway.

Saint crosses his arms. "You didn't answer my call."

"It is crucial that we learn how Ley Lines operate. I believe they share a connection with Strand, if only I can unlock it."

His handful of Strand extends in loops around him, spiraling towards the ceiling, turning the purple of Saint's ribbons to gray.

"I am reminded of Nimbus's tale of the river. Strand connects our minds. But what parts of us also touch Ley Lines?"

"I liked Nimbus in your stories," Saint interjects, mild. "We should visit them."

In a mood like this, a mild interjection can't stop Osiris. "Queen Mara's Techeuns can affect matter through Ley Lines. Their joined will pulls on threads woven through the Ascendant Plane. Two connected systems, the warp and weft of our universe's fabric—one, a spool of thread for this world, and another perhaps, for the Ascendant Plane?"

Osiris's Strand grows brighter, until Saint's massive hand engulfs his own. No master of Darkness, Saint takes control with a gleaming Void tether as the glow of Strand slowly fades.

"How long has it been since you've seen the sun?" Saint asks.

"I was experimenting with Solar Light just the other day. You know this."

"Not the same. Come. Stubbornness is unbecoming." Saint tugs gently at Osiris by their joined hands.

Osiris stops in his tracks and snorts. "If the question between us is that of hard-headedness—"

Ikora's going to give them a talking-to if Saint's laughter gets through the soundproofing to her office again. So, he persists: "It is late, and I have not seen you since you set your robe on fire. The work will wait."

Osiris lets himself be led out the door, the connection between them still glowing bright.