The storm hit again late that night. Tui lay on his folded robe, listening to the thunder.

  He had long known he didn't do his best thinking at night, but that didn't stop the thoughts crowding his mind after being awoken by the drip from his leaky roof.

  Although he had used qi several times that day, enough remained that he marveled at the quantity he now held. This embarrassment of riches must be what it felt like to be in one of the noble houses.

  The Empire did not hand out essence pills to just anyone. They were only given to those performing valuable service. Even so, he was only issued a single pill a day, most of which was spent on work. Very little qi remained for personal use. As a result, it was difficult to accumulate a large amount.

  He had never expected to elevate his cultivation past the novice level. The Empire was too stingy and too paranoid about who gained strength. Tui had not studied cultivation manuals. This subject was carefully restricted at the academy. He had been allowed to elevate his cultivation to a useful level and denied any way to progress further.

  There were benefits to even a low level of cultivation. All cultivators enjoyed an extended lifespan, personal strength, and a body that did not sicken easily. Their wounds healed faster. But best of all were the mental benefits.

  Tui loved the clarity, the visualization, and the recall abilities qi afforded him. These helped his work as an auditor, which he found immensely satisfying.

  Now he had a new ability. It was powerful, allowing him to communicate with someone last seen many years ago. Tui had never heard of anything like this.

  He was being too timid and allowed his feelings to influence him. He despaired for those who led their lives driven purely by emotion, drifting from one suboptimal decision to the next.

  Lighting shattered the sky followed instantly by a crash of thunder. Rain hammered the shelter and more water trickled through. Tui edged away from the growing puddle.

  He had no idea what to say to his uncle. The prospect of facing him made Tui's stomach curdle. His uncle was beloved by everyone, but especially by little Tui. He spent weeks at a time in Uncle Ari's house, being fed and cared for.

  Uncle Ari was a good man. He also held many of the tribe's mysteries and kept the lore alive. Tui needed some of that knowledge if he was going to continue to thrive. He needed Uncle Ari.

  The rain tapered off, then stopped completely. The drip from his poorly thatched roof continued. Tui dozed off despite the dampness and woke groggily as the sun lit up the sky.

  His stomach churned as he pondered. He had to talk to Uncle Ari, it was the logical choice, but Tui didn't know what to say. It had been so long that Uncle Ari hadn't even recognized him...

  Tui waded out into the cold water to retrieve the essence trap crystal. The crystal was warm, brimming with energy.

  He set up and renewed his start-and-stop method of recovering the essence. He was getting better at limiting waste, improving the timing of his stopping points, and strengthening his control. However, there was a growing problem in his spiritual space.

  His dantian was too full of qi. Before the airship crash, the most Tui had ever held was sixty sparks. Now he held five hundred.

  The sparks swirled around like fireflies, bouncing off each other and testing the limits of his dantian. They were wild and beautiful, and they were stretching him like never before. His capacity had expanded significantly since yesterday, but now he was in pain.

  He needed to do something. It was too full, too painful. The sparks felt like they were trying to split him apart.

  Tui usually visualized his spiritual sense like a thumb and forefinger. This way he could pinch off bits from large sparks and carry them through the conduits and pathways. This allowed him to have fine control over individual sparks.

  He needed a different approach. Tui imagined his spiritual sense was a bag, enveloping all the qi in his dantian. He squeezed the bag, compressing the sparks into a smaller area. It was difficult to maintain a whole three-dimensional shape in his consciousness. It was even harder to manipulate the construct.

  After a few tries, Tui managed to envelop the sparks and then slightly compress them. The splitting pressure subsided. The sparks bounced violently within their confine, exerting constant pressure. Tui opened his eyes, grinning broadly.

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  The grin dropped off his face as the strain of maintaining the compression increased with a reduction in concentration. Tui stood up and tried to walk.

  His concentration gave way and the sparks exploded into his dantian once more. Tui groaned in pain.

  He needed a simpler way to keep control, something that allowed him to function as he went about the day, requiring a minimum of concentration.

  A three-dimensional shape was too difficult to maintain. Something like a line or a string would be better. That would be much easier to maintain.

  He tried again. This time he pictured his spiritual sense as a thread. He stiffened one end and poked it through a spark. There was a bit of resistance, but then it hung there quivering, constrained by the thread. This might work.

  Tui spent the next hour beading up all the free sparks. The thread glowed like a shining rope of progress.

  The constrained sparks vibrated in place but couldn't bounce around or expand. They couldn't push on the walls of his dantian, and they occupied a tiny volume compared to free sparks. There was no pressure, only relief.

  The idea of a thread was easy to grasp. Tui opened his eyes, got up, and walked around. He could maintain control without conscious effort. This would work.

  Tui marveled at what he had accomplished. He would be able to hold vastly more qi than before. He was nowhere near his limits anymore. He could cultivate a great deal more qi and use it effectively.

  Now it was time.

  Tui settled back into the lotus position, reaching for a meditative state. He wanted his full concentration on this. Tui snipped off a section of thread with about fifteen sparks strung onto it and guided it through the wide-open conduit to his fifth meridian in his mind. He continued through the tiny passageway into his childhood memories and back to his memory of Uncle Ari.

  The little string of sparks followed like ducklings as he followed the meandering pathway. Each time he used the pathway, it widened and straightened a little. The pathways through his childhood were very convoluted and needed a lot of work. Dragging fifteen sparks at once through the pathway worked quite well.

  Tui arrived at the pinhole of a passageway leading out from his consciousness.

  It was time. Tui resettled himself, acknowledging intrusive thoughts. He set them aside and sank deeper into meditation. He wanted full control, with no risk of falling out of meditation.

  Tui had never deliberately tried to expend fifteen sparks at once before. but he knew this would be very expensive in terms of qi. If everything went well, he would try a larger amount of qi next time.

  Tui squeezed his awareness into the pinhole passageway. It was very tight, and he had difficulty following the path since it was so tiny and convoluted. Nevertheless, Tui persisted, dragging a glowing chain of sparks behind him.

  He lost track of time. His feelings of fear and turmoil faded as he continued through the pathway. The slow, steady progress forward was soothing to his soul, like a puzzle to solve or a problem to work out.

  He was surprised when he suddenly popped out into space. It wasn’t large but much wider than the passageway he had followed to get here. There was a barrier, a door barring the path.

  It was strange, the door was something that was not his. Tui had never encountered anything so artificial in one of his passageways. He was stumped, with no idea what to do next.

  He knocked on the door, maybe somebody was home? He pressed his consciousness against it, trying to sense what it was. There was something there. He could feel it. A presence was approaching from the other side.

  There was a slight feeling of disconnection, then the door was gone, and Uncle Ari's presence was in front of him. It was different from before.

  Last time he had freshly transitioned from his childhood memory. Uncle Ari’s presence had held the shape of that memory. Now it was more diffuse, shapeless, but firm with intent, with resolve.

  [You again? Who are you?] Uncle Ari’s voice, firm and demanding, washed over Tui. Tui tried to reply but did not know how. He had never needed speech within his own consciousness before.

  He felt a wave of helplessness wash over him. The feeling leaked out and filled the void between them.

  [You have no idea what you are doing here, do you?] The voice now had a slight note of amusement. It was also gentler. [Think of your name, bring it into the front of your mind, and push it toward me]

  He settled himself. He concentrated to push a thought out.

  [I am Tui]

  There was an eternity of silence. Tui felt his uncle's perception wash over his consciousness. He felt a judgment and a spike of anger.

  [Tui is dead, who are you really?]

  Tui laboriously shaped the reply in his mind. [I am Tui, son of Matiu and Aroha.] He worked at it again. [I have been living in the Empire]

  Uncle Ari’s perception felt like a blade scraping against his consciousness. Tui felt it passing over him, again and again, feeling the shape of him, sensing him.

  [Could you truly be Tui?]

  [Uncle Ari, I am so sorry…]

  [Tui?!]

  Tui felt Uncle Ari’s consciousness suddenly press against his. His uncle’s feelings of shock and burgeoning joy were transmitted clearly.

  [Oh, my little TUI! You are alive!]

  Uncle Ari’s joy was like a needle into the knot of guilt in Tui’s stomach. The pain overwhelmed him. He felt so ashamed.

  [Uncle Ari,] Tui began [I am so sorry for never coming home]

  From Uncle Ari’s consciousness, there was a faltering as he processed the feelings flowing from Tui. There was a note of concern, then a resurgence of joy, of love.

  [Nonsense!] Boomed his uncle's voice, shaking the whole space with its force. [We are a tribe of explorers, we explore, we settle EVERYWHERE! There is no shame in continuing the tradition!]

  Distantly, Tui could feel tears pouring down his face. His stomach, so bound up in shame and guilt, relaxed.

  The string of qi sparks was almost used up. There was only a single spark remaining.

  [I must go, Uncle Ari,] Tui sent [but I will be back]

  [You had better be back soon, Tui!] Uncle Ari barked back, laughter and joy ringing out. [We have so much to catch up on!]