“I have no idea. It feels like none of the people doing the talking and negotiations want it to happen, especially as we’re getting hints about how bitter a war it could be. Earth C doesn’t mess around.”

“Do you think it’s going to happen?” Sveta asked. She sounded more anxious now.

“The diplomats and most of the people at the very top on both sides are fighting it, but it seems like things are moving inexorably in that direction. Yes.”

Sveta’s chin dropped a bit as she looked down at the ground. I reached out for her, and stopped as I heard a small ‘thup’ sound, followed by another.

Her arms and legs hadn’t moved, so I took it as her tendrils striking at the interior of her body in the same way a prisoner might punch the wall of their cell.

“My hope is we’ll keep moving at this steady, unwilling pace, there will be an initial exchange of blows, and both sides back off,” Dido said. “My worry is that something explosive will happen. Another broken trigger, an attack from Earth C doomsday radicals, an attack from the Fourth Sect, someone stupid from our world trying to take territory over there. I could go on. It might spark something lasting.”

I approached Sveta in a way that let her see I was coming, moving slowly. I wanted to ask if it was okay to make contact, and I didn’t want to say it out loud, where the others or Dido might hear.

“Fourth Sect?” Tristan asked. “Have I heard of this before?”

Sveta saw me and reached out. I took her hand in mine, and reached out with the other arm to put it around her shoulders.

“I’d call it a cult but I’m not sure it’s the right term. They’re a minority power with a strong political voice. They want war, to thin their own populations after too much ‘be fruitful and multiply’. Hard to get into in any detail on that cycle. Some of Gimel’s biggest allies in Earth C are people who want to postpone war because it makes the Fourth Sect weaker.”

“Your thinking is if they get to the point where they’re desperate, they’ll try to spark something,” Tristan said.

“Not my thinking. People higher than me. They’re some of what we’re watching out for.”

Tristan glanced at Sveta, then said, “We’re okay, right? We do have the edge on powers. Makes for an incredible toolbox.”

“We have an edge, but it’s not as big as you might think,” Dido said. “Our side has people who can detect or see powers, and what we keep hearing from them is that this guy has powers, but on the down-low. That woman has powers, nobody seems to be aware. A lot of them are using their abilities to maneuver into positions of power.”