Aiden“Thanks for telling me about the little show,” I said to Cale, more than a little bitter.We were already back in one of the finer transports by then, sealed away from the palace and its listening walls. Cipher and I had left immediately after the meeting, mostly because neither of us wanted to give Princess Talena an excuse to follow.Cale chuckled as he pulled off the scrapsteel mask.“If I told you,” he said, “you would have given something away. No offense, Captain, but you’re a terrible actor.”I looked at him. “I’m not sure whether to take offense to that.”“If you're worried about people appreciating your acting chops,” he said easily, “then yeah, you should probably be offended. If I thought telling you would have added to the deception, I would have. I didn’t keep it from you on purpose.”He paused, then shook his head.“Actually, that’s a lie. I kept it from you on purpose. Like I said, you’re a terrible actor.”I laughed despite myself and leaned back in my seat. “Alright. Fine. When did you become so proficient at building a Technica golem?”He didn’t answer immediately, and that was answer enough.“Actually,” I said, “never mind. I don’t want to know.”Part of that was true.I knew Cale better than most, but that didn't mean that I actually knew him. I didn't not really. The facts I had about his time in the Wastes, the full extent of his abilities, his experience, and power, were overall, still very limited. He had never explained how he became so strong. I didn’t even know how many cores he had. Though that part was actually easy he had four cores, whether they were complete or not. I didn't actually know, but I realized, given how many foundational Expressions I’d seen him use with clear proficiency the only actual conclusion was that he had partially created all four of the foundational expression cores. How powerful each of those cores was difficult to (...)